Saturday, April 17, 2010
Friday, April 16, 2010
Thursday, April 15, 2010
Leanna had art class-Sue took her and my Mom picked her up and kept her at her house the rest of the day with my Dad taking her to girl scouts. Tom picked her up and brought her home then. So her only school was her two hour art class, gardening with Grammy, and Brownies. She set up her own garden in Grammy's yard.
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Schoolwork Accomplished:
*Re-copied notes on Vikings, but with more details added and neater.
*2 short journal entries
*Week 28's geography lesson, done and corrected the mistakes.
*Lots of outdoor play
*conversations and picnic planning with the neighbor lady(Jennifer) behind us.
*Learned to blow on a piece of glass(from Jennifer).
*Read a Dolphin story outloud to me & neighbor Noah.
*Multiplication.com quizzes:
2X Tables-3minutes, 9 seconds. 2 wrong.
3X Tables-3min. 57 seconds. 3 wrong.
4X Tables-4 min. 40 seconds. 3 wrong.
5X Tables-3 min. 39 seconds. 2 wrong.
6X Tables-4 min. 57 seconds. 3 wrong.
*More on the Romans. We read and discussed Julius Ceasar, Cleopatra, Marc Antony and Octavius. And Augustus Ceasar's reign. Justin listened in again and asked questions. : )
We keep getting the work done here and there, but not in one block of time. It's very frustrating though to sit down with all the papers and books and have her not be willing to work. I struggle to get her to do anything then, and the work she does isn't quality. It's like pulling teeth. But we seem to be getting a little better with multiplication and our history discussions seem to genuinely interest her.
3
*Re-copied notes on Vikings, but with more details added and neater.
*2 short journal entries
*Week 28's geography lesson, done and corrected the mistakes.
*Lots of outdoor play
*conversations and picnic planning with the neighbor lady(Jennifer) behind us.
*Learned to blow on a piece of glass(from Jennifer).
*Read a Dolphin story outloud to me & neighbor Noah.
*Multiplication.com quizzes:
2X Tables-3minutes, 9 seconds. 2 wrong.
3X Tables-3min. 57 seconds. 3 wrong.
4X Tables-4 min. 40 seconds. 3 wrong.
5X Tables-3 min. 39 seconds. 2 wrong.
6X Tables-4 min. 57 seconds. 3 wrong.
*More on the Romans. We read and discussed Julius Ceasar, Cleopatra, Marc Antony and Octavius. And Augustus Ceasar's reign. Justin listened in again and asked questions. : )
We keep getting the work done here and there, but not in one block of time. It's very frustrating though to sit down with all the papers and books and have her not be willing to work. I struggle to get her to do anything then, and the work she does isn't quality. It's like pulling teeth. But we seem to be getting a little better with multiplication and our history discussions seem to genuinely interest her.
3
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Why history is important for children to learn
Why should our elementary school children study history?
There is no doubt that the primary purpose of schooling is to prepare students to function effectively in the world, and thereby to assist society to function effectively as well. We study the past in school not because students need to know a collection of old facts, but because history helps them understand how the world works and how human beings behave. Knowledge of the past is required for understanding present realities. When people share some common knowledge of history, they can discuss their understandings with one another.
What does history give?
Human self-awareness is the very essence of history. Arnold Toynbee said, “History is a search for light on the nature and destiny of man.” R.G. Collingwood wrote, “History is for human self-knowledge…the only clue to what man can do is what man has done. The value of history, then, is that it teaches us what man has done and thus what man is. Psychologist Bruno Bettleheim asserted that human self-knowledge is the most important role of education.” Most of all, our schools ought to teach the true nature of man, teach about his troubles with himself, his inner turmoil and about his difficulties in living with others. They should teach the prevalence and the power of both man’s social and asocial tendencies, and how the one can domesticate the other, without destroying his independence or self-love.”
Why history in the elementary level?
In this age of the World Wide Web, globalization and international terrorism, knowledge of the larger world is seen as increasingly important even at the elementary school level. We have identified three basic principles of schooling. It should
- Prepare students for the future.
- Focus on meaningful understanding.
- Be realistic in its expectations.
This is perhaps the most often-cited practical reason for studying history, and it was foremost in the mind of Thomas Jefferson when he wrote that schooling in America’s new democracy should be “chiefly historical.” He said, “the people…are the ultimate guardians of their own liberty. History by apprising them of the past will enable them to judge of the future. It will avail them of the experience of other times and other nations; it will qualify them as judges of the actions and designs of Hammurabimen.”
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
*Mulitiplication quizzes, 2, 3, 4, and 6 times tables. (3, 4, and 6 tables were done several times over)
*One page in her math workbook: points on a graph
*Helped make healthy snack bars (lifeskills, healthy eating)
*Read and discussed Roman history. We reviewed the other two discussions we had about Rome and even re-read the story of Horatius at the Bridge (which Leanna liked, both times). Justin listened in to some of it, and they were both fascinated by Hannibal's story, particularly his promise to his father. Leanna just could not understand why he chose to kill himself rather than live under Roman rule.
So far we've covered how Rome began, it's religion, republics, consuls, and the senate, the different classes, Rome's provinces and how and why they conquered, Conquerning Carthage, Latin being a dead, yet still "live" language, the Punic wars and Hannibal, the roads and bridges Romans built and why this was good, and advantageous to them. We stopped with Rome being wealthy yet it was a time of war and unhappiness. Julius Caesar comes next!!
It's difficult to start and get her to the point where she's truly listening, but once I can draw her in, than it's good! She gets interested and is really learning.
*we also got into a minor discussion about citizen's rights. She was incensed that women were not considered citizens in Rome. So I went over some rights she has as a US citizen. Could have gone deeper, but her inerest was waning.
*journaling
*We read the first chapter in Tom Sawyer. LOTS of new words, and lots of explantions about vocabulary and southern expressions.
Tonight she asked why we are learning about Rome? I have to think about how I want to answer that question.
*One page in her math workbook: points on a graph
*Helped make healthy snack bars (lifeskills, healthy eating)
*Read and discussed Roman history. We reviewed the other two discussions we had about Rome and even re-read the story of Horatius at the Bridge (which Leanna liked, both times). Justin listened in to some of it, and they were both fascinated by Hannibal's story, particularly his promise to his father. Leanna just could not understand why he chose to kill himself rather than live under Roman rule.
So far we've covered how Rome began, it's religion, republics, consuls, and the senate, the different classes, Rome's provinces and how and why they conquered, Conquerning Carthage, Latin being a dead, yet still "live" language, the Punic wars and Hannibal, the roads and bridges Romans built and why this was good, and advantageous to them. We stopped with Rome being wealthy yet it was a time of war and unhappiness. Julius Caesar comes next!!
It's difficult to start and get her to the point where she's truly listening, but once I can draw her in, than it's good! She gets interested and is really learning.
*we also got into a minor discussion about citizen's rights. She was incensed that women were not considered citizens in Rome. So I went over some rights she has as a US citizen. Could have gone deeper, but her inerest was waning.
*journaling
*We read the first chapter in Tom Sawyer. LOTS of new words, and lots of explantions about vocabulary and southern expressions.
Tonight she asked why we are learning about Rome? I have to think about how I want to answer that question.
Monday, April 12, 2010
We read a bit about the Romans, talked about how Rome was in a very good location.
We spent several hours at the park and walked to Home Depot to use their bathroom. Leanna played tag with a boy there, lots of excersize, walking, running, and climbing around.
She did three pages in her math workbook.
She read some Tom Sawyer outloud to me.
She went out in the backyard to play again in the evening.
Not what I would have liked, but given the day's early events, not too bad.
Almost forgot: On Sunday we read some about the Romans, played some new multiplication games online, and visited Jack Prelutzky's website. We read some of his poetry and we read his essay on how to write a funny poem. Then Leanna wrote a funny poem of her own.
We spent several hours at the park and walked to Home Depot to use their bathroom. Leanna played tag with a boy there, lots of excersize, walking, running, and climbing around.
She did three pages in her math workbook.
She read some Tom Sawyer outloud to me.
She went out in the backyard to play again in the evening.
Not what I would have liked, but given the day's early events, not too bad.
Almost forgot: On Sunday we read some about the Romans, played some new multiplication games online, and visited Jack Prelutzky's website. We read some of his poetry and we read his essay on how to write a funny poem. Then Leanna wrote a funny poem of her own.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)