Sept 21-25

BRENDEN

This week in math, Brenden took his test on rounding and estimating. He began a new lesson on double digit multiplication. The first day, he did all the steps properly, but said it was confusing, so we kept using the math blocks. The next day he said it made sense and by the end of the week he said it was easy.

In English, he worked on words with vowels+R. He also had to read a passage from literature, answered questions about it, and summarized it while I wrote down what he said. He also did his history reading. He's still reading a book about Benjamin Franklin and just started Johnny Tremain this week.

In history, Brenden read about the Stamp Act and the other taxes that the British government was imposing on the colonies. He learned how the colonists got so angry they dumped a bunch of tea in the Boston Harbor.

Brenden did French this week, but I'm not sure what he learned about. He does French in a room by himself while I work with Malcolm.

In engineering this week, the boys just played with the pieces from the kit. I don't think they made anything from the books, but they were experimenting on their own.


MALCOLM

This week, instead of doing the math practice sheets off the MUS website, Malcolm finished up his lesson on adding 10s. Brenden also had fun quizzing him in some easy multiplication problems. I don't know how Malcolm learned those, but he knows his 2x tables.

In English, Malcolm finished several reading lessons from OPGTR. The most important one from the week was learning to add "S" to the end of certain words to make them plural. We also read more from Charlotte's Web. We were supposed to start The Chalk Box kid, but he would not sit still, so we'll have to work on that next week.

In history, we finished reading the Usborne Book of Peoples of the World. This was Malcolm's least favorite book ever, so I tried to make it interesting and read quickly, but he just did not like it. He said it was boring. We learned about the major religions of the world. I doubt he'll remember them, but at least we have the book and he can reread it in the future if he needs.

In PE, Malcolm went to his tumbling and trampoline class. He's making some good progress, but sometimes he acts silly on purpose and wastes time.

In engineering this week, the boys just played with the pieces from the kit. I don't think they made anything from the books, but they were experimenting on their own.