What's Going On . . .

I didn't want to let Friday get past me again without a homeschool update . . . so here goes:

• Composition - Baby Boy has been writing stories in the three paragraph model showing introduction and rising action, climax, and then resolution and moral. He wrote a very interesting story this week about a couple of velociraptors. He's still working on editing it, and will type it over the weekend. I'm going to try to get it posted here next week so y'all can read it.
  

• Vocabulary - We learned several new words this week and Baby Boy did great on his quiz. Another quiz is scheduled for next week, so I'm keeping him on his toes. Have I mentioned how much I love the Vocabulary Cartoons books? They are great for casually increasing your vocabulary. I've even gotten some insight on words I thought I already knew, and that's always interesting.
  

• Literature - We finished reading Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. It was really good. Not as scary as I remember from when I was in high school and Baby Boy didn't think it was scary at all. It does have lots of twists, turns, tangents and sub-plots and that's really what makes this book such an interesting read. We also watched the version of the Frankenstein movie that has Robert De Niro as the Monster. The movie did hold pretty true to the book up until the last 30 to 45 minutes, when the movie maker took some obvious artistic licence, but it was still very good. It isn't a super-scary horror movie, much to my delight and Baby Boy's chagrin. It does have a few extremely graphic scenes and earned it's "R" rating honestly. Next week we'll be doing some analyzing and comparing and contrasting before moving on to our next novel, which will be H. G. Well's The War of the Worlds.
  

• Pre-Calculus - We're working polynomial functions, specifically graphing quadratic equations and rewriting them in and from various forms. All I can say about this subject is that it has gotten very hard very fast. Actually, Baby Boy is fully capable of doing the work, but it takes a lot more time and concentration then he is used to investing in his math work. He is used to just glancing at the lesson and calling it a day, but this requires him to actually slow down and study. So . . . I've slowed down the lessons a bit and I'm interspersing them with algebra 1 and 2 worksheets to make sure his algebra foundation is strong as he continues with the pre-calculus. Also, we'll be taking the SAT pretty soon and I don't want him to forget anything, so it's a win-win for me. He doesn't think it is for him, but he'll thank me one day. Not necessarily soon . . .but one day. I guarantee.

• Chemistry - I finally got the 411 on what's going on in the chemistry co-op. So far they've learned about kinetic particle theory, measurement techniques, purification and separation, and element compounds and mixtures - which included a "trial by fire" introduction to the Periodic Table. Coming up this week they'll be studying atomic structure and there is a lab scheduled which includes burning magnesium. That's a courageous lady running the show over there. That's all I have to say. Well that and THANK YOU, because I never ever could.
  

If you've read this far, thanks for tuning in. If not, I certainly understand. It's one of those things in life that simply must be done. I mean, if you don't give yourself and your kid a virtual report card via a public blog . . . how can you be a homeschooler? ;-)


Have a great weekend, everyone!


Until next time . . .