Homeschooling Week 21: Orion Constellation, Despereaux, Cursive, Probability, Key Term Review

Yes I know I am a day late! 

The Phi had a great week of work. In my opinion it wasn't enough work. Especially since they have this week off for President's Day. 

For this week we had some issues when it came to math. Phi had worksheets all about probability. The concept I get, but there was absolutely no instruction. Through this homeschooling journey I have found that the way I learned math is so very different than the way Phi is learning math. Joey and I had to research a little about this weeks math. Because this is not the first time that work has come home with no introduction, or really no instruction to the parents OR the students we broke down and bought a used copy of the teachers edition. We don't want to risk teaching The Phi anything incorrectly!

This week Phi's class started the first 4 chapters of a new book! They are reading "The Tale of Despereaux", the story of a little mouse with big ears and an even bigger adventure. This book is made up of a lot of short chapters. There was not a lapbook sent, only a few worksheets. We looked at the "mood" and the characters that have been introduced. We did some vocab words and talked a little about predictions about the story. 

We are continuing our studies about the solar system. This week the focus was on stars and specifically constellations. Phi had to pick one constellation, write a report and draw it. She chose the Orion constellation. I found this great video all about the story of Orion. Such an interesting story. We also looked up the actual stars and when they are visible and all about the Orion Nebula.

 Instead of just drawing the constellation, Joey and Phi went with a little bit more interactive display. They busted out the Lite-Brite and made this very cool model.

The Phi is 3 points away from being the first one to complete the reading chart at school. She has the hardest time finding something she wants to read. She has a tendency to start a book and give it a week and then abandon it. This wastes a lot of time that could have been spend finishing a book. Since she has a break I knew she needed to use the extra time to get those 3 points. A podcast I listen to was talking about Judy Blume books. I loved her books, and I thought "Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing" would be something Phi could relate to. I mean a 9 year old kid who has to live in the shadow of his super adorable, super naughty little brother. This is SO Phi's life with Louie as a sister. We started the book by her reading out loud to me and she loved it. She only has a couple of chapters left! 

We are going to use our week off to finish reading this book, starting a new one and finishing off our 9 multiplication tables!