Day #2 of Exam Week for Term 1

My dh had to get up an hour earlier for work so I slept in until 7:50 am. Yep, that’s how that works. Wake me at the right time or don’t expect me to be up until…well, when I wake up. Or something like that.

It’s two hours later now –I’ve had a couple cups of coffee and the kids have had their breakfast of honey nut o’s. Fox has done work on a few of his questions. Lee however is stalling this morning for some reason. She woke up before Fox and I thought she would get going sooner. Is it Thursday? Because that is her usual ‘slack’ day. Nope, it’s Tuesday. Although, if today is #2 of a 3-day week, then it would be a ‘Thursday’. Huh, imagine that!

Anyway. That is where we are at the moment. More to come later.

Finally both have worked on their exams. I’m going to be honest here- but I’ll try to keep it nice. I’m extremely frustrated with the lack of independence (?) in both of my kids. When I wrote the questions for the exam- barring the math- I wrote them with the purpose of wanting them to tell me what’s in their head. They both seem to think there is something particular, some exact detail or scene, that I am looking for and if they can’t figure it out, they panic. And based on just the few math problems for at least one kid, we are going to have to go b.a.c.k. in math. None of the processes or formulas could be recalled- I did try to give hints and a little help (is that bad?) but in the end I’m thinking that is just adding to the dependence.

And one more thing- the lack of details –not from the accounts they are relaying but the details in the sentences themselves –is driving me absolutely batty! I have an 8th and 10th grader but get an answer that someone could guess a 4th grader (or lower) wrote. The sentence(s) are such as: If you looked in it you would die. If you looked in what? Why? What are the surrounding circumstances? Of course I do know that written ‘narrations’ are harder than oral narrations- these exams are primarily written narrations. I need to look at the answers as areas where we need to work on not so much as failings. It’s not as easy to grade as a multiple choice test that’s for sure!

I would love to blame this on the public schools but I don’t think that’d really be accurate. Awhile ago, reading Charlotte Mason’s volume 3, about Masterly Inactivity, she talks about the parent who fairly over-explains things. I have a tendency to do that. A lot actually. I think I’ve gotten better over the last year but the ‘damage’ may well have been done!

Anyway, it is 12:30 pm now and Lee is working on her chores. Fox finished his exam portion for the day, choosing to take turns doing chores and answering questions like yesterday.

I was on the AO forums earlier and the question of grading the exams came up. There is talk of creating a rubric specific to the exams. I’m excited to hear that. I’ve really never been good with rubrics, though.

Exam Term 1, Y7Lite

You’ll find the AO free curriculum exams at the AO website but here is our Y7Lite, Term 1, exam for Fox. It was different when Lee was in Y7Lite but I still have her exam saved. We did an exam at the end of the year, so Term 3; none before that.

So, ours is different in the following ways: added Bible questions pertinent to our reading and from church sermons, a question about glow-worms for science and one for nutrition, a blank US map for geography, some math problems from his current program (that doesn’t even include any geometry), and from Jensen’s Grammar, changed a logic question, changed the format of the foreign language questions, and added a question about Joan of Arc in the history. I took out dictation and handicrafts since we’ve not done either of those. I added in turning in the notes he’s taken on current events. And I think that is about it. Seems like rather a lot but really it isn’t.

Bible/Devotional
1. Write out three logical reasons showing the validity of Christianity.
2. Tell how “That’s bad. No, that’s good,” applies to your life as a Christian.
3. Tell what you know about the ark of the covenant.
Writing/Penmanship- must be hand written
Write 8-10 lines of poetry.
Composition/Literature
1. Tell the story of Deirdre and the Sons of Usnach, or Fingal.
2. Write eight lines in verse about the tournament in Ivanhoe.
3. Narrate an adventure from In Freedom's Cause.
English Grammar
Lesson #50, sentences 16-20.
World History
1. How did Alfred set about to educate his people, and from where did he get help? Explain how he created English literature.
2. What two principles guided Alfred as Lawgiver? Discuss the way in which he followed both.
3. Write a short account of the Arthurian legend.
4. What do you know about Roman Camps and Roman Roads in Britain?
5. Describe a scene from Joan of Arc.
Geography
1. What made St. Brendan's account doubtful?
2. Show St. Brendan's voyage on a map.
3. Describe Saint MacDara's Island or the Sheep Islands/Faroes.
4. Fill in the blank map of the United States.
Natural History and General Science
1. Write notes, with drawings, on the studies you have made this term. (science)
2. Tell what you know about Glow-Worms or other beetles.
3. What do you know of the brain and its functions?
Citizenship/Government (Plutarch)
1. Explain how Pericles handled criticism and complaints.
2. What is a tu quoque fallacy? Give an example.
3. What is an "ad hominem" attack?
Reading Skill
Read aloud a previously unseen passage. (see mom)
Arithmetic/Geometry
1. -5 - (-7) = __
2. A car lot stocks 6 red cars for every 2 green cars. If there are 8 green cars at the lot, how many red cars are there?
3. Paul made 9 baskets out of 12 attempts in basketball practice. What percentage of the shot attempts did Paul make?
4. Change equations to slope-intercept form and sketch a graph.
    y-x=1
    2+4x=-4
    4x+y=5
Foreign Language
1. Write the Latin prayer you chose.
2. (Latin) Translate:
    Reginam spectavit.
    The son had shouted the words.
    good faith
    Christus fidem dat.
3. (German) Write a conversation between three people.
Picture Study
Describe a picture from this term's picture study.
Recitation
Recite this term’s Bible verses.
Music Appreciation
1. Tell about your favorite piece of music from this term.
2. Talk about a composer from this term.
Turn in all current events pages.

Feedback:
What did you think of this Term 1 exam? What do you think would help you next time?

Homeschool Mother’s Journal- 1 Month Update!

I was going to call this the two-week wrap-up but it’s really been a month {possibly a bit more} since my last entry. And this is possibly in the totally incorrect order! I’m going by memory. I’ll have to check it when I put it online and link up.

In my our life this week month…July had our first ‘week’ of back-to-school {July 9-13}. It was supposed to be 2 weeks of school with 2 weeks off but didn’t work out that way. The second week fizzled and then ds and dh went on a week long trip {that was planned}. That was quite uninteresting for dd and I. Personally I stayed up way too late and slept in way too long.

Right after they got back, then dh and I went to Boston, MA, for a work related…thing {also planned}. I spent most of the time at the hotel but I did get a book finished and notes for the review I wrote when I returned home. I’d planned to write a post about our trip but I’ll explain later why I didn’t. I did take 208 photos though. Some I shared in a short post.

While we were gone to Boston, the kids attended the GLYC12 in Cleveland, OH, with pastor and his kids. The kids (and pastor) said it was great preaching and also there was lots of fun to be had.

When dh and I returned from Boston, something that’d been on my mind for awhile came to a head. We’ve instituted a strict limit on our technology for the month of August. That includes everything. Dh and I have to use our computers and the internet for our work  but otherwise we don’t use it for anything else. Phones don’t count in this because we must have those but we don’t have fancy phones –they can send/receive calls and texts. I get up early to check my email and write my blog posts before the kids are up. The kids and I also use the computer for school related things. It’s been…difficult. Not impossible. I actually wrote this on paper prior to typing it up so I’d lessen my “screen time”.

And to wrap up how my life has been this month- my dh is actually out of town once again. This has been the time for traveling. I can’t wait to be back to normal!

In our homeschool this month…How to do two weeks of school in 1 month! It was originally planned to be 2 weeks of school, 2 weeks off for traveling, then 4 weeks back to school. Well, we’ve managed the first week only and now when it should be week #3, we are only finishing #2. It’s just been difficult to get school done. As a matter of fact, we are going to be having school on Saturday because we’ve not gotten every thing done for the week. At this rate, we’ll not finish school before the next school year starts!

But here’s what’s been done {feel free to skip ahead lol}:
Both:

• Bible- reading {L: Judges 11-15 & 1 Cor 5-8; F: Joshua 23-Judges 4 & Acts 4} and focusing on Genesis 6-9 & 11:1-9 {civil government, intrinsic value, languages, God’s unstoppable plan, unified rebellion}
• Latin {reviewing Unit 3}
• Home Ec {introduction and budgeting- money}
• Ohio Study {general information}
• Plutarch {Pericles- Anne White Study Guide}
• Science {spheres and layers of Earth, plate tectonics}
• Logic {Art of Argument, basically just the introduction}
• Poetry {The Roar on the Other Side, introduction}
• Art/Music {Renoir/Schubert}

Lee: Bible- commentary- Galatians 1; Verse- Ephesians 6:10-11
History- A History of the American People, pp 79-89; Washington, the Indispensible Man, pp 1-22 {learning some things that I definitely didn’t know!}
Literature/Grammar- History of English Literature, chapters LX-LXI; Traditional English Sentence Style, chapter 1
Citizenship- Ourselves, pp 75-83
Math- Geometry review
Government- Are You Liberal, Conservative or Confused?, ch 1-2
Greek- Hey Andrew! Teach Me Some Greek! Level 6, lessons 1-2 vocabulary review

Fox: Bible- Devotion- Mere Chrisianity, Preface; Verse- Psalm 51:1-4
History- The Birth of Britain, pp 3-29; Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc, Intro-ch 2
Literature/Grammar- The History of English Literature, ch 1; The Age of Chivalry, ch 1-2; Idylls of the King; Jensen’s lesson 45-46
Math- No-Nonsense Algebra, lessons 1-11 through 1-15; Pearson U1, practice 10-11
German- Mango and Transparent Language {we are trying to decide which is ‘better’- which he prefers}

We actually did school pictures today {Friday}. I edited them on picmonkey. Of course, mine are conveniently missing *wink*.

Where we are going/ who we are seeing…Other than the trips mentioned earlier {ds and dh- WI; dh and I- MA; ds and dd- GLYC12; dh- Northwest}, we’ve gone to the grocery store, library, church, Fox went to Young Marines and Lee went to her babysitting job {in Mentor}. And while I was in Mentor I found a great deal for Lee – a pair of nice pants for $2.99!

What I’m reading…

• Bible- in Ezekiel right now
• Traveler’s Rest by Ann Tatlock
• Mr. Pipes and the British Hymn Makers by Douglas Bond
• Just finished King Alfred’s English by Laurie J. White
• Trying to really get into The Once and Future King by T. H. White
• Still reading {or trying to} books about Vivaldi, Venice, and Baroque time period
• Will need to start again with pre-reading books for kids’ school

What I’m praying for…Cleansed heart; my family- that we continue to grow in Christ and lean towards Him when we are strained; more insight into what I’m ‘supposed’ to be doing; my family in general

What’s working/not working…I want to say less technology isn’t working but actually it is going well. Since curtailing it we’ve all been more physically and mentally active, as well as doing more together.

Thursday just isn’t working. I think on every single calendar I should name Thursday, “Monday #2”. By Thursday our get up and go and done got up and got. Not that it is Thursday’s fault. Our mind set is just against that day. Other than ‘just do it!’ I’ve not figured out how to fix it.

Thoughts I have…I’ve had quite a few review items. You can always see them on the right side bar. I say “I’ve” rather than “we’ve” because for some reason they’ve been quite difficult to integrate into our day. Some I have honestly had to try myself {as if I’m the student} to be able to do my review as thoroughly as I’d like. Some of my reviews aren’t done as well as I think they could have been. I see this as something that may be coming to an end soon- even if only temporarily.

With the internet, my ‘circle’ has definitely widened but at the same time, the wider that circle, the less time I actually have to visit with those in my circle. I find that although I have had access to a plethora of other people {via blogs and other social media}, I didn’t really interact very much. Now that I have limited that access, I find I am missing what I didn’t even really do. I used to, when my circle was smaller. I think I like a smaller circle.

Jeanine, if you read this- I keep meaning to write you an email!

What I’m cooking…I made chicken enchiladas on Tuesday for my dh’s bday dinner. Lee made pancakes on Wednesday and Fox made muffins on Thursday. Saturday I get to make French Toast. We actually planned our entire week’s meals, including snacks.

What I’m working on…I’m not really working on anything but school and daily life. And a few review posts.

Quote I’d like to share…There are actually two-

“In every poem there is some of the substance of God.” St. Augustine

“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.” Aristotle

Eventually I hope to link this up with a few places. If/when I do, I’ll make sure to include the buttons/links

ETA: Well it looks like THMJ closes WAY early. So I’m not linked up with that one- which this post takes the most after lol- but I did link up with Mary at Home Grown Learners and Kris at Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers.