Today, we reviewed the essay on Courage and talked about courageousness and heroism. We also discussed the humorous essay, "Twas a Dark and Dreary Night." We talked about fears and whether or not we should hide those fears from others. We also looked at "overstatement" and how it was used in the essay. We then discussed different genres of literature, as well as the comparison between formal and informal essays. I then introduced the next story, "Run, Boy, Run!", discussing the idea of overcoming hardships and succeeding through hard work. Homework: -answer questions about "Twas a Dark and Dreary Night" -read "Run, Boy, Run!"
Oh, my, I'm already behind! Anyways, we went over the story,"Run, Boy, Run" and discussed what the "protagonist" of a story is (the main character). We then read and discussed "The Most Important Day," a story about Helen Keller (an excerpt from "The Miracle Worker." In this story, we discussed "symbols" and different symbols used in the story and elsewhere. We concluded our study on this story by watching "The Miracle Worker." At first, the girls complained b/c it was in black and white, but they enjoyed the movie. When it was done, we watched some bits and pieces of other versions of the story, but they decided they liked the b&w version best :)
The girls had tried to read the poem "Columbus," which talks about the struggles Columbus had on his maiden voyage to America. Allison was totally lost, so we did a few lines at a time and discussed what each meant. We also discussed "rhyme," "refrain," and "stanza." We then went over the "Thinking Zone" questions.
The girls then had to read "The Friend Inside," "Yes, Your Honesty," and "Rikki Tikki Tavi" and answer the "Thinking Zone" questions for each story. Sarah also read an extra story, "Betsy Dowdy's Ride," that was only in her book (older edition). I did not have her do any work with this story, as she actually read it by accident. We still need to go over these 3 stories together. I am hoping to show the girls the movie "Rikki Tikki Tavi" after we do that.
OK, so we went over the above stories...the girls are really struggling with this more detailed analysis that this year's book asks for. It's almost as if we skipped a book along the way. So, we're working through and trying to help them grow. We never did watch Rikki Tikki Tavi--just ran out of time. They'll survive ;)
We have now gone over "A Kind of Murder," "Edith Cavell," "Whether by Life or By Death/Spikenard Very Precious," and "Stand Up for Jesus." The 3 stories were all very moving, almost disturbing in what happened in the stories. I wasn't sure how Allison would handle it, but she did ok. She was a bit distressed, though, at how people were treated, esp. Mr. Warren in "A Kind of Murder."
I also had the girls do the Unit Review for the "Courage" unit. I have not graded it yet; I mainly wanted them to do it, for the practice in test-taking. They did struggle a bit with it, especially the essay questions. Sarah totally couldn't answer the essay questions, so I simplified the questions for her--it wasn't worth it for her to get overly frustrated with it. Allison was able to complete everything with a bit of guidance.
The girls have now started the next unit, "Nature and Man." We started out by reading the opening essay orally (we all took turns reading). We did discuss this essay a bit as we read through it. The girls have also read the 4 poems at the beginning of this unit and answered the questions. We did a short discussion on rhyme scheme, stressed syllables, and rhythm; this will be discussed more later in the book.
We'll continue on with probably the next 3 selections in the book this week.
The girls also each read a novel last week--Allison read "The Witch of Blackbird Pond," and Sarah read "Where the Red Fern Grows." They'll now be using those books with the Progeny Press Study Guides we purchased at the homeschool conference. These should take 4-6 weeks to complete. They'll then switch books and do this same activity.
Today, we reviewed the essay on Courage and talked about courageousness and heroism. We also discussed the humorous essay, "Twas a Dark and Dreary Night." We talked about fears and whether or not we should hide those fears from others. We also looked at "overstatement" and how it was used in the essay. We then discussed different genres of literature, as well as the comparison between formal and informal essays. I then introduced the next story, "Run, Boy, Run!", discussing the idea of overcoming hardships and succeeding through hard work.
ReplyDeleteHomework:
-answer questions about "Twas a Dark and Dreary Night"
-read "Run, Boy, Run!"
Oh, my, I'm already behind! Anyways, we went over the story,"Run, Boy, Run" and discussed what the "protagonist" of a story is (the main character). We then read and discussed "The Most Important Day," a story about Helen Keller (an excerpt from "The Miracle Worker." In this story, we discussed "symbols" and different symbols used in the story and elsewhere. We concluded our study on this story by watching "The Miracle Worker." At first, the girls complained b/c it was in black and white, but they enjoyed the movie. When it was done, we watched some bits and pieces of other versions of the story, but they decided they liked the b&w version best :)
ReplyDeleteThe girls had tried to read the poem "Columbus," which talks about the struggles Columbus had on his maiden voyage to America. Allison was totally lost, so we did a few lines at a time and discussed what each meant. We also discussed "rhyme," "refrain," and "stanza." We then went over the "Thinking Zone" questions.
The girls then had to read "The Friend Inside," "Yes, Your Honesty," and "Rikki Tikki Tavi" and answer the "Thinking Zone" questions for each story. Sarah also read an extra story, "Betsy Dowdy's Ride," that was only in her book (older edition). I did not have her do any work with this story, as she actually read it by accident. We still need to go over these 3 stories together. I am hoping to show the girls the movie "Rikki Tikki Tavi" after we do that.
OK, so we went over the above stories...the girls are really struggling with this more detailed analysis that this year's book asks for. It's almost as if we skipped a book along the way. So, we're working through and trying to help them grow. We never did watch Rikki Tikki Tavi--just ran out of time. They'll survive ;)
ReplyDeleteWe have now gone over "A Kind of Murder," "Edith Cavell," "Whether by Life or By Death/Spikenard Very Precious," and "Stand Up for Jesus." The 3 stories were all very moving, almost disturbing in what happened in the stories. I wasn't sure how Allison would handle it, but she did ok. She was a bit distressed, though, at how people were treated, esp. Mr. Warren in "A Kind of Murder."
I also had the girls do the Unit Review for the "Courage" unit. I have not graded it yet; I mainly wanted them to do it, for the practice in test-taking. They did struggle a bit with it, especially the essay questions. Sarah totally couldn't answer the essay questions, so I simplified the questions for her--it wasn't worth it for her to get overly frustrated with it. Allison was able to complete everything with a bit of guidance.
The girls have now started the next unit, "Nature and Man." We started out by reading the opening essay orally (we all took turns reading). We did discuss this essay a bit as we read through it. The girls have also read the 4 poems at the beginning of this unit and answered the questions. We did a short discussion on rhyme scheme, stressed syllables, and rhythm; this will be discussed more later in the book.
We'll continue on with probably the next 3 selections in the book this week.
The girls also each read a novel last week--Allison read "The Witch of Blackbird Pond," and Sarah read "Where the Red Fern Grows." They'll now be using those books with the Progeny Press Study Guides we purchased at the homeschool conference. These should take 4-6 weeks to complete. They'll then switch books and do this same activity.