Term One Review

ENGLISH:

Reading:

All three boys read lots of books for their independent reading time. I do not dictate what books they choose for their “free” independent reading time. I keep a folder on the desktop of my computer with a photograph of each and every book all three boys read throughout each term.

Monster: Is no longer participating in Premiere’s Reading Challenge this year as he completed it in Year 9. However, if he finds PRC books in the library that look interesting to him, I’m certain he will pick them up and read them. He is also enjoying reading e-books on his phone - the trick is for him to remember to tell me that he has read them!!

Monster is currently reading the following books: "12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos" by Jordan Peterson, "The Art of War" by Sun Tzu, and "Whisper" by Lynette Noni

Monkey: Monkey is working hard on his independent reading - with a focus on books that count towards the Premiere's Reading Challenge. He is very specific about the type of books he likes to read (he prefers books about animals) so I often spend time pouring over titles IN the actual library rather than checking the PRC website to ensure that I can get the books that sound interesting to him.

Update: The biggest issue with Monkey's reading is finding the time when he can read. He is very much like me and finds it difficult to read when there is noise or activity around him, so the best time for him to read is late at night after he has gone to bed. Allowing him to read past his official bedtime is making it easier for him to have adequate reading time to complete the Premier's Reading Challenge.  

Munchkin: I am working hard to stick with my rule of no "fluff" reading during the term. Munchkin well and truly finished his required books for the Premier's Reading Challenge and so now I'm focusing on introducing him to new gneres that he might not try on his own. Munchkin is a voracious reader AND a fast reader so he is incredibly hard to keep happy with enough books to read. Thankfully he will happily read and re-read his favourite books.

Writing:

All three boys continue to use the Institute for Excellence in Writing: Teaching Writing Structure and Style curriculum. It allows each boy to work at a level appropriate for their age and ability. It “grows” with the child so to speak. See below for a list of the types of writing each individual boy did during Term One.

Monster: Monster wrote only one paper this term, a research paper on the planet Adolf Hitler. This corresponded to his year long unit study that we are doing on World War II.

Monkey: Writing With Pictures (Unit 5), and Viking Homes (Unit 4/6)

Munchkin: Writing With Pictures (Unit 5), Creative Writing about a special toy, Turtles (Unit 4/6) 

I am not particularly happy with our writing this term and the blame for the slackness sits squarely on me for not being organised enough and consistent enough. But, now I know what we (me) need to work harder on next term and throughout the remainder of the year.

 

Spelling:

Monkey:  

Update: Monkey has finished all the spelling lists on the Ozspeller website so he is finished with spelling for his school career. I will now simply keep an eye on his spelling in his writing assignments and if he gets sloppy we'll do a "spelling review".

Munchkin: Term One saw Munchkin continuing the Targeting Spelling Yr 3 workbook. We also continued with the Ozspeller lists, alternating weekly with the unit in the workbook, or a word list from the website. Munchkin's spelling has improved a lot. I think once he finishes the Yr 3 spelling workbook we can go back to just using Ozspeller with a lot more success. Spelling is SO important and I'm glad I took a step backward with Munchkin and worked on his spelling skills instead of just pushing him through and assuming he would "catch up" on his own eventually.

Literature:

Below are the books I selected to read to the boys for their literature this term. Munchkin’s books were read to all three boys, Monkey’s books were read to Monster as well, and Monster’s books were read only to him.

Munchkin: In Term One we read the following books: "The Princess Bride" by William Goldman, "Mary Poppins" by P.L. Travers, "Fables of Aesop", and "The Phantom Tollbooth" by Norton Juster   

Monkey: In Term One we read the following books: "The Hobbit" by J.R.R. Tolkien    

Monster:  In Term One we read the following books: "The Screwtape Letters" by C.S. Lewis, "Screwtape Proposes a Toast" by C.S. Lewis, "Fahrenheit 451" by Ray Bradbury, and "1984" by George Orwell

Monster and I both agree that "1984" by George Orwell was our LEAST favourite book EVER, while the Screwtape Letters were our favourite. C.S. Lewis is always a joy to read, even though he stretches my brain to breaking point at times.

 

Grammar:

Monkey: I started Season Two of Analytical Grammar with Monkey this term. We worked through the program together and completed the following units: Unit 1 - Nouns, Adjectives, & Articles, Unit 2 - Pronouns, and Unit 3 - Prepositional Phrases.

Munchkin: I started the Junior Analytical Grammar curriculum with Munchkin this term. He worked through the following units: Unit 1 - Nouns, Unit 2 - Articles and Adjectives, Unit 3 - Pronouns

MATHS:

Monster: Is working through his Year 12 Haese Mathematics textbook, and has completed chapters 1 and 2 covering the following topics: Functions and Differential Calculus.

Monkey: Completed his Year 8 Haese Mathematics book, working through chapters fourteen through eighteen covering the following topics: Rates, Probability, Problem Solving, Congruence and Transformations, and Statistics. Monkey will begin his Year 9 Haese Mathematics textbook in Term 2.

Munchkin: Began working through his Year 6 Haese Mathematics textbook, working through the first four chapters of the book during the term, and covering the following topics: Whole Numbers, Points, Lines and Angles, Number Properties and Polygons and Solids.

We started reading books in the Its a Mathematical World series - completing the first book - "Maths in Nature"

 

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY:

For the remaining school subjects I try to teach all three boys together as a group as much as I possibly can. So I will now start listing Munchkin’s work first and work from youngest to eldest boy rather than repeatedly recording the same things.

I rely heavily on our library for quality books to cover the content we study in the remaining subjects. When I am planning a unit study I do a subject search for books and reserve any and all that look like they will be suitable for the boys. I include picture books, junior non-fiction, and I’ve just started including adult non-fiction for both Monkey AND Monster.

 

Munchkin, Monkey, Monster:

 Munchkin, Monkey and Monster: We began the following book this term for their Science Content:

"Eureka! Mind Blowing Science Every Day of the Year" by Jim Al-Khalili

This book is similar to the "On This Day" book we read last year. Each day of this year we will read a little blurb about a science topic. So far the book is proving to be very interesting and thought provoking. 

I will endeavour to read MUCH more science related book next term as we took a bit of a break to focus on history and geography this term.

HISTORY:

Munchkin: I read the following books aloud to Munchkin for History this term:

"A Timeline of" series consisting of the following topics: Adobe Shelters to Steel Skyscrapers: A Timeline of Building, Counting pebbles to Writing Code: a Timeline of Mathematics and Computers, Foraging to Supermarkets: a Timeline of Food, Hieroglyphics to Hypertext: a Timeline of the Written Word, Leeches to Lasers: a Timeline of Medicine, Smoke Signals to Smartphones: A Timeline of Long-Distance Communication, Stargazing to Space Travel: A Timeline of Space Exploration, and Wooden Spears to Military Drones: A Timeline of Warfare - all written by various authors

"The Story of Australia 1915-1932", "The Story of Australia 1899-1914", "The Story of Australia 1878-1898", "The Story of Australia 1856-1877", "The Story of Australia 1831-1855", "The Story of Australia 1806-1854", "The Story of Australia First Peoples - 1805" by Australian Geographic Series, 

"Major Events in Colonial Australia" and "Life in Colonial Australia" by Australian Geographic History Series

"Life in Colonial Australia" by Marion Littlejohn & Doug Bradby

"Paper: Paging Through History" by Mark Kurlansky

"Dingo: The Dog Who Conquered a Continent" by Jackie French

Monkey: I read the following books aloud to Monkey for History this term:

"Men, Women and Children in Viking Times", "Scandinavian Vikings" by Louise Park and Timothy Love, "Vikings" by World Book, "The Genius of the Vikings", "Everyday History: Life in Viking Times", "Norse Myths and Legends", "Anglo Saxons and Vikings"   

 Monster: "A Good Place to Hide" by Peter Grose, "Stories of World War II: Kindertransport", "Australian Women in War",  "At Home During World War II: Propaganda" by Stewart Ross, "Australia and the Second World War: 1939-1945", "Kokoda Track 101 Days" by Peter Macinnis, "The Happiest Man on Earth" by Eddie Jaku

 

GEOGRAPHY:

Munchkin, Monkey, Monster:

We read the following books as part of their Geography studies this term:

"Prisoners of Geography: Ten Maps That Tell You Everything You Need to Know About Global Politics" by Tim Marshall

This is a fascinating book and will take probably half of Term Two to finish. The book is excellently written and gives good insight into some of the current issues in the world through the geographical constraints of the particular areas.

Monkey: Monkey utilizes his phone for a large portion of his geography studies. He accesses numerous apps and videos to quiz himself on the locations of the countries of the world, and also to read about various geographical topics. This has proven to be very useful for him and we are finding that he is a wealth of geographical information. He has also memorised nearly all of the world flags. He spent quite a bit of time printing the world flags out (in colour) and can now recite nearly all of them purely on sight recognition.

 

PDHPE:

We read the following books during Term One:

"The Endocrine System, The Reproductive System, Human Development", "The Bacteria Book: Gross Germs, Vile Viruses, and Funky Fungi" by Steve Mould, "The Reproductive System", "Viruses", "The Secret Life of Viruses", "Viruses in Our World", "The Giant Book of Germs",  

Your Brilliant Body Series: "Your Growling Guts and Dynamic Digestive System", "Your Thumping Heart and Battling Blood System", "Your Breathtaking Lungs and Rocking Respiratory System", "Your Mind-bending Brain and Nifty Nervous System"  

 

Creative Arts:

   Munchkin does a LOT of creative arts in his free time so I rarely have to "assign" or schedule the work for him. He loves drawing, painting, papercraft, collage, clay, and pretty much any kind of craft he can get his hands on.

Latin: (Monster)

Monster is currently working through two Latin textbooks independently. They are Lingua Latina Familia Romana and Lingua Latina Exercitia Latina 1.

Monster is also reading the following book in Latin: "Death Note"

 

Marine and Aquaculture Technology: (Monster)

Term One saw Monster and his father finishing off the set up of the six foot freshwater fish tank project they began during the summer holidays. This included purchases of additional fish for the tank, suitable food, and appropriate plants. The care and upkeep of the tank is now entirely Monster's responsibility.

German: (Monkey)

Monkey is working through "Getting Started with German" completing ten lessons per week. Monkey is also using the Duolingo app on his phone to further his German language learning. There are two German language courses available through our library that we will access through the year as needed. 

Creative Arts ~ Drawing: (Monkey)

Monkey has chosen creative arts for his second elective with an obvious focus on drawing and painting. I don't direct much work for him with this elective, he simply draws or paints when the mood hits him. As I find videos or books that I think will interest him in these areas I point them in his direction. I photograph the artwork that he creates and include it in our reporting on the blog. He has also begun his own sketchbook for this year that he will draw/paint in and be prepared to show to our AP when she returns for our next registration at the end of this year.

Monkey has taken a particular interest this year in portraiture. Since January 2022 he has drawn a portrait of Steve Irwin, a portrait of President Barack Obama, a portrait of Queen Elizabeth II,  a portrait of Julius Caesar, as well as a portrait of the Grand Duke of Luxembourgh and Vladamir Putin.

Update: Monkey has a current interest in drawing countries, both existing and imagined. He will print map outlines on the computer, trace them onto an additional piece of paper, then add details on his own and finally colour the finished map. He has also spent a good deal of time creating his own fictional maps that include an incredible amount of detail - which I believe were inspired by the "How to Train Your Dragon" book series.