Term Three 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: Monkey has finished Premier's Reading Challenge for this year. Neither one of us can remember if he receives his gold medal this year, or at the end of next year. We are working on the assumption that he will earn it next year and therefore he plans to participate in the challenge next year. Given that he reads slower than the other two boys, and is much more particular about the types of books he will read, I will gently encourage him to be reading a PRC book at all times. As soon as one challenge finishes, any PRC books you read immediately count for the following year. 

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 genres 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.

Update: Munchkin has thoroughly enjoyed some of the new (higher quality) books that I have introduced him to this year (with some help from a dear friend up in Queensland who recommends excellent books to me all the time). Still our biggest issue is that he reads really fast, but as he gets older he'll be able to read longer and longer books with more complex story lines and more mature content and hopefully that will help. 

Further Update: We seem to have found a series of books that takes Munchkin longer than one day to read (one book). The series is The Mysterious Benedict Society. However, the library only has two books, (there are five in the series) and one of the books is WEEKS overdue which means it is highly unlikely that it will be returned. I am seriously considering putting in purchase requests - for the overdue book as well as the others in the series. Now to find other series that keep him happy for longer.

General Thoughts about the Premier's Reading Challenge: I am continuing to have Monkey and Munchkin participate in the challenge because both boys want to earn their medal (which is awarded at the end of Year 9 or Year 10) but I am pretty disappointed in the challenge in general. During the COVID lockdowns they relaxed the number of PRC list books you had to read, and increased the number of free choice books you could include, because they were aware that children would not have access to libraries and bookstores. However, they did not return to the old rules after COVID lockdowns ceased and this irritates me. It feels like a general dumbing down of the whole challenge. I recently noticed they have increased the number of books from a series that can be included. Originally the purpose of the challenge (as I understand it anyway) is for students to be stretched out of their comfort zones and reading ruts and try new things. However, the relaxation of these two rules (in my humble opinion) allows students to simply keep reading what is comfortable and/or easy for them.

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 Three.

Monster: Monster did not do any writing this term. He is concentrating on finishing his math and Latin. Once he has those finished he will focus on writing. I have assigned him three more research papers to write before he completes high school in October.

Monkey: The Fox and The Crow (Unit 9 Formal Critique), The Samurai (Unit 4/6)

Munchkin: Blue Footed Booby (Unit 4/6)

I am much happier with the boys writing this term, even though they only produced a small number of written documents. Munchkin's report on Blue Footed Booby was long and detailed. It could use some further polishing, but because it was of extreme interest to him, he put in excellent effort, and that was my focus for him this term. I'm also happy with Monkey because I introduced a new unit to him, and although he didn't write as serious a paper as I would have liked, he also put excellent effort and focus into the assignment. I will continue to push them where writing is concerned during Term 4.

 

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 Three 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 Three we read the following books: "Peter Pan in Scarlet" by Gerarldine McMaughrean, "Gathering Blue", "Messenger" and "Son" all by Lois Lowry    

Monkey: In Term Three we read the following books: "The Call of the Wild" and "White Fang" by Jack London. Monkey liked "White Fang" MUCH more than "Call of the Wild".    

Monster:  In Term Three we read the following books: "David Copperfield" by Charles Dickens

Update for Monster: Even though he is effectively done with school as of the end of Term 3, I am going to try to read aloud a couple more books to him. After some discussion, we have chosen "Of Mice and Men" by John Steinbeck and "Frankenstein" by Mary Shelley.

 

Grammar:

Monkey: I continued Season Two of Analytical Grammar with Monkey during term three. We worked through the program together and completed the following units: Unit 7 - Pattern 3, Unit 8 - Patterns 4 & 5, and Unit 9 - Helping Verbs

Munchkin: Grammar is proving to be a much more difficult subject for Munchkin so I am re-thinking our approach. Similar to spelling I am looking at the Targeting Grammar workbooks to simplify the introduction to the concepts and if that goes well then I will continue with the Junior Analytical Grammar and Analytical Grammar curriculums. As I was re-reading my Term Reviews from 2022 I discovered that I had made the decision to hold off on grammar with Munchkin until he was in high school so my decision is now to remove grammar from his schoolwork for the remainder of this year and start fresh in 2024

MATHS:

Monster: Completed his Year 12 Haese Mathematics textbook, finishing chapters 7-9 covering the following topics: Discreet Random Variables, Continuous Random Variables, and Sampling and Confidence Intervals

Monkey: Began his Year 9 Haese Mathematics textbook this term. I do the work along with him and over the course of the term we completed chapters 5-8 covering the following topics: Algebraic Expansion and Simplification, Interpreting Tables and Graphs, Linear Equations, and Radicals & Pythagoras.

Munchkin: Continued working through his Year 6 Haese Mathematics textbook, working through chapters 9-13 of the book, and covering the following topics: Percentage, Positive & Negative Numbers, Sequences & Patterns, Probability and Location.

Update: Munchkin will easily finish his Year 6 textbook in the first few weeks of Term 4 (most definitely by week 5). I do not like starting a new textbook at the end of the year because of the long 6 week break for summer. Therefore, Munchkin will review Year 6 math concepts using the Khan Academy website for the remainder of this school year and will start his Year 7 Haese Mathematics textbook in February 2024.

 

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

Reminder - the above book will be read throughout the entire year.

We read the following science/technology books over the course of the term:

Robots Series by World Book Inc. The series included the following titles:

"Robot Basics", "Robots Sensing & Doing", "Robots Thinking & Learning", "Robots on the Move", "Robots at Work", "Robots at Play", "Robots in Action", "Robots Helping Out", "Robots and People" and "Weird Robots" 

- written by William D Adams and Jeff De la Rosa

HISTORY:

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

"The Kelly Gang: The Last of the Bushrangers" by Geoff Hocking, "Stories From Australia's History: Ned Kelly and the Kelly Gang" by Melanie Guile, "Wanted: Famous Outlaws Ned Kelly" by Tim Cooke, "Ned Kelly and the Green Sash" by Mark Greenwood, "Australia's Most Notorious Bushrangers" by Anna Sheppard, "Bushrangers: A History of Australia's Outlaws" by Anna Purcell, "Meet Ned Kelly" by Janeen Brian, "The Secret of the Black Bushranger" by Jackie French, and "The Night They Stormed Eureka" by Jackie French

Separate to Munchkin's unit study on Australian Bushrangers and Ned Kelly we read an additional history book.

"3-Minute Einstein" by Paul Parsons

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

"Samurai Castle" by Fiona McDonald, "Samurai" by Rupert Matthews, "Samurai" by World Book Inc, and "The Japanese Samurai" by Louise Park & Timothy Love 

 Monster: 

I read the following book aloud to all three boys:

"The First of Everything" by Stewart Ross

GEOGRAPHY:

Munchkin, Monkey, Monster:

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

We took a break from studying Geography topics this term.

Monkey: 

"When the Rivers Run Dry" by Fred Pearce, this book more or less wrapped up Monkey's long term unit study on Water in Australia and Around the World

Addition: I read the following books to Munchkin as part of his government unit study that is a requirement of upper primary age students.

"Government in Australia: How Our Democracy Works" by Melissa Kennedy, "Federal Government", "State and Territory Government", and "Local Government" all written by Stella Tarakson 

PDHPE:

We took a break from this subject for Term 3  

 

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)

Monster is now completely in charge of the care and upkeep of the six foot freshwater fish tank that he built with his father. He does fortnightly water changes and is responsible for feeding and caring for all the fish. It is also his responsibility to monitor the filter system and watch for any problems or issues with the tank in general. 

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.