Firstborn: 26 February

In a tent we made out of poles and blankets outside, I did part of my Latin, my math test and some handwriting. After we went inside, I worked on my typing and translated a story about Octavian versus Antony and Cleopatra from Latin. Next I went to Itunes to chant my Latin vocabulary words (review).

The next undertaking was to continue writing notes for a summary of the life of Christopher Columbus for our history notebook. Lastly, I recorded the sunrise/sunset times for my Journey North class.

Now I think I'll go out and fix the tent which has blown down in the wind.

~submitted by Firstborn

Firstborn 19 Februrary

Today I did my math test, Latin test, and handwriting. Then I worked on my typing and my mom read to me about Moore and the destruction of the missions in Florida & Georgia, the War of Jenkins' Ear, and George Washington's earliest battle. Now I am going to go outside to play in our fort with my sisters. The end.

~Firstborn

Firstborn: 11 Februrary

Today math was the first thing I did; practicing more with the rule of four and its uses with addition and subtraction of fractions. Tomorrow I will take the test.

Second item was handwriting...a single page was enough for today. Latin was next. I worked in the Libera Historia on sentence translation. (Mom says someday I'll thank her for this. We'll see.) After that, I drilled my typing exercises; I even got up to 48wpm on one game!

Last, Sunshine and I started working on our Mass Album. Sunshine has memorized Psalm 42 and I copied it into our album. Tomorrow I will go over my pencil draft with ink and we'll add a border.

Update on the crystal growing experiment: Mom thought the experiment was a total bust, so she didn't say much about it. But, just now I told her what a huge success it has been. A deliciously sweet success. Success that I have been eating before she sees it. I just showed her a huge crystal that had grown overnight. I didn't know she wanted to take a picture of it; the picture will have to wait until tomorrow or the next day.

~submitted by Firstborn

Firstborn, 6 February

Today I did handwriting work; I wrote little reminder sayings such as "Spring forward, Fall back." In history, Sushine and I worked on another page of our North American Explorers book. Today we focused on Madoc who was a 15th century explorer who came to America.

Next I did my Lenten retreat from My Path to Heaven, studying the first picture and then reading about it and discussing it with Mom. Following that, I made math corrections from yesterday's work. I couldn't find my test book, so I will have to take that test another day. Lastly, I took my Latin test on the imperfect form and got it perfect!

~submitted by Firstborn
Ash Wednesday

Firstborn: 4 February

After an entire week off for sickness, I returned, reluctantly, to work today. The weather is burning up at 80* with sunny skies. Anyway, I began with Journey North reports. I recorded the sunrise and sunset times for our city and for Mystery classes #1 and #2. I learned how to figure out the photoperiod and made a photoperiod graph for my city.

Next I worked on handwriting. And then, onto math. In math today, I continued to make equivalent fractions and added fractions with common denominators. We also practiced speed work on addition flash cards.

Lastly I worked on my Latin endings. I am learning imperfect tense endings: -bam, -bas, -bat, -bamus, -batis, and -bant. Then we reviewed for tomorrow's quiz.

~submitted by Firstborn

Firstborn 24 January

Latin was at the top of my day. I completed two Latin mazes and began Chapter 16 in my LFC workbook. We began learning the Imperfect (Past) Tense endings. They are: ~bam, ~bas, ~bat, ~bamus, ~batis, ~bant.

Next I did a review page of italics handwriting. And then, completed three pages of math. Tomorrow I will take the Lesson 4 Test. I also worked on my keyboarding, mostly review.

In history, I listened with Sunshine to the story of Pocahonas and Jamestown while drawing. And we had a short meteorology lesson about light and refraction. Refraction is when light waves bend because the light is going through different densities.

My candy experiment looks the same as yesterday afternoon: yellow-ish water with a string in it. This morning I was doing a electrical experiment and tried to build a dimmer with my sisters. We made stinky smoke. Rosebud ran away. Oh, and the resistor is very hot to the touch, by the way.

~submitted by Firstborn

Firstborn, 23 January

I started out my work today by completing a Latin translation word find. It was a great a challenge to do, but it was fun. Next I began Lesson 4 in my math book. In this lesson, I am working on converting fractions (2/3 = 4/6).

I made a map of Leif Ericsson's route from Greenland to North America, coloring the countries and labelling the route. In meteorlogical studies, we looked at the effect of light. I did an experiment shining a flashlight into a glass pitcher of milk and water. Looking in from opposite the light, the liquid ("sky') was bluish, but from the same side as the light, the liquid appeared yellow.

In the afternoon, I did an independent experiment where I boiled water and added sugar to dissolve. Later I put a thread in it and I am hoping delicious sugar crystals will form on the thread. We'll find out in about three days.

I also practiced my piano pieces, "Amarylis" and "Auld Lang Syne."

~submitted by Firstborn

Firstborn 22 January

It was a math test that started my study day today. I am reviewing Epsilon and had a test on adding fractions with same denominators.

After my test, I worked on a Latin word find. I had a list of English nouns and verbs that needed translation and then I found the Latin words in the word-find. I completed most of it.

I am studying meteorology now. Yesterday we learned about the layers of the atmosphere and I made and labelled an illustration of the atmosphere. The layers from the ground up are: Troposphere, Stratosphere, Mesosphere, Temposphere (where the temps reach 3500* F) and the Exosphere. Today we studied air compression. Compressed air is warmer than uncompressed.

I did a lengthy page of handwriting in which I had to copy a long list of "ology" words. Plus three "exaggerated" sentences (For example: "This book weighs a ton!" or "That handwriting assignment took me all day!")

Moving on to History, I copied my report about Eric the Red into my history book. He lived in the 10th century and explored Greenland.

This afternoon I will practice my piano assignment and hope to attempt an experiment in making sugar crystals. I will tell you about that later!

~submitted by Firstborn

Firstborn 14 January 2008

Today I finished my lesson 1 math test and completed three pages of math in lesson 2. In lesson 2, I worked on identifying and building fractions. I wrote them out in number form and word form (i.e., 4/5 and four-fifths).

In Latin for Children, I began chapter 15 which discussed Sentence Patterns A and B. Sentence pattern A is SN-V (Vir intrat. The man enters.) Sentence pattern B is SN-LV-PrN (Julia est puella. Julia is a girl.) Pattern B always uses a linking verb whereas, Pattern A uses an actioncaverb. Predicate nominatives always follow a linking verb and rename the subject (Julia = girl).

I also worked on translation in my Latin reader. I translated two sentences about Hannibal and labelled the sentence patterns.

My sister, Sunshine, and I continued to work on our North American Explorers history book. Today we added Eric the Red. Sunshine labelled a map and I began a summary of his life.

Lastly, I worked on my typing program. I am working on capitals on the home row and e & u plus periods.