Finished!!!!

Well, Zachary has officially finished 3rd grade even through he finished it last year too. But, this is recognized by the state where at last year wasn't. So, you may be asking what is he doing now. Well, we have completed 90% for 4th grade math, 9% 4th grade spelling, 14% 4th Literature, and 28% 4th Language Arts. He will continue this until June 30. The school doesn't allow a student to move up a grade in any of the other subjects. Since we have to do 6 hrs of school a day he is progressing in his 4th grade subjects faster than normal because we have lots of time and few subjects. We are also doing an independent study on Chemistry and the Medieval Time period.

When Zachary starts school next year he will be considered a 4th grader but will be starting 5th grade math and will be over half way finished with 4th grade spelling, literature, and language arts. So, probably 3-4 months after school starts he will be mainly doing 5th grade subjects while the rest will be 4th grade. I am wondering if at some time we should try to get his other subjects up a grade level so that he would be doing the same grade for all subjects. This could only be accomplished by having him test out of these subjects that he is below compared to his other subjects. I am just thinking if we needed or wanted to transition to a regular brick and mortar school the transition would be smoother.

Snowing in Spring!

Yes, today is the 2nd day of Spring and it is snowing outside. Friday I was in shorts and a t-shirt but Monday it should be back up to 60 and 70 by Tuesday. This weather is so weird.

Medieval Times

Zachary has finished his 3rd grade Social Studies/History for the year actually back in Jan/Feb. (don't remember). So, I thought I would pick a time in history that we haven't covered and came up with the Medieval Times.

What boy doesn't like Knights in Armor, castles, kings, queens, battles and such. So, yesterday we kicked off our study but in a really neat way. We went to Medieval times in Dallas. For those that have never been it is really cool. The whole place looks like a castle. You then wonder around the great room. Then you are seated and in the middle is the arena. Your meal is served by the serf of the castle. You sit in different colors and you have a knight that has your color. This is the knight you cheer for while he battles. The knights ride real horses, have joust, sword fights all under the eye of the King and princess.

Along with watching the knights you get a meal. Soup, bread, half of a chicken, rib, potato and dessert along with tea. All of this has to be eaten with your hands b/c they didn't have utensils during the Medieval Time period.

So, this was the start of our study. I plan for him to read about King Arthur and the Knights of the round table. Build a castle and learn about all aspects of the castle. Learn about the kings role along with the Knights. What the knights had to do to become Knights and what they had to wear. We may even make a costume. Along with reading books and projects, we will do some internet research. To finish our study we are planning on going to Scarborough Faire in May.

I do have a picture of us at Medieval Times. I hope to upload and post it soon.

Calculator

Today is a big day in math. I purchased a math workbook at Staples for Zachary to use. This workbook is going to be our training book for using a calculator. I thought I could just throw the workbook and calculator and tell him to get after it. But, no! I actually had to do a few as examples to get him started. However, after that he was off.

You may be asking why am I showing or allowing my 8 year old to use a calculator. Shouldn't he still be working addition, subtraction, multiplication and division in his head? The answer is yes he should be but he also needs to learn how to correctly use a calculator. He will continue doing his regular math program, TXVA 4th grade, without the calculator. This way he will be doing both, math without a calculator and math with a calculator.

As a student gets into higher math they eventually learn how to use a calculator and on certain standardized test they can use a calculator. I am teaching my son how to use his brain and the calculator.