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.

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.

Moving on UP

Well, last week Zachary finished 3rd grade Social Studies, however this isn't a subject in which the school will move him up to 4th so he is just finished until next year or unless I want to do something with him. I'm thinking about getting a maps workbook, well see.

The other thing that happened last week is very exciting. Zachary's principal and I have been talking back and forth along with his teacher. His teacher said that he should have been placed into 4th grade this year. The principal said that there was some misscommunications at the beginning of the year about who had the authority to move a child up a grade. So, the principal looked at Zachary's progress and decided that he was far enough along in 3rd grade Literature, Language Arts and Spelling to go ahead and move him up to 4th grade in just these 3 subjects. But, that she couldn't move him up into 4th grade completely. She also said that she would work with me and his teacher about his course placements for next school year. He was also placed into the Advanced Learners Program so that he can receive G/T services.

Zachary is really excited about moving up to 4th grade in Spelling, Literature and Language. He should receive his new books/workbooks Tuesday/tomorrow.

The principal is also talking with the Head of the school and the district about CBE's and previous instructions and weather or not they would accept a 70% on the CBE. She is also talking to them about courses taken at Texas Tech University ISD and if they can accept those courses. So, there is possibly going to be some changes.

Zachary's moving up in subjects

Well, I have talking with Zachary's principal about his placement and him fixing to finish up with 3rd grade language arts. Well, the principal went ahead and moved Zachary up to 4th grade Spelling, Literature and Language Arts. The materials have been ordered and the classes are up on the schools website. Zachary is sooooo excited!

The principal is also discussing some other issue like taking the CBE's when you have prior instruction and taking classes at TTU. She is also going to help with Zachary's school schedule for next year. WOW! This principal gets gifted children. Oh, she also put him into the advanced learners program which is like the G/T program for a brick and mortar school.

So, there is some exciting changes and hopefully some challenges in store for Zachary.

Happy New Years!!!!

We'll we are 9 days into the year 2010. The first 9 days hasn't been a good one for me. I have been sick. I have been sick to my stomach, no appetite, pains in my right side, and very bad headaches (Migraines). I have gotten shots in the back of my head for the headaches but that didn't work. On Jan. 6 I went to the ER but the diagnoses was laughable. I have started going to a different doctor and she seems more interested in finding out why I am sick rather than just treating the symptoms. She says that my x-ray shows an enlarged liver. I go next week to get an ultrasound.

Zachary has started the 2nd semester at TXVA. On the first day back he completed his Health subject. So, that is one less subject we have to deal with. He is about 50% finished with 4th grade math and should finish it and at least 3 other subject my the beginning of March if not sooner. I have emailed his teacher telling her that everything is coming really easy for him and nothing challenges him. I am worried that if this continues he will not know how to deal with a challenging situation when one comes about. I may have to talk about having him skip 4Th grade next year and go into 5th just to get material that is challenging at times and easy at times. However, not that all of it will be skipped b/c he will have completed 4th grade math. We'll see!

Brooke seems like she has grown up over night. She has a big girl room and big girl toys and loves them. She is no longer a baby but a toddler/preschooler. She knows her letters and their sounds completely and we are now working on putting letter together to read. She is also learning her colors and shapes. She can count to 10 easily and she use to count to 20 but we stopped doing that and either she has forgotten or is playing like she doesn't know.

In a week I will start a Biggest Loser contest at the local gym. However, with me being sick I have already lost 8 pounds. Not the way I wanted to start losing weight but I have to look on the positive side of things. I would love to lose 50 pounds and if I lose only 4 pounds a month that's 1 pound a week I can lose 50 pounds by the beginning of next year.

A lot has happened

Well, I can't believe that it has been over a month since I blogged. Sorry guys! Well, this should be a long post.

Weight Lost Jorney:
Well, WW didn't work or I just wasn't into it. Then when school started up so did cub scouts and the ww meetings and cubscouts are on the same day at the same time. So, I couldn't go. Well, I am a huge Biggest Loser fan. I think I have only missed 1 season. Well, you know that thing they were on their arms, I have one. Yes, that is right I have one. So, if you see something on my arm it is called a bodyBugg. It is actually the coolest thing. I long onto my account and input my food for the day. It calculates how many calories I ate then I plug in my bodybugg and it calculates how many calories I burned for that day. If i am in a deficiet I am losing weight if I am in a surplus I am gaining weight. It will also tell me how much protein, fat, carbs, etc.. that I have eaten for that day.



3rd grade school: (Zachary)
Zachary is doing great. He loves the science even through he he way ahead of it. He is moving so fast in it that he will be finished probably by december. I have purchased an online program called www.Exploreelearning.com. It has both math and science. We will use it mainly for science. It goes from 3rd-12th grade for science. It is like doing all the hands-on experiments without actually buying all the materials to do them. He loves it and will actually do it on Saturdays.

He has completed all the math unit assessments but we skipped the lessons assessments and he is 37% finished with 3rd grade. I asked the teacher to move him up but she says he has to be 85% finished. UGH!!! So, we are blazing through the lessons assessments to get to 85% so that he can move up. He has only missed 5 or 6 questions total in 37%. Plus, if he can do the unit assessments then he understands the lessons assessments. I also think he will move fast with the 4th grade curriculum. With this program it looks as if mid-way through 5th is his actually level.
Zachary in Art class.Brooke in her brothers art class

Brooke:
Well, Brooke is growing leaps and bounds. Both physcially and mentally. She is in the 90% for her height. She is really verbal and loves to talk. She has also started potty training. She started when she was 20 months old. I say give her a couple more months and she will be potty traning. Wow!! It will be nice to have a child that is potty trained at 2 years old.

Sewing:

I have started sewing. I love making pillowcase dressing and skirts. Here is one that I made for a friend.

1st & 2nd day of 3rd grade

Ok, Yesterday was the beginning of 3rd grade at Texas Virtual Academy @ Southwest. TXVA is a virtual public school. Yesterday started off with an assembly in the auditorium. Now you may ask how do you do this at a virtual school. We do it on line using the program/website called Elluminate. Elluminate has a whiteboard where you can write or show powerpoint presentations. I can hear the speakers and type in my questions. There where 400 people there. Afterwards we did a small introductory lessons on how to use their online schooling system (which is pretty cool). Then Zachary started taking a reading test. The test will adjust to every question you answer wrong or right in order to pinpoint your grade level. So the test lasted 2 hours.

Today he did the math portion of the test and it adjusted the same way. It took him 2 hours and 40 min. to finish. At one point he had gotten into algebra questions like 4ab + b - a/b= with a=2 & b=4. He knew how to substitute the letters for the numbers but didn't know you multiply 4ab. So, the test adjusted down from that. We then did an introducation to learning their system. This program will be done for the first 10 days. Then he was got onto Study Island. It teaches math, reading and social studies in a game format. He really enjoyed it.

I don't know when we will find out the results of his 2 test. I hope it will be soon. But, we are off to a great start.

2009 - 2010 School Books Arrived

I was so excited last night when the UPS guy showed up to my house. He had two huge boxes from K12.com that had Zachary's school books in them. I started opening them up and was excited about some of the subjects like Health, P.E, and Art. However, when I came to the science I laughed. The little readers that came with it looks really neat however, the textbook is the same textbook that we did last year. So, I don't know how that is going to work if I have to ask Zachary to re-read the same textbook that he read last year. I also looked at the math and it was way below Zachary's level. He ended last year working on high level multiplication, division and fractions and many more. This book starts with adding 5+5 and then teaching how to add w/carrying, subtract with borrowing, beginning mulitplication, beginning division, beginning measurements and so forth.

I haven't looked at the Language Arts stuff so I don't know what level it is compared to what level Zachary was doing last year. I did look at the Social Studies book and it is the next grade level that we have at the house that we looked and read some in last year to get Zachary ready for the 2nd grade CBE's.

I don't know who Zachary's teacher wil be yet but when I do I will have plenty to discuss with her/him. What do we do with his Science and Math? Hopefully I will find out soon who his teacher will be and we can beginning to start dealing with these issues.