Tammy and family will no longer by going to the States this year. It is a big disappointment to the children, but there it is. Tammy and I still check the $ exhange rate each day, and she plots it on her Excel graph, but there is no longer the urgent need to learn to mentally calculate how much an item of $36.99 would be in our currency. It was fun while it lasted though, and she has learnt a lot.
So what do we do now? She is busy with Unicorn School and it starts with the unicorns preparing for exams. Seeing that her brother is busy with exams too, I decided it might be a good thing for Tamerin to also write exams. It might help her to join in conversations when she visits with her cousins.
Sooo.... what to "study" besides math and spelling? We have had several discussions on government and elections last year and earlier this year, so we will revise notes again. I hope to make the "exam" very practical e.g. to look up the telephone number of a certain government department. Just exactly what should every citizen know about government? I suppose we'll stick to the structure and functions of the different "parts" of government, the names and logos of the main political parties and taxes... and anything that is in the news this month.
Language will mostly be "fill in the missing word" based on her reader and her history notes, spelling, and finding the verb/noun/ adjective or adverb. (I find that it is important to know the difference between, for instance, a noun and a verb when using a dictionary.) I would love for her to make her own sentences with certain words as well.
Other subjects will be sport: again because it helps Tamerin to understand what is going on when family and friends watch it. (She has written on her Father's Day card: "I love watching rugby with you.) Tallying up the scores also provides good math practice. In rugby (our favourite sport) a goal counts 5 points, the conversion kick 2 points, a penalty kick 3 points and a drop kick also 3 points. In cricket you have singles, two's, fours and sixes and then there are six balls to an over and in limited cricket only 50 overs....
But why, oh why do they count 15, 30, 40 in tennis??
The math exam will include multiplication (e.g. 325 x 6), division (e.g. 325 / 6), fractions, adding with tens and hundreds, subtraction, percentages, rounding of prices and counting of money and reading of amounts involving millions and thousands.
Before finalising the study material, I better check on our goals again.
Please Lord help me to choose the right stuff and the right method to revise, and please let Tamerin enjoy it.
A walk to the stables
Tamerin at the horses: we walked there on Thursday and talked rugby nearly all the way!
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5 comments:
I'm sorry to hear Tammy won't be coming to the States for a visit. I bet she is disappointed.
I am so sorry the trip won't happen. Hope the goal refocusing goes well, maybe you can use that extra time to fill in some gaps (we all have 'em!).
Hi Nicole
Yep its a huge disappointment but hopefully they'll get a vacancy and go to the Drakensberg Mountains - they're beautiful.
Hi Mrs C
There sure are a lot of gaps to be filled - question is which ones first? I have to fit in an outing now, but don't want to do just any outing. It's a pity we're not in Cape Town - it would have been such fun to go to Parliament!
Drakensberg, from what I've heard of it, sounds like a really great outing. I heard of it from the show Around the world in 80 gardens, which is compered by Monty Don. The episode on South African plants and gardens was most enlightening, especially as they covered a school for Zulu students in Johannesburg, and they felt so proud of their garden. I can imagine a few lessons on the flora and fauna would not be astray, and the geology of the place. Of course the place is World Heritage.
You were talking about tennis scores. Originally they come from middle French, and a clock was used, so it was not straight 15, 30, 45, 60. They introduced deuce so that there would be less 'chance'/'luck' in the game. It would be excellent to have sport as part of the exams. There is a lot of theory work that can be covered, especially awareness of the body and how it moves in space. This would tie into the maths as well, I believe. Also there is strategy and tactics which can be asked about on a short form.
Keep on working the multiplication and the division.
I wonder how the lapbooks of the first term are going? Can Tammy use them as reference when/if needed?
Also, what about language? I know you are working on the Unicorn series.
And is there going to be an oral part to the examinations? If so, how much and for how long?
Finally, you said you wanted to use the Lord in learning content and the opportunities He provides. This was goal 14.
Hi Adelaide
Thank you so much for your informative comments. I am glad that someone agrees with me that sport is wonderful, practical content to learn! I will answer some of your questions in the next post. Tammy was thrilled to read your comment on her blog. Thank you so much!
(About the lapbooks - that's a non achieved goal - a pity because they would have helped now.)
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