November 11 - January 31, 2006 Quarterly Report

Grading Key: Effort & Skills

4 - Advanced E - Excellent U - Unsatisfactory

3 - Proficient G - Good X - Not Applicable

2 - Approaching S - Satisfactory

1 - Below N - Needs to Improve

Days of Instruction: 52 (4.3 hrs/day average)

Arithmetic: The areas of math Zachary continues to study/practice are :
word problems     factors                         3 digit multiplication,division
fractions                multiples                     addition
decimals               prime factorization    subtraction
percents                prime numbers          money math
number lines         geometry                    time/clocks
fact families          times tables                real-life math experiences

Zachary is progressing satisfactorily in math, but needs to improve working with percents. Grade: 3 (G)

Reading: Zachary continues to show excellence in his ability to read with accuracy, appropriate inflection and intonation, poetic expression, and full comprehension. He is proficient in determining the meaning of unfamiliar words by using context clues. His regular use of dictionaries, vocabulary assignments and reading for pleasure have reinforced his ability to do well with this subject. Zachary has finished reading the entire series of The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis, totaling 1540 pages in all since the beginning of the school year. In addition, Zachary has been reading selected poems, from Edgar Allan Poe, Carl Sandburg, William Carlos William (to name a few), in addition to classic fairy tales, scriptures from the Bible, non-fiction articles in National Geographic, and other reference sources for his Ancient Civilization research project on Stonehenge (completed). Grade: 4 (E)

Spelling: Zachary has completed and mastered ten spelling & vocabulary lists. Zachary corrects misspelled words and rewrites assignments so that spelling is correct throughout his work. Grade: 3 (G)

Grammar & Language Arts: Zachary prints and writes in cursive daily, however his handwriting was noticeably less-neat without frequent reminders. Zachary continues to develop skills such as note-taking, brainstorming, and organizing ideas. He has posted his ideas, assignments and essays on his internet homeschool webjournal. He has written letters to family members, replied to family emails, and written thank you note cards. He has improved his writing abilities by studying proper grammar; parts of speech, sentence structure, and phrases. Zachary continues respond to literature through writing and narration. Literary devices, such as symbolism, metaphors, allegories, and personifications have been focused on in our current curriculum-a unit study based on The Chronicles of Narnia. We have also focused on analyzing poetry,song lyrics, and re-examined importance & uses for periods, question marks, exclamation points. He has familiarized himself with various literary techniques: alliterations, onomatopoeia, assonance, rhyme, rhythm, imagery and similies.Grade: 3 (G)

Health & Safety: The focus this past quarter has been on smoking prevention, resisting peer pressure, the dangers of various drugs, the importance of choosing good friends, healthy relationships, the importance of expressing feelings, snowboard & skiing safety precautions, good nutrition, importance of drinking water, dangers of household electrical appliances and used batteries. Grade: 4(E)

History: Zachary continues to study various time periods in history. Ancient history studied this past quarter has covered: Pyramids and Pharoahs of Egypt, 10th Century King Ahab, his wife Jezebel and the death of King Jehoram. He has studied the emergence of the Anglo-American World Power, the influence of Rome in Britannia, and it Hellenistic cultural origin. Zachary has been studying important explorers and their contributions to world history as well as American history: Cartier, Champlain, LaSalle, John Smith, George Washington. Zachary reads about current events. The History Channel and PBS documentaries have been recent favorites. He has continued study of the history of New York State as well as the leaders in local and state government. In addition, on Martin Luther King Day time was set aside to reflect on his important contributions to the movement for equality among the races. He has finally finished his research project on the ancient civilization of Stonehenge and posted it to his homeschool website. All these topics covered are done so with the use of maps/charts/social studies CD roms. Grade: 3 (G)

Science: For science, Zachary has learned parts of the ear, how we hear, the science of sound. He has studied the Grand Canyon and it rock formations, minerals and weathering. Natural Science topics covered have been: penguins (cycle of birth, reproduction, father’s role, logistics of egg hatching in sub-zero temperatures, mother’s migration habits, danger of predators, etc), salamander habitats, lynx reintroduction into the Rocky Mountains, Polar Bears habitats, mating habits, effects of their period of hibernation, how salt lowers the freezing point of water, tornadoes and tsunamis. Grade: 3 (G)

Art: Zachary has created macrame jewelry from hemp and beads. He has created line drawings and computer-generated designs using Corel Draw. He also created thank-you note cards with a stamping kit recently purchased for the family. Grade: 3 (G)

Music: Zachary continues to practice guitar, piano and fiddle regularly in addition to singing weekly at the Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses. He has studied the life of famous musician Beethoven. Grade: 3 (G)

Physical Education: Zachary has participated in many physical activities including swimming at the JCC, skateboarding, scootering (during the warm weather!), sledding, skiing and snowboarding. Grade: 4 (E)

Typing & Computer: Zachary is progressing at typing with proper hand positioning and developing speed and accuracy. His computer literacy skills are improving and he demonstrates fluency in several programs and internet research to aid in completion of schoolwork, as well for the purpose of finding information for personal interests. He continues to improve his punctuation skills with the use of various typing programs. He is learning to manage his computer files in an organized fashion. Additional skills emphasized include: copying, pasting, using key controls, linking, site organizing, weblogging, checking email, using SiteBuilder to prepare for future instruction in XHTML. Grade: 2 (S)

Zachary is progressing at a satisfactory level or above in all subject matter. He had one absence from instruction this quarter due to illness, and has completed the required 225 hours of instruction.

I have no major concerns with Zachary’s academic progress. However, I do plan on having the children continue their math education even during the so-called “summer break.”

Our homeschool curriculum for the upcoming quarter will include the use and guidance of the Prairie Primer. With the exception of the slight decline in his handwriting technique, I am very pleased with Zachary’s performance this past quarter. Initially I had thought I was running behind in our homeschool curriculum schedule. Upon re-examining the calendar, I realized that ending this Narnia unit by January 31st would actually split up a 10 month school year perfectly in half. In which case, our homeschool is perfectly on the right track, time-wise. :)