Wednesday, August 31, 2016

Fourth Grade Summary

checking out the baby turtles at Sunshine's fiddle teacher's house

I started writing a post describing what we're doing for 5th grade this year, and then I realized I never recapped 4th grade. Our summer has been so busy that I haven't done as much posting as usual and I completely spaced it. And then I looked back through the archives and couldn't find the post talking about our plan for 4th grade, either. Guess some things just get lost along the way when you have a newborn :)

4th Grade Subjects

History & Geography
We finished the fourth book in the Story of the World series. The workbook included outlines to be filled in along with the maps, and while I liked the outlines, Sunshine did not. She was starting to dread history, which has always been one of her favorite subjects, so we dropped the outlines and had a much less stressful year. We also continued attending our history club and had a great field trip to Historic Jamestowne (though I don't think I did a post about that, either). We had a fantastic guide who was very knowledgeable.

Math
Sunshine's main math curriculum is CTC Math, which we started using in third grade. It's continuing to work pretty well for her (she doesn't love the subject, so she doesn't love CTC Math, but she is doing pretty well with it). She also finished the intermediate math Life of Fred books (Kidneys,  Liver, and Mineshaft). I finally found a Zillio mountain (I saw it reviewed years ago here, but they're no longer made and very hard to find) on eBay, but I haven't had a chance to figure out how to use it yet. We'll figure it out in 5th grade....

Latin
We started using Song School Latin 1 at the very end of 3rd grade and continued using it in 4th grade. We finished it and started Song School Latin 2. Song School Latin is much more interesting and engaging than Prima Latina, which was quite dry. This morning I was thinking about my high school Latin experience: I couldn't keep tenses straight and always translated everything in present tense. Despite that, my grasp of vocabulary was very good and has been useful many times over the years. Latin grammar would not have been nearly as useful as being able to figure out the meaning of words based on their Latin roots. This thought helped me solidify my goal for the kiddos in learning Latin (and Greek, which Sunshine wants to learn next): it's all about vocabulary. So many of the words we use on a daily basis have Latin and Greek roots, and even if you don't know what a particular word means, if you know the root you can figure it out.

Handwriting
Sunshine learned cursive in 3rd grade, but her handwriting is still pretty messy, so she had copywork to help improve her printing and cursive. I wrote out scripture mastery verses, each one printed twice  and in cursive twice. It was a bit labor intensive on my part, but it was fairly effective. Her handwriting improved a bit and she started learning scripture mastery verses. Only they're not using them anymore- now it's doctrinal mastery. I'm curious to find out the difference when she starts seminary in 9th grade.

Spelling
We used SpellingCity.com with some success. Sunshine liked the games, but she didn't always score well on the tests and I didn't enjoy typing up lists for her to work from. It worked, but neither of us loved it, so when our subscription ended I didn't renew it.

Science
We used DiscoveryEducation again, though when the subscription expired I didn't renew this one either. I like the site and Sunshine likes the content, but we've had a hard time integrating it into our schedule. No sense paying for something if we're not actually using it. We may come back to it in the future though, since it is a really good resource. Sunshine also watched videos on the FreeSchool Youtube channel.  

Reading
Sunshine did lots of reading for school- history, handwriting, etc, but she also did a lot of reading for fun. She was very excited for the most recent installments in the Penderwicks and Mother Daughter Book Club series, and loves all the Percy Jackson books, including the associated newer series.

Art
We did a few projects, though still not as many as I'd like. Finding the time to pull out materials, make a mess, and get it all cleaned up again before the boys wake up and get into the materials is difficult.

Sewing
We did a couple projects, but again, not as many as I'd like. So much to do, so little time.

Cooking
We worked on a couple specific recipes and Sunshine has started taking more responsibility for her own breakfast and lunch (i.e., she usually makes them herself).

Japanese
This has dropped by the wayside. Sunshine's not interested in it, so as much as Mr M and I want our kids to learn Japanese, we'll hold off for a bit and come back to it in a couple years.

Coding
Mr M was going to help with this using this book, but we never figured out a consistent time for it to happen, so for the most part, it didn't happen. Computers aren't really my thing, so I didn't work with her on it either. We still want to use the book, so it's staying on the list for 5th grade.

Music
Sunshine continued with her fiddle lessons and is playing very well. She took a break from the Irish music school fall semester because we needed a little more freedom in our schedule as we adjusted to the addition of Ocean to our family, but she played with them winter semester. She doesn't enjoy performing in front of people, but she does play well.

PE
Sunshine didn't do soccer or dance in 4th grade, and it was nice not to feel harried and over scheduled. She did spend more time in unstructured play outside, and she walked a couple road races.  We didn't attend many park days because Sunshine's fiddle lesson time slot is late enough that it's been a struggle to get the boys down for naps early enough, and I do not wake sleeping babies, even if it's to go play at the park. She does like riding her bike in our driveway.

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We have to submit proof of progress at the end of each school year and we've opted for an evaluation by someone with an advanced degree in an education-related field (i.e., a friend and local homeschool mom). This year I also had Sunshine take the CAT test. We didn't submit the results, but I wanted her to start getting used to the idea of taking standardized tests and learn how to take them. The version we used was an online version and easy to use. The results were interesting.

She didn't do well on the math portion, but part of that was because she got upset about something right before she started that section. Frame of mind really makes a difference, especially when it comes to Sunshine and math. The rest of the test she scored above grade level, and one section in particular she scored very high on. It was enlightening and encouraging. We didn't do much with grammar this year, but she scored above grade level on the grammar section, so she's obviously picked up enough along the way. I credit all the reading she does.

Tuesday, August 30, 2016

4 Mile Race Recap

I was trying to catch the mist in the low-lying areas of the hills and pastures.
I didn't get a good view of the mist, but it's a cool view of the morning drive.

Last week I ran a 10k on Thursday, then a 4 mile race on Saturday. I also spent some time on the treadmill on Wednesday, so I had a higher mileage week than usual. 13.59 miles all together, in fact. That's a smidge less than what I ran in all of July. Drastically increasing my mileage isn't a great idea, so this week will be a lot less.

As I mentioned, this was a 4 mile race, which is the sixth one I've done now. Two on this course, four on another course. Out of the six races, this was my third best time. I ran the two faster times in 2011 (43:55) and 2010 (42:32) on the other course.

I was aiming {a bit high} for 42:30, but I must have been delusional or something about the hills in this course. For some reason I thought it was a fairly flat course, with one main hill I remembered at about the 2.75 mile mark, but that was not the reality. There are multiple rolling hills and I would have to say it’s more hilly than the other 4 mile course that I’ve run (the first four 4 mile races). Despite that, it’s still a very scenic course and it’s much smaller and more fun. 

I managed to keep my pace up the first half of the race- my target time was 21:00 at the two mile mark and 42:30 at the finish. I passed the two mile mark at 21:33, so only 33 seconds slower than my goal. Unfortunately, my lack of consistent running this summer showed through and I just could not keep it up, and finished 2:50 slower than my goal. 

But I’m still happy with my time because I was less than 3 minutes off my goal time, I was 15 minutes faster than when I ran this race last year (low bar there though, since it was my first race after giving birth), and it was faster than two of the 4 mile races on the other course.

My legs were a bit tired and sore from my 10k on Thursday, and I knew that was probably going to be the case. Nothing too bad, though there were twinges in my shins and knees at various times throughout the race.

The weather was not nearly as nice this year as it was last year. Last year it was cool with low humidity, this year it was hot and very humid. We had cooler temps early in the week that gave us a nice taste of fall, but by Friday the temps had climbed back up to the high 90s. Ick. I detest the heat and humidity.

I ran 4.02 miles in 45:20.
1st mile: 10:19
2nd mile: 11:14
3rd mile: 12:09
4th mile: 11:26

20th race of 2016


Month
Event
Time
January
New Year’s Day 5k
33:01
February
Frostbite 5k
37:37
February
Mud Run
1:35:37
March
4k Walk
33:19
March
March 5k
33:49
March
Pi Day Virtual 5k
1:01:30
March
Obstacle Race
44:06
April
Glow Run
35:16
April
April 5k
41:15
April
Evening Run
34:59
May
May 5k
35:18
May
Evening Cross Country Race
43:17
June
June 5k
39:21
June
1 Mile Glow Run
11:38
June
Vineyard 5k
39:10
July
July 5k
35:53
August
Predict Your Time 5k
37:41
August
August 5k
35:45
August
NPS 100th Virtual 10k
1:49:17
August
4 Mile Run
45:20

























32nd race towards my 40 by 40 goal



Date
Event
Distance
Event Type
1.
July 2015
4th of July 5k
5k
Pregnant
2.
August
4 Mile Fun Run
4 miles
Road Race
3.
September
All Terrain
5k
Mixed surface
4.
October
Hill Valley Half
13.1 miles
Virtual half marathon
5.
October
Corn Maze 5k
5k
Corn Maze
6.
October
Kilted Trail 5k
5k
Kilted race
7.
November
Trail Half
13.6 miles
Trail Half
8.
November
Turkey Trot
5k
Road Race
9.
December
Veteran’s 5k
5k
Mixed surface
10.
December
Army Virtual Marathon
26.23 miles
Virtual marathon
11.
January 2016
New Year’s Day 5k
5k
Road race
12.
February
Frostbite 5k
5k
Cross country race
13.
February
Mud Run
4.8 miles
Mud run
14.
March
4k Walk
4k
Walk
15.
March
March 5k
5k
Road race
16.
March
Pi Day Virtual 5k
5k
Virtual 5k Walk
17.
March
10 mile race
Not applicable
Water stop volunteer
18.
March
Obstacle Race
5k
Obstacle run
19.
April
Glow Run
5k
Glow Run, 1st of 2 races in 12 hours
20.
April
April 5k
5k
Pushing jogger, 2nd of 2 races in 12 hours
21.
April
Evening Run
5k
Evening run
22.
May
10k Kayak Race
10k
Kayak race
23.
May
May 5k
5k
1st of 2 races in same day
24.
May
Evening CC Race
5k
Evening cross country, 2nd of 2 races in same day
25.
June
June 5k
5k
Pushing jogger, 1st of 2 races in same day
26.
June
1 Mile Glow Run
1 mile
Pushing jogger with both boys, 2nd of 2 races in same day, glow run
27.
June
Vineyard 5k
5k
Vineyard run
28.
July
July 5k
5k
Road race
29.
August
Predict Your Time 5k
5k
Predict your time
30.
August
August 5k
5k
Road race
31.
August
NPS 100th Virtual 10k
10k
Virtual 10k run
32.
August
4 Mile Run
4 miles
Road race