So, I've reduced their day down to History, Math, Spelling (Spelling Workout gives them a chance to learn new words in the context of a short vignette at the beginning of each lesson, see how the sounds are broken down, learn their definitions, find errors in sentences using proofreading marks, and write their own sentences after reading a prompt), Spanish, and Reading (They can read on their own, but I read to them every day).
This week they have continued learning about the ancient Egyptians (where they were in the Usborne Encyclopedia of World History). I borrowed a couple of DVDs and some books from the library.
First, they watched Mysteries of the Ancient World. This DVD is not kid friendly since the narrator speaks at an adult/academic level but, at least, the kids gained a sort of introduction to some of the world's ancient mysteries. The DVD reviewed The Great Pyramids, The Minoan Civilization, Cadbury Castle, Stonehenge, and The Oracle of Delphi.
Then, the boys created a map on poster board on which they pasted the continents and pictures (found online, around 300x300) of the mysteries. They labeled everything and colored the countries that contain the mysteries.
Not a great pic but it gives you the idea.
I found some great Math games at:
http://www.funbrain.com/ (Pilot and Storm Chaser really like Math Baseball)
http://www.coolmath-games.com/
http://www.primarygames.com/math.php (Pilot worked hard on Carptenter's Cut)
I printed out the number coloring pages for Little One to work on next week from http://www.coolmath-games.com/coloring-pages-for-kids-to-print-out-01.html
The boys did a lesson out of their Spelling Workout workbooks and we did two pages out of My Number Book every day. My Number Book is a Southwestern Advantage book. It is in English and Spanish and comes with a poster.
Also, they started Seven Wonders of the Ancient World a Questar distribution. The Wonders are:
The Pyramid of Giza
The Hanging Gardens of Babylon
The Mausoleum at Halicarnassus
The Temple of Artemis at at Ephesus
The Colossus of Rhodes
The Pharos of Alexandria
The Statue of Zeus at Olympia
I am reading King Arthur: Tales of the Round Table by Andrew Lang to them. Storm Chaser is reading The Curse of King Tut's Mummy by Kathleen Weidner Zoehfeld and King Tut's Tomb by Amanda Doering Tourville.
Little One and I are working with her Usborne Phonics Flashcards and Phonics Readers. We go over five cards at a time. She says the name of the picture, I show her the name spelled out, and then we spell the name. After we do this, we run through the names one more time, then I turn the flashcards over to the side that has just the name with no picture. She tries to say the word by sight. If she needs help we sound out the letters together. After all that, I read one of the phonics readers and give her a word to look for. (The cards and the books use the same characters, so I can find a book that has the words we just learned.) She lets me know when she sees the word and then says it out loud.
