September: Wilson

Wilson has had a busy month!  As usual, his favourite parts of the month have been all the social events (field trips, potlucks, a pizza party, a pig roast, to name a few), but I guess we should probably cover his academics as well...

Math:

Wilson is using Saxon Math 6/5 as his Math curriculum this year.  We are still waiting for his home study kit to come in the mail, so in the meantime we are working out of a PDF of the textbook we found online, which unfortunately does not include the tests.  He will have to play catch up on his tests once his books come.  Wilson has now completed all his lessons up to and including Lesson 18:

He is a very independent worker and finds his lessons fairly simple.  So far he has not found a concept that was very challenging for him.

Wilson also enjoys playing online Math games as well, such as Number Munchers, IXL, and Prodigy. He looks forward to getting some Math board games in the mail that we've ordered as well.  Wilson is a smart cookie, and always, ALWAYS loves to mix learning and fun together.

One of his favourite things to do is to cook, and following recipes has been a great way for him to incorporate math practically into his every day life.  He offers to make almost every meal, and LOVES to be in the kitchen.  He is an expert at making oatmeal in the morning for everyone because he is my early riser, and is getting very skilled at making several desserts and other meals as well.

Language Arts:

Wilson has been working in The Good & The Beautiful Level 4 for Language Arts, and has completed Lessons 1 through 19 in his course book, as well as Lessons 1 through 17 in his Creative Companion:

Here is a writing Sample he completed from Lesson 17 in his Creative Companion:

Another writing sample:

 Some of the poems Wilson has written:

He had never done sentence diagramming before this year, and he doesn't love it, but he's starting to get the hang of it.  He is very good with spelling and grammar, and well above grade level in his reading.  He has read a number of books this month, and I often find him reading late into the night if he's sneaky enough to get away with it.  Some of the books he's finished reading recently are the Harry Potter series, The Wizard of Oz, A Wrinkle in Time, Twenty and Ten, The Big Wave, plus several short stories, comic books, joke books, and the National Geographic Kids Magazines.

As a family we have recently read The Mouse and the Motorcycle, Runaway Ralph, and Charlotte's Web, and are currently reading Bridge to Terabithia.  Wilson has already finished reading Bridge to Terabithia and we are doing some exercises to go along with the book:

We also read scriptures together as a family every morning, and are doing a 12 week program to memorize The Living Christ document before Christmas.  So far he has memorized the first 2 paragraphs, with a goal to memorize all 12 paragraphs before Christmas:

Wilson is also doing French lessons twice a week with his sibling, taught by his grandparents, to brush up on his French skills (he is already bilingual, but has been out of the French school system for a couple of years now).

Science:

Wilson began studying the Electricity and Magnetism unit in Science, but has since decided to switch over to the Wetland Ecosystems unit.  He has mostly been using Mr. Polsky's Grade 5 resources online.  Of course he has gravitated towards the interactive links, but we have also printed out several pages for him to work on terms etc as well:

As a family, we did a Rock Candy experiment as well.  Here are some of the pictures:

We have also visited Writing on Stone Provincial Park, Dinosaur Provincial Park, and gone on several small field trips around town in search of different Rocks and Minerals.  Here is Wilson's Report from our Field Trip to Writing on Stone:

Social Studies:

Wilson has been working in his Alberta Aligned Social Studies work book.  He's been learning about Canadian Geography and regions:

He's memorized Capitals, by using flashcards, as well as many geography facts with a few Canadian Geography and Trivia games we have.  He has also been doing World Geography Flash Cards that came with his Language Arts Curriculum.  He is doing quite well with them, and has mastered several already.  We are also listening to The Story of the World Vol. 1 on CD together, and awaiting our hard copy to arrive in the mail.

Our Field Trip to Writing on Stone was another great experience for Social Studies, specifically our visit to the Visitor's Centre, where we learned about the history of the area.