It was the best of weeks, it was the worst of weeks . . . .Oh, wait, wrong story. But, this week did have it's share of ups and downs. The biggest down is that I didn't get the schedules made last weekend, so we were disorganized all week. I also had a bad headache Monday and Tuesday morning. The rest of the week was OK until Friday night when I had a wicked bad headache and threw up for a few hours. I still have some leftovers of that headache this morning. The kids both came down with colds yesterday, which is probably going to affect how much we can do this week.
But, it was also a good week. Ga'hoole Girl's piano lesson was cancelled on Tuesday. We were already in town when they called, so we went to the Marc Chagall exhibit at the Appleton Art Center. I loved it, Ga'hoole Girl liked it, and Wild Man tolerated it - I call that a success. Then, on Friday, we skipped school and went to the Bay Beach Wildlife Sanctuary. I'm afraid, despite all my admonitions that they weren't to learn anything, that the children did come away from that experience better educated about wildlife than when we started.
Bible - We are still reading through Genesis. We didn't memorize a verse as a family this week, but Wild Man did learn his verse for Sunday School.
Math - We love ALEKS. Kids are doing well.
Spanish - Kids continue in Power-Glide. Ga'hoole Girl has started using Spanish words and phrases in normal conversation - fun!
Spelling - Ga'hoole Girl loved spelling this week because her word lists were pretty easy! Wild Man has been working on syllabication.
Reading - Wild Man is reading Harry Potter and the Sorceror's Stone. I read a chapter or two each day out loud to him, as well. Ga'hoole Girl is continuing with Lord of the Rings.
Grammar - Ga'hoole Girl is doing well in her grammar book. Her writing this week had much better mechanics although we are having to work a little on fragments.
Writing - Ga'hoole Girl changed the topic of her paper and did a nice outline. She is writing a paper comparing Guardians of Ga'hoole (book series) with history. This requires her to really synthesize ideas as well as show some understanding of history. I'm pretty impressed.
Handwriting - Wild Man's cursive is coming along.
Art - Ga'hoole Girl has been complaining terribly about her art history book (and about having to study art in general). I've decided to take art out of the regular cycle of work for her, but require her to do at least 1/2 credit of art in high school. We listened to a CD about artists and their work while we were on the way to Appleton on Tuesday. One of the artists on the CD was Marc Chagall. When we got to Appleton, we went to see the Marc Chagall exhibit. A great coincidence!
Science - Ga'hoole Girl read about rocks this week and wrote a nice little paragraph on how rocks are used by humans. We also watched Mythbusters and learned some about friction.
Sonlight - We did more reading about explorers this week as well as listening to the audio CD of Story of the World.
Food science - Ga'hoole Girl grilled a flank steak with great success. Of course, the grease under the grill caught on fire which provided some excitement all the way around, but the steak was still delicious. She and Mr. Math Tutor are supposed to grill chicken soon, but I'm not sure if that will happen since she's feeling bad. Wild Man and I made french bread a couple of times this week. Next week, I'll let him do it with supervision.
Elections - The kids have their running mates. We didn't do much other this week, but I hope to have them set up platforms this week.
Child Care - Both kids babysit on Thursday mornings during Women's Bible Study. This week they had eight kids! Talk about learning on the job!
Ga'hoole Girl is having a rummage sale next weekend. I'm thrilled because she will get tons of stuff out of her room. I did, though, tell her that I wanted to buy some of her old toys that I want to keep for sentimental reasons. I've been good about getting rid of lots of old stuff, but I have dreams of having a granddaughter one day who will want to play with American Girl dolls.
For next week, I will definitely have the kids schedules made out, but I'm sure we will have to be flexible since they are both feeling sick.
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