Our Week in Review - November 15, 2008

From an academic perspective, this week was definitely a success.  Unfortunately, it was marred by three pretty wicked migraines.  Here's how it went:

History/Social Sciences - We started Core 7 (World History from 1500 to the present)!  We are almost done with the Tudor family now.  We watched a National Geographic DVD called "The Madness of King Henry VIII".  I do plan to show another DVD next week about Queen Elizabeth.  Ga'hoole Girl read about the Robie House in Chicago in The Wright 3, so now she's interested in Frank Lloyd Wright architecture.  She found a house in Wisconsin designed by Lloyd Wright that she wants to visit in the Spring.

Math - Both kids are doing well with ALEKS math.  Ga'hoole Girl just finished listening to Chasing Vermeer again and has gotten into playing with pentominoes.  Apparently, there are thousands of ways that you can arrange them to make a rectangle.  Ga'hoole Girl has found 10 or 12 so far.

Science - Wild Man and I read from his Mythbusters science book.  Both kids explored a weather for kids website to learn about the relationships between pressure and temperature.  We watched a couple of shows that related to Earth Science this week, the most memorable of which was about a volcano in Ethiopia.  Not only did we learn about volcanoes, but we got to review the geography of East Africa.  We also watched a show about domesticated cats and another about platypuses.  After we watched the show about platypuses, we also reviewed the geography of Southern Australia and Tasmania.  Wild Man played with Snap Circuits last night.  We also watched Mythbusters and Prototype This on Wednesday night.  Ga'hoole Girl and I are still doing chemistry at night a couple of times a week.

Language arts - Wild Man is still working on Explode the Code and All About Spelling.  He also signed up for the reading program at the Appleton Library.  Four days after he signed up, he had already read two full hours.  This morning, he and Mr. Math Tutor played "Lord of the Rings Trivial Pursuit" which required Wild Man to read.  He did a great job!  Ga'hoole Girl did two writing assignments this week, one called "The Pope's Problem" (about Pope Clement VII and Henry VIII's request for a divorce) and another about the volcano in Ethiopia.  She needs to correct the spelling and capitalization as well as review the proper use of colons, but they were overall well done.  Ga'hoole Girl is also working through Painless Poetry.  Ga'hoole Girl and I played Scrabble this week.

Bible - As a family, we are reading Exodus.  Wild Man has been working on his AWANA verses as well as reading for his Sunday School assignment.  Ga'hoole Girl just started Don't All Religions Lead to God? and The BBC Manual (Turning Your Bedroom Into a Bible College).

Cooking - Wild Man make french bread on Wednesday while I was gone to the grocery store.  And, he cleaned up afterwards!  Ga'hoole Girl made some pasta for dinner last night.  The kids have been planning Thanksgiving dinner over the last week, as well.

Life Skills - This is probably the most exciting area for this week.  The kids' rooms have been clean for an entire week!  They are also doing a great job of keeping the living room, kitchen, and dining room clean.  Now, if their mom could just keep the office/sunroom straightened up!

Despite the headaches, it was a really good week.  The kids are now independent enough that they can do their assigned work even if I don't feel well.  They are also able to entertain themselves, often with things that are educational.  It's getting easier to relax about the whole schooling thing these days.

We are planning out our Christmas activities now.  I'm working feverishly on Christmas presents while the kids are planning Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners.  Sometime after Thanksgiving, we're going to make a gingerbread house (more on that later).

Check out Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers to see how others fared in their weeks!