Our Week in Review – 1/9/2009

Can I just say that this was a great week for homeschooling?  Truly, things went far more smoothly than I could have hoped.  Starting back to schoolwork after a vacation is usually a challenge.  This week, though, things really went well.  I had a couple of headaches, but we were able to work around them with minimal hassle (well, except for Ga’hoole Girl’s missed piano lesson because of the migraine).  The kids took everything in stride and worked hard.

I planned this week on Homeschool Tracker Plus.  I had a daily list for each child, a weekly list for Ga’hoole Girl and a weekly list for me (mostly read-aloud stuff).  I had Wild Man getting up by 9am so he and I could start working by 10am.  Ga’hoole Girl was up by 10 so she could start working by 11am.  As I noted in my last post, I really focused this week on getting the kids’ schoolwork done before I got started on anything else.

I have a ton of stuff recorded on the DVR, so we watched one or more DVR shows each day.  Monday was a documentary on Sir Francis Drake, Tuesday was a documentary about Operation Valkyrie (the attempted assassination of Hitler), Wednesday was a show about birds of prey and another about light speed, then Thursday was two shows about Hitler.  Only the show about Sir Francis Drake actually fits in our curriculum right now, but the others were interesting and educational.  I realized while we were watching that watching DVDs at home is far different than watching filmstrips was when I was in school.  The kids talk and laugh during the movie.  When they don’t understand something or want to talk about it, we stop the show for a discussion.  They really engage the material more than I would have expected.

Ga’hoole Girl is learning some basic statistics in her math course while Wild Man is working on polygons.  Wild Man finished his Spanish course, but I’m waiting for Power-Glide to send me the password for him to start the next semester.  Ga’hoole Girl is finishing her Spanish course.

Wild Man and I are spending a lot of time these days on Language Arts.  He did spelling three times this week, handwriting three times, and Explode the Code four times.  He did some reading on his own (unassigned) but has been reading The Whipping Boy out loud to me.  Mr. Math Tutor is reading A Murder for Her Majesty to the whole family.

Ga’hoole Girl was ahead with her Bible work, so she didn’t do any this week.  Wild Man practiced the books of the New Testament and finished up the requirements for Discovery 2 in his AWANA book.  As as family, we are still reading in the book of Exodus.

Both kids wrote letters to their foster friends this week.  Ga’hoole Girl helps us sponsor a girl in the Dominican Republic so she tries to write every few months.  Our family has been sponsoring a child at the Children’s Shelter of Cebu in the Philippines for quite awhile, but I’m trying now to remember to write to her regularly.  She and Wild Man are the same age, so I’m having him write letters to her.

Ga’hoole Girl was feeling quite creative this week with writing.  For her history writing, she did a long poem about the life of Sir Francis Drake.  Her science writing is the story of a water molecule as it travels from underneath a mountain and out to the sea.  It is based on her reading about rivers in her Earth Science book.

I have had the kids doing thirty minutes of physical activity each day.  As an incentive, I will allow them to watch a movie while they walk on the treadmill.  They both walked and watched movies on Monday and Tuesday.  The rest of the week, though, Ga’hoole Girl went outside to play in the snow, and Wild Man walked on the treadmill while reading a Harry Potter book.

This was a great homeschooling week for us.  I hope that things continue to go well from now on.  I am optimistic because a lot of what went well was that the kids had good attitudes.  They did what was asked without complaining (too much).  What about you?  How was your week?  Check out Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers for more Weekly Wrap-Ups.