This week has been a great improvement over last week if for no other reason than that I haven’t had nearly as many migraines! Here’s what’s been up for the last couple of weeks:
History/Social Sciences – We’ve finished up with the Civil War and are now learning about Reconstruction and the social changes of the late 19th and early 20th century. Wild Man and I listened to a historical fiction book called The Mostly True Adventures of Homer P. Figg while we watched Olympics this week. The book is about a 12 year old boy and his adventures in the time of the Civil War. I very highly recommend the book, especially the audiobook version!
Language Arts – Rosie Girl has been reading The Red Badge of Courage, but under duress. Apparently, she doesn’t like it. That’s OK – it builds character to do things you don’t enjoy. Wild Man is reading Old Yeller. He’s actually almost completely finished because he read ahead because he’s enjoying it so much. He’s doing quite well with IEW for writing as long as he dictates the writing to me. I hope to have him writing or typing some of his own assignments by the end of the year. In the meantime, the paragraph long stories that he is supposed to re-write are expanding into page-long stories with all kinds of embellishments. He definitely prefers writing fiction!
Math – Both kids are still doing ALEKS. Rosie Girl is more motivated these days after she realized that she has to finish Algebra 1 before the start of the next school year, even if she has to work during the summer!! Wild Man is still working on math facts – a task that is hampered by his dyslexia. The ALEKS QuickTables seems to be the best program for him so far, but it’s still work for him.
Science – Rosie Girl did some experiments with plants and pollen this week that were really interesting. What’s not so interesting is that she can’t find her workbook, so she has to buy the new one. (Having to shell out the money herself did motivate her to look really hard for it!) Deep sigh. Wild Man is reading a biography of George Washington Carver that he finds less than exciting. However, I’ve ordered a biography of Elias Howe from the library that I think will be more interesting and might motivate him to get through the G.W. Carver book. He also got to watch his sister’s experiments.
Music – Rosie Girl has to work on a solo for Choir, but she doesn’t have to take it to Solo and Ensemble (although, the last news I heard was that she was planning to go). Today, she went to the library where the students doing A (more difficult) solos and the students doing ensembles all sang during a quilt show. Rosie Girl is doing a B (less difficult) solo, so she went to see her friends. However, the Choir director roped her into singing her solo AND playing the Mozart Sonata from last semester. Rosie Girl is working on a Chopin Valse and a Prokoviev piece for festival in April.
Life Skills – I taught Wild Man to make spaghetti with meat sauce on Tuesday night, so he and Rosie Girl, who made garlic bread, took care of dinner completely. I’m trying to get us to a 10 menu rotation for over the course of two weeks. I would like Wild Man to make the ground beef meal and Rosie Girl to do the meatless (meaning, in this house, cheese) meal. Other than that, I reminded them, yet once again, this week to try to actually do their assigned chores, even when I have a migraine. I think it’s a hopeless cause. But, it’s not something to lose sleep over!
So, that’s the last two weeks for us. I can’t say it’s been terribly exciting, but we continue to move forward and the kids are learning. As frustrated as I get when I have migraines and don’t get to really interact much with the kids, I would not give up homeschooling right now for anything. Rosie Girl and I took a walk Thursday afternoon just for the heck of it. I love being with my kids. (Of course, I reserve the right to change my mind on any topic at any time for any reason!) I would really like to go to a museum next weekend. We might have to go to the geology museum before I can convince them about going to the state history museum.
Check out how other families fared this week at Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers!
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