Yesterday (Monday) was the start of the 2010-2011 school year around here. (Actually, the public schools start tomorrow, but I don’t like to schedule partial weeks, so we started early and the kids will have extra time off at Thanksgiving and Christmas.) Unfortunately, yesterday was also the start of a major weather system coming through. I slept till noon yesterday, which I now think was part of the migraine prodrome. By 4pm, the migraine had hit full force. And it’s still going on. Talk about bad timing.
Wild Man is doing pretty well. We can’t find one of the books we’re supposed to be reading aloud together, so that may get skipped. However, he and PWM have done Math and Bible and even did some History reading this morning. Since I wasn’t up to doing any History or Science reading to Wild Man today, we watched a couple of Netflix shows. Wild Man did a keyword outline of a paragraph for writing today (with Institute for Excellence in Writing) which was very encouraging for me that he could do it with minimal input from me. I also have him writing a couple of sentences in a journal at the end of the day. PWM or I help him with the spelling, but Wild Man decides what to write. Yesterday’s entry: “Today I learned about nouns, verbs, and adjectives. Mom had me do fun activities around the house. Now I know more about parts of speech.” Not ready for a Pulitzer yet, but it was completely his own. (BTW, the activity to which he refers is an idea that my sister-in-law gave me. I had Wild Man put Post-It notes on 10 different “nouns”. Then, he went around and wrote a verb that could be associated with each noun and then an adjective. Wild Man loved it!)
Rosie Girl works generally independently, but I am trying to keep an eye on things so that she doesn’t get behind. Yesterday started well, particularly with her Math assessment. She’s doing Geometry this year and actually really enjoys it. She needs to master 4 topics each week to finish Geometry on time this year. Today, she completed 7 topics. I’ve told her that she can move ahead and get all her Math done in less than four years if she wants. She has no interest in Math beyond Trigonometry (and is only going that far because we’re requiring four full years), so I’m happy to let her stop when she finishes the requirements for Trig.
Unfortunately, somewhere along the way yesterday, Rosie Girl got very emotional, making the evening more difficult. Nonetheless, she finished everything that was assigned. Today, she and PWM went shopping and to register for dance, but Rosie Girl got everything done before she went to bed. I also have her journaling every day since I don’t have her doing comprehension questions. She has to write a couple of sentences each for History, Literature, and Bible. In a few weeks, I’ll have her writing some papers, so I hope the journaling will help her remember key points when she has to write.
Rosie Girl also started Chemistry this week. I haven’t gotten her lab set yet (it’s on the way), but the Singapore Chemistry looks pretty rigorous. When she’s done with this, she’ll have a good handle on how to understand data, which will help on the Science section of the ACT. She’s also hoping that she can do Chemistry experiments that make pretty colors!
Wow. After writing all this down, it’s obvious that things are going a little better than I had thought. I won’t take any pictures of the kitchen, though! That’s a disaster that needs to wait till my head feels better!
So, any homeschoolers out there – have you started yet? How is your year going?
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