Our Week In Review–January 19, 2013

Things this week went really well until Thursday night when I got a rip-roaring migraine. I felt really rotten until this morning Despite that, Friday was the day when we accepted the counter-offer on the house that we’re purchasing. The kids are learning quite a bit in this house buying/selling process since we’re trying to keep them in the loop with everything that we’re doing. It also helps to have their buy-in as we make these big changes. Starting next week, we will be trying to get schoolwork done as well as decluttering and packing so we can move in two weeks and have this house ready to go on the market. Yikes! But, first, here’s what has happened over the last couple of weeks.

Wild Man

I’ve changed Wild Man to a block scheduling format. Every day, he does Math, Grammar, and Spelling (well, if I’m up to helping him with spelling). Bible, History, Literature, Writing, and Science are spaced out so that he does two subjects each day and each of them twice a week. Overall this is working really well. I still have to work to keep him focused. If I go up to the shop for several hours, I will probably come back to find that he spent a good bit of that time practicing guitar and is shocked to find that I was gone for more than fifteen minutes. Clearly, he needs some supervision, but, we’re making progress.

History – Studying the Civil War. He read The Boys’ War and learned about life for teenager who served both the Union and the Confederacy. We’ve been watching “The Abolitionists” on PBS which has also been helpful. One day, Wild Man asked, “Mom, was the Civil War over states’ rights or slavery?” Wow! What a question! (Especially from a kid who doesn’t usually engage history.) Rosie Girl was downstairs, so we had a good discussion of which factors we thought played a part in driving the nation toward war.

Literature – I know we have Dragon Gate in this house somewhere, but I just can’t find it. Right now, he’s enjoying some Percy Jackson books, so I’m just happy that he’s reading.

Science – In the last few weeks, he’s read about wetlands and grasslands.

Bible – I think BibleMesh is a good fit for Wild Man. He watches the videos and reads the articles. We’re still working through the section on Jesus.

Writing – His paragraph writing is pretty good. The last two paragraphs were given to me with minimal problems in grammar or punctuation. I’m planning to try a WriteAtHome workshop for the end of the year. He hasn’t written anything as long as a report yet, but I think we’ll try that soon. The WriteAtHome could be a good fit for him since they tend to work with kids at whatever level they’re at.

Math – Wild Man was frustrated that his ALEKS assessment didn’t show much improvement, so I’ve been sitting down to watch him go through his lessons and found that he hasn’t really been understanding things as well as he should. And, it turns out that I can teach math (at least Algebra 1) better than I thought! I think he’ll be seeing more progress now with just a bit more interaction with me during his math lesson.

Music – He’s working on some pieces for Solo and Ensemble as well as his usual stuff for band. He is really enjoying Youth Band as well as playing some with the adult worship band. This weekend, he is leading worship for the kids’ service.

Rosie Girl

Social Sciences – When she finished reading The Godless Constitution, she’ll be done with American Government. I have a Sociology course on DVD on reserve from the library along with a couple of books for her Sociology credit.

Japanese – Her final Japanese credit will be from working on Rosetta Stone, which she’s enjoying.

Math – She’s plugging away at Algebra 2. She even did some last night with PWM after doing a fair amount during the day. She’s also doing Dave Ramsey Personal Finance and learning a lot about managing money.

Literature – She continues with British Literature. She was thrilled when she realized that she got to read Emma!

Music – Her big music thing is that she’s working on her piano pieces for her college audition. She’s also been doing some arranging and composition on her own.

College prep – She’s been getting info about residence halls and meal plans from UWSP. ACK! It’s really real.

That’s what’s been going on in our homeschooling world. What’s up with you?! Check out Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers to read what other homeschoolers have been doing!