Our Week In Review–Sept 7, 2013

Our week was going along just fine till Wild Man crashed his bike on Thursday and broke his wrist. Now everything has just gone to hell in a handbasket. So to speak.

I think Wild Man is caught up on most of his reading assignments and he’s answered his History and Literature questions from Thursday and Friday orally. He was supposed to write a short paper in Biology, but I canceled that since he can’t type till he gets the splint changed over to a cast on Monday. I also canceled his paragraph writing in Bible that was due on Friday. He finished the assigned reading.

The big crisis is his writing assignment for WriteAtHome. I sent his writing coach an email explaining the issue, so he’ll turn in the paper on Monday. The problem is that he’s going to dictate it to me, which means that his grammar and punctuation will be better than usual since I don’t really know what he knows and doesn’t. I’m using the dictation time to teach comma rules and fragment vs. full sentences since those seem to be his areas of weakness. He should be able to type his next assignment because he’ll have a cast on which should give him almost full use of his fingers – or at least enough to type.

Today seems to have been a better day than yesterday. Wild Man hasn’t needed much pain medication and has been able to move his arm and fingers without too much trouble. After some serious covering of the splint with plastic bags, he got a shower. I still had to cut his meat for him at dinner, though. We see the orthopedist on Monday when he gets a cast and we find out how long we can expect the healing process to take.

In the meantime, I need to schedule three weeks of schoolwork because I leave in the middle of the week to go down South and be with my parents while my mom has surgery. I know what I’ll be doing tomorrow!!

How was your week? Check out Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers to see how other homeschoolers spent their week!!

Our Week In Review–August 31, 2013

 

It’s really kind of strange to only be schooling one kid this year. I find myself thinking about Rosie Girl and then remembering that she’s in college now. Weird. But, I still have Wild Man. And he’s more than enough to keep me busy. Here’s how things went this week.

History/Geography – We’re using Sonlight Core 200. Wild Man is doing the reading and then answering a couple of the questions that I assign to him from the study guide. He’s also finding some of the places referenced on the maps in the study guide. This week’s study was the origins of the Christian church.

Math – He does about an hour of math each day. He’s finishing Algebra 1 and then will move on to Geometry.

Literature – We started reading aloud Till We Have Faces by C.S. Lewis because it is a hard book to read, but Wild Man took over reading it to himself on Thursday because he is enjoying it. I have him answering a few of the study questions and we also discuss it aloud together. He also reads some poetry every day, something that may have him calling Child Protective Services before the year is out. No, he does not like poetry.

Writing – Wild Man is doing WriteAtHome’s introductory composition course. His first writing assignment is due next Thursday.

Spanish – We’re using PowerGlide Spanish this year, which introduces Spanish very organically and not by translation and verb conjugations, the way I learned it. Wild Man seems to be enjoying it, partly because he looks forward to using his new phrases with some friends from the Spanish-speaking congregation at our church.

Biology – The Hippocampus biology course seems to be a success so far. Wild Man has been learning about science and the scientific method this week and did an online microscope lab. Cool stuff.

Bible – I’m having Wild Man use Bible Mesh again this year. Right now, he’s in Genesis. I’ll probably add in some reading from the Bible book summaries in BibleMesh as well as bits of How to Read the Bible for All It’s Worth and How to Read the Bible Book by Book.

Spelling – We’re not doing a spelling curriculum, but I see that Wild Man is misspelling some pretty easy words in his notebooks, so I’ll probably have him practice them using the Spelling Power practice techniques.

Current events – Wild Man is writing a current events paper once a week. This week he wrote about modern day castles. His writing is good, although his spelling and grammar need work. I’m going to ask him to write about something more political next week.

Band – Public schools start on Tuesday!

Music – He continues to lead the high school worship team and play intermittently on the adult worship team as well as play guitar and keyboard at home.

That was our school week. Unfortunately, I was pretty much unavailable on Wednesday because of a migraine, and I was still pretty sick on Thursday and part of Friday. PWM did a lot of work with Wild Man, but Wild Man took a lot of responsibility himself to get his work done. I was quite pleased. It was a good start to our year.

How is your school year going? Check out Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers to see what others are doing?

Our Week In Review–April 13, 2013

This was one of those weeks when we didn’t stick to much of a schedule, but lots of learning got done anyway.

Wild Man

History/Social Science – Early 20th century, unions, settlement houses, Woodrow Wilson, beginning of WWI.

Science – We watched a NOVA episode on the elements which was surprisingly comprehensive as well as entertaining.

Literature – He is reading To Kill A Mockingbird.

Math – Probability, fractions, percentages, decimals

Test Preparation – This was the interesting part of the week. PWM and I have been concerned that Wild Man isn’t a great test taker, so I had him take practice ACT English, Reading, and Science tests. His scores on all of them were in the mid to high 20s!! I didn’t have him take a Math test since he’s only in Algebra 1. Overall, I’m quite pleased. He may have some time issues, so we’ll practice that over the next year, but he is a pretty good test-taker. Yippee!!

Music – The high school music department went to see The Lion King at the PAC on Tuesday night. PWM and Rosie Girl had tickets for the same night, so everyone except me got to go (which was OK since I had a headache). Wild Man also played for the opening worship service of the Forest Lakes District Conference Meeting which was held at our church this weekend. The high school band was supposed to play that night at the Timber Rattlers baseball game, but the game was canceled due to snow.

Rosie Girl

Life Skills – This week was exciting for Rosie Girl because she bought her car! She and PWM found the car on Monday and brought it to a mechanic on Wednesday to be checked out. They went back Friday to pay for it (after it had the window tinting removed) and do all the paperwork. And it is now hers!! And she is thrilled!!

Literature – She is reading Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass.

Psychology – Enjoying her reading about cognition.

Japanese – Still working on Rosetta Stone

Math – More ALEKS.

Music – Practicing for her recital

Dance – She missed her tap class and assisting with tap and ballet because of bad weather this week. Ick.

Maybe we didn’t get all the boxes checked like I’d normally like, but there was definitely some educating going on!

Check out Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers to see what others have been doing.

And let me know what you’ve been up to!

Our Week In Review–April 6, 2013

 

These blog posts are helpful because they remind me that my kids are learning things even when it didn’t feel like it so much during the week.

Wild Man

History – Late 19th century, Gilded Age, Unions. I forgot to give him comprehension questions this week, but we had a nice discussion that made it clear that he has been reading and understanding the significance of the events.

Literature – Out of the Dust.

Bible – BibleMesh. He’s learning about the early years of the church and the book of Acts. Good stuff.

Science – Oceans, currents, reefs.

Grammar – nouns, plural nouns

Writing – Wrote a book review on Artemis Fowl

Math – Assessment this week.

Music – Band (going to see The Lion King at the PAC next week), playing electric guitar in Sunday morning church, leading youth band.

Rosie Girl

Social Science – Reading her Psychology books. She wasn’t thrilled with the sections about research and the scientific method, but is happier with the section on cognition.

Literature – Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass

Japanese – More Rosetta Stone

Math – Lots and lots of functions, parabolas

Music – Practicing piano for her recital.

Dance – Taught a tap class this week!! Otherwise, continuing to take tap and assist in ballet. She’s planning to start choreographing her senior piece next week.

 

This does make me feel a little better. They are learning things. Deep sigh.

What has your school week looked like? See what others are up to at Weird, Unsocialized Homschoolers!

 

Our Week(s) In Review–March 24, 2013

Despite the psychosis of moving, there has been some education going on in our home. The big news is that Rosie Girl got into the MUSIC DEPARTMENT at UWSP!! She’s very excited – and so are PWM and I!!

Here’s what else is going on:

Wild Man

History – The late 1800s, Progressivism, the Gold Standard

Literature – My Heart Lies South

Writing – I told Wild Man to write a couple of paragraphs on one of a couple of different topics. He chose to write about what kind of guitar he prefers. Without my prompting (but a little help from his sister), he wrote a five paragraph essay. I’m so excited that he did this pretty much on his own and I don’t need to teach him how to do this!! He still gets very frustrated with spelling and grammar, but those are easier to teach than writing. I’ll enroll him in WriteAtHome next year, but this year I’ll just have him work on spelling and grammar and do a couple of more papers.

Bible – Using BibleMESH. So far, I really like this program and Wild Man seems to be engaging it.

Math – Plodding away . . .

Music – About a month ago, his percussion group played at Solo and Ensemble and got a perfect score. They couldn’t go to State because their piece was a level B, but they were excited about how well they played. The band did really well a couple of days later at their concert. Wild Man is still leading the worship band on Wednesday nights at church and getting a lot out of it.

Rosie Girl

Literature – Finished Wuthering Heights and is writing a paper comparing it to Jane Eyre.

Social Science – About to start Psychology. She was going to do Social Change, but she wasn’t crazy about the possible topics she’d be reading about, so we’ve decided on Psychology instead.

Math – Almost done with Algebra 2.

Japanese – Rosetta Stone

Music – She’s getting her pieces ready for her senior recital. She’s doing her piano recital with one other girl, so they’re going to do the piece she composed last summer. Rosie Girl will play ocarina and the other girl will play the piano part.

Dance – Rosie Girl is really into Dr. Who these days, so she’s going to do her Senior Dance to the intro from Dr. Who. She has her costume, but she hasn’t started to choreograph yet. Next week, she’s actually going to teach the tap class that she usually demonstrates for since the teacher will be gone that day.

Other – Rosie Girl is in the midst of putting together scholarship applications. Next week is Spring Break, but she’s going to be doing lots of writing and filling out forms. Yay!

What is your family up to these days?

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!

Our Week In Review–December 8, 2012

 

What happened this week? I had migraines. That’s what happened. Oh, wait. What happened with homeschooling? Oh. Lots and lots of stuff.

Wild Man

History – Wild Man is learning about the mid-1800s in the USA and should be moving on to the Civil War soon. He is reading The Slopes of War, a novel about the Battle of Gettysburg.

Literature – He finished reading Tom Sawyer, which he really enjoyed. I found that he hasn’t been reading his poetry, so I decided to read it with him. Deep Sigh. I helped him understand similes and metaphors as we were reading Emily Dickinson, but Wild Man just doesn’t “get” Dickinson. That being said, he had a much better time understanding metaphors and similes a few days later when he and Rosie Girl were singing “I’ll Make A Man Out Of You” from Mulan.

Writing – Wild Man wrote his paragraph this week about lakes. He and Rosie Girl both practiced clauses which helped Wild Man tremendously with doing the paragraph “dress-ups” that he’s supposed to do. Overall, I’m quite pleased with Wild Man’s writing these days.

Bible – We started using BibleMesh last week and Wild Man seems to be doing well with it. BibleMesh covers seven different eras of biblical history and I had Wild Man start with the unit about Jesus. It includes video, written information, and quizzes. We’re pretty happy with the program so far.

Science – Last week was lakes and this week was rivers.

Music – Wild Man marched with the high school band in the Appleton and Weyauwega Christmas parades and enjoyed them both. He’s still playing in the youth band and occasionally with the adult worship team. He is also playing on the Christmas Eve worship team. Rosie Girl is giving Wild Man music theory/piano lessons so that Wild Man can play keyboards and be better equipped for guitar and bass playing.

 

Rosie Girl

Social Science – She’s reading Lies My Teacher Told Me which examines bias in how history is presented in standard textbooks compared to the reality of history. She’s going to read The Godless Constitution next.

Literature – Rosie Girl started reading Frankenstein. Her writing assignment early in the week was to write a scene from two different perspectives – right up my creative girl’s alley!

Math – She’s still working through Algebra 2. She’s also doing Dave Ramsey’s homeschool curriculum. She is now completely terrified about college debt and determined to not need any loans for her college years.

Music – Rosie Girl’s piano recital was last Sunday. I missed it because of a migraine, but she did quite well. Her piano student’s recital is this Friday and Rosie Girl will also play her own recital piece there as well. Both girls (Rosie Girl and her student) are pretty excited! Rosie Girl is also playing keyboard for the church’s Christmas Eve program, which I find exciting since Rosie Girl doesn’t usually enjoy performing.

 

That’s our week. Not very exciting, but reasonably educational. How was your week?

Our Week In Review–The One Where We’re Still Behind

I kind of hate to say that we’re “behind” because homeschoolers can make their own schedules, right? But, both my kids are high schoolers and want to have their summers off, so we need to get a full credit’s worth of each subject done in 36 weeks or they’ll be doing schoolwork in the summer, which no one likes!!

I had hoped to get Wild Man all caught up this week, but my headaches were bad again, so I couldn’t stay right on top of everything he was doing. He got a normal week’s worth of work done, but not enough to get caught up. Rosie Girl is a bit behind, largely because she had the ACT on Saturday and was a little stressed about that.

Wild Man

He’s about done with the Revolutionary War in history and is learning about the Constitution. He and Rosie Girl and I had a great educational discussion about the Electoral College the other day.

I’ve done some of his science reading with him because it’s the one book that tends to go over his head. His most recent topic was mountains. Before that, we read about earthquakes and fault lines. This was pretty cool since he went with Grandma to California a couple of years ago and saw the San Andreas fault and the Rocky Mountains.

He wrote a nice paragraph for me on the solar system. He doesn’t have any trouble with organizing his ideas, so writing reports and essays won’t be a big deal. However, we are going to need to work on grammar issues like fragments and run-ons. Rosie Girl will quite often use fragments in her writing, but she uses them knowingly and for effect. Wild Man – not so much. (yes, that was a fragment!!)

The one thing Wild Man does plenty of is music. He and Rosie Girl played again at the nursing home on Monday. He also played with the youth worship band on Wednesday night. Lots and lots of music has been going on around here. And Christmas is around the corner!

Rosie Girl

Rosie Girl took the ACT with Writing yesterday. She wasn’t crazy about taking it again – although this is the first time she’s taken the writing portion. Overall, she thinks she did OK. Her previous scores were good, but I wanted her to take the test with writing in case she needs it for scholarship reasons.

Overall, Rosie Girl is caught up on things. The one place that she’s behind is in writing. I cut one of her assignments since we were behind and I wanted her to practice for the ACT. She still owes me one or two papers, though. And I’d like to see her doing more math every day so we can get Algebra 2 over and done with, especially since she starts Dave Ramsey Personal Finance next week.

And, of course there’s music. Rosie Girl is doing lots of piano practice for her audition in February as well as just general playing piano, ocarina, and guitar. She continues with composition lessons as well.

 

That’s where we are in the education department. Overall, not too bad, but the organizational part of me really wants to have them caught up. To that end, I redid Wild Man’s schedule for this week. He’s going to have to work a little harder, but then he’ll be right where he’s supposed to be and nobody will have to worry about working on Thanksgiving or anything crazy like that!!

So, what’s up with your educational adventures?  Check out how others are doing at Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers!!

Our Week In Review–The One Where We’re So Far Behind

The grandparents are all back in Florida and we’re supposed to be getting back to normal. Except that we’re not. Back to normal, that is.

I was overwhelmed with headaches this week which, of course, had a negative impact on our week. But, I did manage to do a huge grocery trip to Woodman’s on Tuesday. We have plenty of meat in our freezer and candy for Halloween. The important things in life, you know.

Wild Man – The big issue for Wild Man this week was that he was behind on his schoolwork from last week and he never got caught up. In fact, I think he got further behind. Most of my non-headache time is going to be spent making sure that he is getting caught up on his work, even if he has to work longer than usual.

I’m learning to be more laid back about things. When Rosie Girl would get behind on her schoolwork, I would get all upset and worry that she was irresponsible, etc., etc. Now, I’m taking it in stride. Of course, Wild Man is behind. He’s 14 years old and needs more of a push than I could give him this last week. I’m not lecturing him about being more responsible, but I am going to try to teach him how to get caught up and stay caught up. Everyone’s life will be easier. (Poor Rosie Girl. We made all our parenting and homeschooling mistakes with her. It’s a miracle she’s survived.)

Rosie Girl – She’s getting ready for her ACT next Saturday. I had her do a timed essay this week and was pleased with the results. The rest of her ACT prep this next week is just going to be doing more math and doing some practice science questions.

Rosie Girl started her college application and got as far as the personal statement. She’s going to work on that after the ACT and will hopefully have all of the application done within the next few weeks. Of course, I need to get her transcript finalized and mailed.

The next thing after the college application is her audition, assuming that she is accepted into the university. She is hoping to audition in February, so she and her piano teacher are working to get her pieces ready. After that, she will work on the rest of her repertoire for her senior recital and any auditions for scholarships. Whew!

That was our week. How was yours? Check our Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers to see what others are up to!!

Our Week In Review–Grandparents Part 2

Between my headaches and grandparents around, I’m not sure how much “academic” stuff got done this week. But, since we believe that academics aren’t necessarily the most important part of life, it’s all good. Some “school” got done, but all kinds of “real life” got done.

My parents left town last Friday morning so this week, we got to hang out with PWM’s mom. PWM and I worked at the shop all day Saturday, but the kids were free, so she and the kids went to Roche-A-Cri State Park for the day. It was kind of cool and cloudy, but not rainy and they had a great time.

Grandma has been getting the kids ready for their trip to Ireland in June. It’s going to be Grandma, PWM’s sister, her two youngest kids, Rosie Girl, and Wild Man. Grandma took one of the cousins on this same tour a few years ago, so she knows what to expect and is excited about getting to take the other grandkids. On Monday, Grandma took Rosie Girl and Wild Man for passport photos and we would have all gone for their passport applications, but it was Columbus Day and we figured the courthouse was probably closed. In any case, the photos are done and we can do the passport applications on Monday. She also gave the kids journals they can use to record their time in Ireland. Grandma also has a relatively new ipad that they all got to play with so they can Skype and take amazing pictures on the trip!

So, what about the academics? Well, a little bit has been done .  . .

Wild Man

• History – We’ve been reading the US Constitution together at night and I found a good article about the electoral college to go over with both kids this next week. There’s a lot about the electoral college (like “faithless electors”) that’s spelled out in state law and not the Constitution, but it would be good for the kids to know about.
• Literature – I love hearing Wild Man tell me that a book (Amos, Free Man) is really good. I was afraid that I’d have to cut down on his reading because of his dyslexia, but he’s keeping up quite well.
• Bible – This week, Wild Man got to the part of Revelation where what he has learned from his counselors at camp is completely different from what he is reading in the N.T. Wright commentary. My main point to him is that sincere believers who hold the Bible in great esteem are disagreeing on these interpretations. Yes, one is right and one is wrong, but it doesn’t mean that one set of people is “good” and one is “bad”, just that they disagree. That’s not always an easy thing for a kid his age to hear, but I think he’s ready. And he’s learning a lot from how Wright uses context and audience to guide his interpretation of the text.
• Science – This is the hardest for Wild Man in terms of reading, but he works hard at it and seems to be learning. I also like seeing how he evaluates the topic with what he knows and then reads to add to it.
• Spelling – Ah, spelling. This would have gone better if I hadn’t felt so rotten all week. As it is, though, I’m seeing some improvement in Wild Man’s spelling when he answers questions for other subjects.
• Writing – Wild Man’s writing fluency is improving significantly. However, the last couple of weeks, he’s forgotten about writing me a paragraph on Thursday. And I’ve been too overwhelmed to deal with it. We’ll be doing more writing next week.
• Math – Wild Man is doing some Flashmaster to help him with ALEKS, but he hasn’t done much ALEKS lately. I think we’ll be doing some focused Algebra over the next few weeks.
• Music – This is not a problem in Wild Man’s world. His band grade is excellent. He stays behind after band when he has questions. He’s playing acoustic guitar, cajon, and mandolin at church. At some point, I might want to add in a bit more formal theory, but I figure maybe we should catch up on spelling first!
• Physical Education – Ideally, he’d be in TaeKwonDo, but right now we’re relying on him walking and riding his bike to school and the shop because no one has the time to drive him to Waupaca for TaeKwonDo class. Sigh.

Rosie Girl

• American Government – The election fits pretty nicely into her government reading. It’s not an exciting course, but it gets her the credit she needs. And it’s useful. She’ll be learning the ins and outs of the electoral college next week, too.
• Literature – Hamlet! Rosie Girl loves Shakespeare, even when she has to read the plays instead of watch them. She’s gotten behind on writing because of this week. One of them is her timed writing practice, which is important because she’s taking the ACT with writing in a few weeks. She’s not crazy about it, but I want to make sure she has it in case she needs it for scholarship applications.
• Math – The bane of her existence. Well, lots of hard work to finish Algebra 2 and then on to Dave Ramsey.
• World Religions – Going along OK.
• Music – Lots of music. She’s mainly working on getting ready for her piano auditions, but she’s also taking composition lessons and playing guitar for fun (and the nursing home). She teaches piano lessons to an 8 year old girl as well.
• PE – Tap class is one of her favorite weekly activities. She’s also demonstrating for two dance classes. Originally, it was going to be the vey little kids, but now it’s the 8-11 year old girls in intermediate ballet and tap. She isn’t having any trouble remembering what to do, but she is having to get into a little better shape to do all the routines with them!

Next week needs to be a little more academic around here so we can get caught up. But it will be worth it. Time with the grandparents is precious. We can do spelling next week. Grandma will be back in Florida next week.

That’s what’s going on in our educational neck of the woods. I’m always amazed to watch what God is doing with my kids. What’s going on in your world? Check out Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers to see what others are up to!!

Our Week In Review–Week One is Done!

This was a very sentimental week for me – Rosie Girl’s last year of high school and Wild Man’s first year of high school. Forgive any random outbreaks of “Sunrise, Sunset” in this post.

The children, however, were not remotely sentimental. They were, for the most part, typical teenagers. Meaning, they needed to be reminded to do schoolwork and housework and they occasionally had teenager attitudes. And they did not understand my need to hug them and sound like a Hallmark commercial.

Here’s how the week went (with commentary):

Our evening read-aloud is usually one of the kids’ literature selections. This week, though, we’re finishing The Restaurant at the End of the Universe. OK, fine literature it’s not. But, it’s entertaining.

Wild Man

• Social Sciences – He is doing Sonlight Core 100 American History. I alternated reading out loud with him on Monday and I’m confident in his reading ability and comprehension of the books. Whew! (I was a little concerned that his dyslexia might be an issue, but I guess it’s not.) This week, he read about ancient South American peoples and very early Native Americans. I had him writing a paragraph each day and one of his paragraphs was about his history reading.
• Literature – This is part of his Sonlight Core. His book this week was Peace Child.
• Math – ALEKS Algebra 1 – Seems to be going pretty well, but PWM and I need to stay on top of this a little more to make sure Wild Man spends enough time on it each day.
• Science – Wild Man is reading 3 or 4 pages from Smithsonian Earth each day. This is his most challenging reading, but he wrote about it twice this week and was able to talk intelligently about it the other days, so I’m pleased with how he’s doing.
• Bible – We are reading N.T. Wright’s Revelation for Everyone, a commentary on the book of Revelation. So far, it has been an excellent book. The reading level is great for Wild Man, and it is broken up into very manageable sections. I really like most of what I’ve read by Wright, and this is no exception.
• Spelling – Ah, spelling, the bane of Wild Man’s existence. We are still using Spelling Power. Unfortunately, Wild Man’s assessment placed him lower than he was last year. This means that his lists are easier, but he’s still got a long way to go. I hope that the increased amount of writing this year will help him use more words and put them in his working vocabulary. He speaks with a wide vocabulary – he just can’t spell them!
• Writing – This last week, I had Wild Man write (as in, use a pencil on paper) a paragraph each day. His writing fluency is improving markedly, but he still has issues with capitalization, punctuation, and spelling. And, in order to fix those while he’s writing, he should be writing on his computer. This week, I’m going to have him answer some study questions each day from one or two of his subjects. That should give him practice in writing fluency. On Thursday, I’ll have him do a paragraph that should have good punctuation, spelling, and all the IEW “dress-ups” that he learned last year. He’ll be able to fix any issues that come up on Friday. In a few weeks, I hope we can increase his writing assignments to a couple of paragraphs. For a kid with such great verbal expression, we’re having to work really hard on written expression!! But, he’s doing the work and not fussing about it.
• Band – Wild Man isn’t crazy about playing cymbals, but he’s sticking with it. Next week is the first pep band of the season.
• Volunteer work – Unfortunately, Wild Man won’t be able to work at the Nutrition Site because of his band schedule. We’re hoping that the kids will be able to do music at one of the local nursing homes (their idea!).

Rosie Girl

• English – Rosie Girl is doing Sonlight Core 530 – British Literature and is pretty happy with it so far. The core is intended to be an Advanced Placement course. Rosie Girl isn’t too interested in the AP exam, so I’ve reduced the memorizations from 6 to 3 and the research papers from 2 to 1. Otherwise, she has lots of reading and writing to do each week. This week was Beowulf, so Rosie Girl requested the DVD of it being read in Anglo Saxon with captions instead of just reading it from the book. OK. She also bought a copy of Henry V when she and a friend were out shopping because she’s going to memorize the prologue for her first memorization. She’s a little confused that I didn’t read all of Shakespeare’s plays in my free time in high school and college. Ummm, yeah.
• Social Science – She’s reading a book about American Government right now and answering study questions about it. So far, so good.
• Religion – This year, we’re using the Hippocampus World Religions course. I’ve also added the few chapters from the textbook that the online course doesn’t use. She has been answering the questions I assigned without problem.
• Math – Rosie Girl is still finishing Algebra 2. Hopefully, she can do this in a month or so because she’s scheduled to start the Dave Ramsey Personal Finance Course sometime in October.
• Japanese – She’s almost finished with her BYU Japanese semester 2. When that is done, she’s going to start Rosetta Stone for her last Japanese credit.
• Music – Rosie Girl started her piano lessons again this week. She has pieces for her college audition to learn as well as some other pieces for the final contest. In two and a half weeks, she also starts her composition lessons. Yep, lots of music.
• PE – Rosie Girl has been diligent in getting out to walk every day. She’s going to continue taking a tap class every week. She’s pretty excited that she’s also going to be a dance demonstrator for a Music and Movement class (3 year olds) and  Pre-Tap/Pre-Ballet class (4-5 year olds).
• Volunteer work – Rosie Girl was the one who suggested taking their guitars to the nursing home. I will be talking to the nursing home next week to see if this is something they are interested in.
• Employment – This was the first week in a long time that she didn’t work at all during the week. She was only supposed to work till noon today, but ended up having to work till 4pm. Bummer. On the flip side, she has a good bit of money in her savings account from working all summer.
• Getting into college stuff – In addition to getting schoolwork done, Rosie Girl is supposed to be filling out her application, writing a personal statement, and practicing her piano pieces for her audition. She’s taking the ACT one more time (mostly to improve her chances for academic scholarships). There are three possible times to do her music audition, so she’ll do the early spring since she doesn’t think her pieces will be ready in the fall.

My babies are growing up entirely too quickly! But the school year is off to a good start. I think both kids will do well and learn a lot.

How is your year going? Check out Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers to see how others are doing!

Our Week In Review–March 24, 2012

Educating teenagers is different than teaching little kids.  There are very few skills that need to be taught, and since they’re mostly math-related, PWM gets that task!  My job is mostly motivation.  And, when I’m down with a migraine, PWM gets that one, too!  Poor guy!  Well, let me tell you what’s been going on around here.

Wild Man

History/Geography.  We’ve been watching a series on Ancient Rome.  I was appalled to find out a few days ago that Wild Man didn’t know off the top of his head where Minnesota was (he said he tried to block it out because the Minnesota Vikings football team is from there) so we’re reviewing US state geography.  It turns out that he can actually locate quite a few states on the map.  But, I’m going to make him learn them all.  Because I’m an evil mommy that way.

Math – He and PWM are still working on ALEKS fractions but also getting more math facts stuck in his head.

Reading – He’s reading Eagle of the Ninth and seems to enjoy it.

Writing – He wrote 2 paragraphs this week.  As a joke, he wrote one made all of sentences from Wikipedia.  As I read it, I was getting rather concerned, but as my face was looking more distressed, he started giggling.  I asked what was going on and he ‘fessed up.  He then wrote the “real” assignment on a different topic without the help of Wikipedia.  (And did a much better job!)  He is learning some basic comma rules right now.  I have to agree that they can be pretty confusing.

Spelling – He spent longer arguing with me about the lack of need to do his 10-step spelling word review for the one word he missed on Tuesday than it actually took to do the ten steps!!  Aaaarrrrgggghhhh!!!  The good news is that he can now spell “neighbor”.  In fact, it was a very good week for spelling.

Band – He’s having a blast.

Other music – Wild Man is playing bass guitar for regular church services next weekend as well as continuing to play for the middle school Wednesday night service.  Pretty awesome!

Science – We’ve been pretty casual about this over the last month or so.  This week, we watched some astronomy videos.

Rosie Girl

College Prep – Rosie Girl takes the ACT again next month so she’s been doing some prep with PWM.  In addition, we’ve got visits scheduled with the three other colleges that she wants to see (we visited her first choice last fall).  In the meantime, I have been trying to get her course descriptions put together.

History – She’s studying the 1990’s now, so we can talk about events that have impacted her life more directly and that PWM and I remember clearly.  Pretty interesting.

Math – Lots of ALEKS and ACT prep

Literature – 20th century literature mostly, although she is reading “The Tempest” right now and we just watched a DVD.  We’ve agreed that we prefer the DVD of “Much Ado About Nothing” with Emma Thompson and Kenneth Brannagh.  Maybe we’ll try “The Taming of the Shrew” later this week.

Writing – The research paper is finally over after much wailing and gnashing of teeth on everyone’s part!!!  And after all the stress, she made all 5’s – i.e. a perfect score!  So, not only does she not have to take it again (which she would have had to do as well as pay for it if she had made less than 4’s) but we also rewarded her with a microphone for music recording that she’d been wanting.

Art – In her public school art class, she’s making a miniature mini-golf course based on one of her favorite Zelda games.

Music – Piano Festival is coming up!  Yes, she’s practicing a lot!!  She still plays her guitar and ocarina, but not nearly as much for the next few weeks.

Science – With her new microphone, Rosie Girl will be doing a project showing how sound is made on different instruments.  I can’t wait to see what she comes up with!

Other – Rosie Girl learned to use her drop spindle a few weeks ago and has made several yards of 2-ply yarn and then knit it up into a little square.  Now she’s working on spinning another bunch of wool and making more pretty yarn.

The kids are probably going to see “The Hunger Games” tonight.  We read them last fall and really enjoyed them.  We just finished reading the Bartimeus trilogy this week and loved it.  I hope we can read C.S. Lewis’ space trilogy series soon. 

That’s what’s been going on around here.  Anything exciting at your place?  Check out what others are doing at Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers!

Our Week In Review–February 25, 2012

Yes, indeed, we are still homeschooling.  As life goes on, our homeschooling becomes more relaxed, and I’m more amazed at what the kids are learning.  This last week, I think we got a little too relaxed with Wild Man, so I need to add a little more structure to his life.  And Rosie Girl got a little off schedule, so she’s going to have to get back onto her schedule that’s already been planned out, but I think they’ll be fine.  The short version is that the kids are getting educated.  The long version is:

Wild Man

• Social Science – This is where we are the most relaxed.  I’ve had him watch some videos about Mesopotamia and Sumerian culture and then look at some websites.  We did the same thing, but in more depth with Egypt.  In the last couple of weeks, we’ve repeated this with Ancient Greece and next week we’ll start Ancient Rome.  When Wild Man starts learning about a culture, he often goes back to Weapon and Warrior that he used last semester to look up some of the thing he learned about then.  I want to do a quick overview of the major cultures up to the time of Christ by the end of the year.
• Reading – He finished Hittite Warrior this week.  I’m finding that he reads one chapter a day unless I assign more, so I’m going to need to be proactive on his reading assignments.
• Writing – This is so frustrating for us.  Wild Man has great oral communication skills, but he has a hard time translating that to written/typed communication.  I told him to write a paragraph on any subject he wanted 2 weeks ago and gave him two days to complete the assignment.  In one day, he researched and did probably three paragraphs worth of information into a Power Point presentation.  Unfortunately, it wasn’t a paragraph with the topic sentence and supporting sentences that we had discussed.  I was really pleased with his ability to research and do Power Point, so I wasn’t very negative about it at the time.  However, next week, I am going to go back to basics and have him copy a paragraph so we can then move on to writing a paragraph and not get sidetracked with bells and whistles.
• Spelling – Wild Man enjoys Spelling Power more than All About Spelling, but I find that it’s good to also have him use the online SpellingCity (we paid for the premium version) for added review.  I was quite concerned that the Spelling Power would “let him off the hook” if he spelled a word correctly and then he wouldn’t see it again until the review a week or so later.  By having him review on SpellingCity as well, he sees whether he really does know the word.  I understand, though, that he likes that All About Spelling moves along faster.
• Bible – Wild Man is happy with his reading through the Bible and writing about what he read.  The only problem I’m having is that he wants to give me a complete one page summary of what he read when all I want for his journal is 2 sentences about what he read – something he thought was interesting or something he learned.  He’s having to learn to read and then interpret and not just summarize.  Definitely a higher-order skill.  I know he can do it, but now he also has to write it.
• Math – He is doing math facts and fractions with PWM several mornings a week.  When he goes up to the shop with PWM in the morning, he also gets the register ready and counts the money, etc., so he’s learning some real world math skills as well.
• Music – Oh, so much music in this house!!  Wild Man played at Solo and Ensemble today.  He got a “2” on his timpani solo and on  the mixed percussion ensemble – Yippee!!!  He’s been spending a lot of time after school practicing by himself and with the other percussionists.  He’s also been staying after occasionally to help with music department fundraisers.  The church youth band has now been split into middle school and high school bands, so Wild Man is the middle school band leader.  He plays drums and percussion most of the time, although bass guitar occasionally.  He’s also getting some voice lessons to help with his leading skills because his voice is changing so he’s not quite sure sometimes which octave to choose when he’s singing.  And, at home, he’s playing acoustic and bass guitar for hours on end!!  I’m not complaining – except when I want him to do his other schoolwork or chores, of course!!
• Life skills (AKA chores) – I’ve been having the kids cook one meal each week.  Wild Man is relatively adventurous when it comes to cooking.  One week, he made a Cajun Chicken pasta dish from the Food Network site.  Other times, it’s spaghetti.  Being an extrovert, Wild Man is also very active in the Children’s Ministry at church.  He has to be there at about 7am on Sunday morning to get everything together and he helps run things in both Sunday services.  Once a month, the Wednesday night Children’s activity night is Family Night, so Wild Man does that instead of his usual Junior High group.  Yeah, he’s never met a microphone that he doesn’t like!!

Rosie Girl

• Social Science – Rosie Girl is studying 20th century history this year, which is interesting because PWM and I have actually lived through some of it.  Rosie Girl has been studying some of the events of the 70s, so we’ve had some interesting discussions.
• Literature – Her reader this week is The Old Man And The Sea.  I haven’t read any Hemingway, although I did try a few years ago and just didn’t find it to my liking, but since I grew up in South Florida, I heard a lot about “Papa” and his life in Key West.  I’ll be interested to hear what Rosie Girl thinks about the book.  (And I realize that not having read Hemingway makes me a completely uneducated clod.  Especially since I was appalled that there are people in this country who don’t know where the fertile crescent is!  Alas.  Maybe I’ll read it when Rosie Girl is done and my life will be complete.)
• Writing – Rosie Girl is taking a research paper workshop through WriteAtHome, an online company that provides writing classes and workshops for homeschooled students.  We’ve had great success with all of her previous classes except the research paper workshop.  So, she’s doing it again.  The issue is that she never really understood the process for doing the research, making source cards, making research information cards, and then writing the paper from the information cards.  Rosie Girl writes quite well, but we’ve had a stressful week with her struggling to master this new set of skills and finish the first draft on time.  But, it’s done and sent in!!
• Bible – I love to read Rosie Girl’s take on Paul’s epistles.  She comes at them very straightforward and isn’t afraid to give her opinion!
• Math – She’s working her way through Algebra 2 and hoping to finish by summer, otherwise she’ll be doing math during the summer!
• Japanese – She’s about halfway through her Japanese semester.  I’d like her to be done by summer and start the next one during the summer so she can be done well before the end of her senior year.  In any case, we’ve been happy with doing these courses through BYU. 
• Music – More music . . . . She’s still taking her piano lessons at Lawrence, which include some intense music theory, even though she’s not taking the music theory class.  She’s also been playing her guitar a good bit.  I haven’t heard her clarinet or ocarina much lately, but she’s been pretty busy.  She will be playing ocarina for the Good Friday service.  She is arranging some Lord of the Rings music for her guitar.  She’s an introvert and more of a behind the scenes music person.  She also tends to turn to music when she’s stressed or doesn’t want to do schoolwork. 
• Life Skills (AKA chores) – When I ask what she wants to cook each week, her answer tends to be along the lines of whatever is easiest.  I don’t think she’s going to be our gourmet cook.  But I’m really glad she has her driver’s license because she’s been driving Wild Man to church for all of his activities and not been fussing about it.

Don’t expect quite such a novel every week, but I figured I’d catch you up since I hadn’t blogged on our homeschooling in so long. 

Check out Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers to see what others are up to!!

Our Week In Review–November 4, 2011

(I wrote most of this on Friday, but didn’t finish till Saturday.  FYI.)

I really don’t feel like our week ends on Friday since the shop is open on Saturday and we often have a Saturday afternoon knitting class.  I offered to have the kids do their schoolwork on Tuesday through Saturday, but they prefer the Monday through Friday schedule.

Halloween was on Monday, but our town’s trick-or-treat hours and Main Street BooFest were held on Sunday from 4-7pm.  Unfortunately, I had a migraine, so I couldn’t go, but the kids and PWM dressed up and gave out candy at The Knitting Nest’s booth. 

The shop is closed on Mondays, so that’s the day we do our errands and appointments.  This week, I had a mammogram on Monday and then PWM and I both had eye appointments (and will both be getting new glasses).  Low on fun, high on utility.

The rest of the week is eventful only for the fact that I had a migraine from Monday afternoon through Thursday.  Yes, I was about to lose my mind!  Thankfully, I’m feeling much better today.

What have the kids been up to?

Rosie Girl

• History – 1930s, Nazis, The Great Depression
• Writing – She starts her Research Paper workshop with WriteAtHome this week.
• Literature – She finished Brave New World.
• Science – Reading Healing at the Speed of Sound as well as working on her research paper.
• Music – Playing lots of piano and ocarina.

Wild Man

• History – We’re listening to The Three Musketeers and he’s been looking up various things online.
• Science – Watching a Teaching Company DVD set on Astronomy.  Pretty cool so far.
• Literature – He’s been reading “fun books” since we’re listening to The Three Musketeers.
• Writing – Adding “dress-ups” to the paragraphs in his story.
• Music – Band, youth band

So, that’s it.  Excitement level has been pretty low (until Saturday night and the LSU game – but more on that another time!)

See what others have been doing at Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers!

Our Week In Review–October 29, 2011

So, this homeschooling while trying to help PWM run a business while having lots of migraines is a real challenge.  But, there are lots of good things happening despite the “challenges” (including a messy kitchen and undone laundry). 

On Monday, PWM and I went on a date to Olive Garden, Home Depot, and Woodman’s.  The romance level may not have been so high, but it was nice to be together outside of the house and the shop.

I had significant migraines on Tuesday and Wednesday, so I spent very little time at the shop.  Bummer.

Wild Man was sick Thursday and today.  He’s seriously bummed about not being able to sleep over at a friend’s house tonight, but we’re hoping that he’s feeling better tomorrow and can go to Haunted Hollow.  We’ll see.

Rosie Girl wanted to have a friend sleep over tonight, so she actually turned in her weekly paper yesterday!  I’m impressed.  And she and her friend made cupcakes – Yummy!

Here’s what the academics over the last couple of weeks have looked like:

Wild Man

• History/Science – He finished the Weapon and Warrior books as well as The Samurai’s Tale.  Right now, we’re listening to The Three Musketeers on audiobook and Wild Man has been reading about the Musketeers and French medieval history online.
• Math – Wild Man is starting to feel held back by his not having his math facts memorized completely, so he’s been motivated to practice them in addition to doing his regular ALEKs work.
• Music – Wild Man is playing percussion in the public school band and alternates between drum kit and bass guitar in the youth band at church.
• Writing – I’ve had Wild Man dictate his story to me.  Then, I’ve had him take each paragraph (one per day) and do the dress-ups that he learned last year.  It’s actually working well.
• Spelling – This is generally Wild Man’s nemesis, but  I think we’re starting to see some real improvement.  It certainly seems less frustrating to him.

Rosie Girl

• Rosie Girl got a job!!  She’s working at a business here in town, so she won’t need to worry about gas money.
• Social Science – She just finished the 1920s and wrote a nice paper summarizing the events of the decade and how they related to the 1910s and 1930s.  This isn’t her favorite subject, but she’s doing the work diligently.
• Natural Science – This is her self-directed “Science of Music” course.  Rosie Girl is still not quite sure exactly what her research question is going to be.  We’re working on that.
• Literature – The poor kid has had to read The Metamorphosis and Brave New World in the last few weeks.  She’s ready for something a little lighter, I think!
• Writing – I’m generally happy with her weekly papers, although I’ve asked her to provide more concrete examples for her main points.  She’s also starting the research paper writing workshop through WriteAtHome.  This may require much prayer.
• Japanese – She finished the first semester Japanese with an A-.  She started this semester’s course this week.
• Music – Rosie Girl is not only taking piano lessons, but learning some basics of composition from her piano teacher.  She’s also been practicing her ocarina and acoustic guitar a good bit.  She has a method book for clarinet, but she hasn’t practiced in several days.

 

So, that’s where we are academically.  I’m very thankful that Rosie Girl works pretty independently.  Wild Man needs a little more direction from me, but that’s OK. 

How was your week?  Check out Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers to see what others have been up to!

Our Week In Review–September 17, 2011

We just finished the fourth week of owning The Knitting Nest and third week of the school year.  Unfortunately, I had terrible migraines on Tuesday and Thursday, so I wasn’t very useful most of the week.  Nonetheless, some education did happen.

Rosie Girl

History – She finished the first decade of the 20th century this week and wrote a paper on inventions.

Literature – She’s reading Murder on the Orient Express and finished Heart of Darkness.

Bible – Still in the book of Matthew.

Math – Making progress in Algebra 2.

Japanese – She needs to take her final exam for 1st semester and then she can start 2nd semester.

Writing – The paper on inventions.

Science – She’s still reading about music and the mind.

Music – Her piano teacher is also teaching her some principles of arranging and composing music.

 

 

Wild Man

History – This week he read about the Samurai.

Literature – He’s reading Theras and his Town which is about a boy in Sparta.

Bible – Read some of the major events in the book of Genesis.

Math – Working on math facts and otherwise progressing well in ALEKS.

Writing – He read Katy and the Big Snow in preparation for story-writing.  Unfortunately, that’s as far as we got.  Hopefully, this week, he’ll make a story outline and then rewrite the story.

Spelling – I had a great idea to use the All About Spelling curriculum, but have him practice words using the Spelling Power 10 step list.  We did it on Monday, but not the rest of the week.  However, I hope he is learning some spelling by being on Facebook because he keeps asking me and PWM how to spell common words.

Grammar – Easy Grammar.

Typing – Yep. 

Music – After band class on Thursday, he stayed and taught one of the other middle school percussionists how to play the drum kit (with the director’s permission).

 

Not a very exciting week, but the kids are moving forward in all their subjects.  How are things at your house?  Check out Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers to see what others have been up to!

Our Week In Review–September 11, 2011

 

Week 2 of the 2011-2012 school year is done.  Overall, I’m pleased with how things are going.  I’m sure we’ll be making some changes over the next few weeks. though.

 

Rosie Girl

• I’m really missing being with Rosie Girl most of each day.  PWM, Wild Man and I spend most of each day at the shop but Rosie Girl spends most of her day at home.  She says that it’s working fine for her.  She does her schoolwork early in the day and emails me her journaling page when she’s done.  I’m very proud that she’s being diligent about getting her work done before doing her “fun stuff”.
• History/Social Sciences – She got her new copy of A Visual History of the Twentieth Century on Friday so she had to do her full week’s reading in one day.
• Bible – She’s reading the book of Matthew.
• Literature – She’s read The Great Brain and Heart of Darkness.
• Writing – She chose to write a compare and contrast essay about The Great Brain and Tom Sawyer.
• Math – ALEKS Algebra 2.  She’s spending more time on math this year so that she doesn’t have to finish it during the summer.
• Science – Can I just say how pleased I am that Rosie Girl is engaging the idea of learning the science of music.  This semester she’s learning about how music affects the brain.
• Music – In addition to her piano lessons, she’s documenting her practice of guitar, clarinet, and ocarina.
• Art – The public school art class seems to be going pretty well.

 

Wild Man

• Wild Man still needs a fair amount of direction, so he does most of his work at the shop.  I wasn’t there much on Thursday or Friday because of a migraine, so he didn’t get as much work done.  We need to work on that.
• History/Social Sciences/Natural Sciences – Wild Man is reading through his Warrior and Weapon books.  After he reads some in the beginning of the books, he usually reads some in the back of Weapon about modern weapons.
• Bible – He’s doing a read-through of “highlights” of the Bible.
• Reading – He’s enjoyed The Roman Ransom.
• Writing – We watched the IEW section on story outlining and writing.  This week I’ll have him do a story outline and rewrite the story.
• Math – more ALEKS
• Music – Between Band class, private drum lessons, and playing with the youth band, he’s got lots of music in his life!!
• Spelling – This is probably Wild Man’s most difficult subject, but we keep pressing on.

 

How was your week?  Check out Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers to see what others have been up to!

 

Our Week In Review–5/1/2011

So, I’m doing our Week In Review on Sunday night.  What does this say about our week?

We’ve just finished a very busy week and weekend.  I had a migraine last Monday through Wednesday and then again last night.  Nonetheless, the children appear to be getting educated.

Wild Man

History/Social Sciences – Wild Man has been watching some DVDs on Africa, although we’ve been reading about the Middle East.  Hopefully, he’s not too terribly confused!

Language Arts – Wild Man is reading King Of The Wind.  We made some real progress this week in spelling and I had him compose his own paragraph using some spelling words.  Overall, I’d like to see him doing some writing as well as starting on a typing program.  We didn’t do any work in his grammar book this week, but we’ll try to do some this week, along with some MadLibs.

Math – He’s continuing in ALEKS Math.  This week, he was working on factoring numbers along with trying to get his multiplication tables down pat.  I think we’ll be playing some Multiplication/Division 24 this week.

Science – I’m feeling pretty guilty that we haven’t gotten much Science done the last few weeks.  I’ll probably have him watch some science stuff on DVR or Netflix this week.  He keeps wanting to watch Mythbusters, but I think he’s seen all the Mythbusters episodes!

PE – Friday night was belt test night and Wild Man and PWM both passed their tests and will get green-tip belts!  The warmer weather means that Wild Man has also been out playing basketball whenever it’s not raining. 

Music – The 7th and 8th grade band is working on music for their Spring Concert.  Wild Man is still getting drum lessons and is practicing bass guitar and getting help from PWM as he needs it.

Life Skills – On Wednesday night, I wasn’t up to cooking, so I gave Wild Man instructions on making meatballs.  He also made spaghetti and spaghetti sauce to go with the meatballs.  Yummy!!

 

Rosie Girl

History/Social Sciences – Rosie Girl’s study of the church has gotten into the 20th century.   I hope she understands the various groups and denominations within the Christian Church better than I did when I was a teenager.

Language Arts – On Thursday night, Rosie Girl and I watched The Zefferelli production of “Romeo and Juliet” since that’s the play she’s studying right now.  Her copy has the original Shakespeare on the left side and updated language on the right side – she tells me that it’s quite helpful!  Next week, she’ll write about literature – either “Romeo and Juliet” or “Twelfth Night”.

Math – Rosie Girl is plodding on through Geometry.  Not much more to say about it.

Japanese – More plodding.

Chemistry – I’m very glad that PWM is helping Rosie Girl with Chemistry these days.  She’s making progress and will be doing experiments this week.

Dance – Rosie Girl had a make-up dance class on Friday night, which made her very, very happy!

Music – Yesterday, Rosie Girl played in the annual Piano Festival.  She’s pretty happy with how she did.  She will be playing on Sunday with the church’s worship team because the keyboard player had to cancel at the last minute.

Art – Rosie Girl is enjoying her art class.  For one of her projects, she did a drawing of the dance studio and gave it to the owner.

 

I still don’t have this week’s school schedules ready.  I guess I’ll get it done first thing in the morning.