Weekly Report: Week Seven, or Week of the Deluge

Monday started as the previous six days or so had - with lots of rain pouring out of the sky. If you've seen any sort of national news this week, though, you'll know that Monday's rain in the Atlanta area created unprecedented flooding. We're very thankful that we had no flooding damage, though FB is still impressed that the rushing waters managed to knock over the trash can! Still, the flooding did impact our week. On Monday afternoon, the kids came home from Master's Academy early; I got the call at 2 and we were home by 2:45. On Tuesday, we did not have co-op, and on Wednesday, no one batted an eye at EG being "out of school," since everyone else was, too. The ground still smells as if it had freshly rained, but we've had a string of bright sunny days since Tuesday.

FB was still easily tired this week, so we didn't do anything formal, though of course we read a few books. We're having difficulty finding Steven Kellogg books at our local bookstores, so he's excited that a new book, just for him, is arriving via UPS today. I should not have to order Paul Bunyan on amazon, not when I can buy the entire Walter the Farting Dog series at my local B&N. I need to find a way to make his schoolwork just as much of a priority as EG's is. I do remember this being an issue when she was this age, though. While they want schoolwork to do, I feel torn between challenging them and letting them just play. FB makes it even harder to gauge, as he shows little interest in reading, yet wants desperately to write and spell. I don't want to go on and on for too long, but I think he feels the math program is desperately easy. I thought it could be difficult at times to strike the right balance of interest and challenge with EG, but it's becoming increasingly clear to me - I ain't seen nothing yet.

EG has had a very productive week. We decided to take advantage of the time afforded to us on Monday afternoon and Tuesday. Consequently, she's both ahead of schedule and getting a lighter workload today. Definitely a win. She also started piano lessons this week. The opportunity essentially fell into our laps, and so far it seems like a good fit. She has proclaimed practicing to be "fun," so something must be right. On to the nitty-gritty details.

Math consisted of five chapters in Life of Fred (25-29) and a Bridge, which was passed on the first try. EG also completed several pages in Key to Measurement Book 2 and beat another drill level! I'm so glad we've had the flexibility to let her continue learning new concepts while her brain has slowly cemented her facts to memory. For someone so mathematically minded, she's had a difficult time with facts memorization, but it is thankfully clicking into place.

Science was conducted this week without EG's usual lab partner, who was having a day of rest after breaking his arm. EG did the more superfluous terminal activities from TOPS Magnetism, and earlier in the week, she read the sections on magnetism in The Cartoon Guide to Physics.

We shifted focus in history somewhat this week. While EG will continue reading in SOTW 4, doing the relevant mapwork, and reading biographies, the next several weeks will also see her reading Holling C. Holling's books, and working through some of the IEW Geography-Based Writing Lessons that incorporate the Holling books. Over the summer, I had thought this would be a good way to utilize more than one writing program and approach without overwhelming EG; we'd simply substitute the IEW program for writing history summaries for several weeks. I'm underwhelmed by the program so far, though to be fair we've only covered Units I & II. Still, we've covered what was designed, I think, to be several weeks' worth of work in just four days. At least that means my idea of working on it for just several weeks will allow us to complete most of the curriculum, I suppose. Aside from SOTW 4, then, EG read Paddle to the Sea and Alexander Graham Bell.

Language arts is going well. EG practices penmanship for ten minutes each morning, before breakfast. This week, she completed Level 4 of All About Spelling! She also did three activities from Editor in Chief A1, and completed a rewrite of "The Tortoise and the Hare" for WT2. Her book this week was The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, which she says she's enjoyed. Her father started reading The Hobbit during read-aloud time this week.

EG is still speeding through Latin. She's up to Chapter 6 now! She seems to be grasping it easily. She's also doing well with her memory work, and used "The Charge of the Light Brigade" for a talent show at her Girl Scout meeting this past Sunday. She's mastered "O Captain! My Captain!" and is making steady progress on The Gettysburg Address, in addition to continuing to review all other poems learned earlier this year. She's done several pages in her logic workbook (Logic Liftoff), too. Finally, she met her goal for practice minutes - 75 - for her trumpet. Band is this afternoon, and later we'll have Smrt Mama and her crew over for dinner & Dollhouse. Well, the adults will watch Dushku & Co.; the kids will be otherwise occupied.