It's only taken me six years of homeschooling (five years of reporting to the state) to finally decide upon the following course of action.
For a couple of years, I've been very diligent at counting days for our state reporting, and only counting days where I felt we reached a certain threshold of learning. It occurred to me several times, though, that there were days we didn't count that were probably far more educational than the end of the year celebrations at the local public schools. As it happens, I also never counted the days that EG was doing end of the year testing. We were usually done with our required number of days by that point.
I also never had a real interest in doing "year round school" in the way that many people usually mean it. I didn't want to do a three week on, one week off schedule, or a three months on, one month off schedule. Summer camps are very important to me as a parent. I'm sure I'd feel that way regardless, but as a homeschooling parent, they're very nearly sacred. Next year, PC can go to a half-day camp at the local YMCA, which means I am eagerly anticipating getting a week where I am ALONE for three hours a day, as well as two weeks where one of the older kids is the only one home with me. I'm getting off track; suffice it to say, while we do light schoolwork throughout the summer, camp is Very Important.
This past year, I did an experiment. Each year, as I filled out my "attendance report," I kept track of our running total of days. Then, I kept an unofficial count. It included things like trips out of town, field trips, and more. If it was somewhat educational, I went ahead and included it. I probably missed a few.
As of the end of May, I have 242 days of education counted for the eleven month period of July 2010-May 2011.
I don't feel bad about what I'm going to do tonight or tomorrow, then: I'm going to print out our "attendance sheets" and fill them out for the 2011-2012 school year. In advance. All 180 days. If we hold with the past year, we'll surpass that by at least 60 days.
Showing posts with label homeschool: 1011. Show all posts
Showing posts with label homeschool: 1011. Show all posts
28.5.11
Wrapping It Up, Officially
We've been on a very light schedule for the past two months, really; we hit 32 weeks before our spring break week, and almost all of my lesson plans were written for 32 or 34 weeks. EG did have two webinars that both concluded yesterday. All of the extracurricular activities are done until autumn.
And today, I wrote my annual summation of the year. Technically required. Y Georgia law, I'm not actually obligated to submit it to anyone. I'm just supposed to write it and keep it on file. I guess it goes with the test scores that we have to have but not submit.
Now I've really got to finalize everything for next year. I have a lot of plans to finish writing before we start. Oh, and Bento to purchase. I love the Bento iPad app and really want to be able to enter things more easily via the laptop. Other exciting technological things on the horizon include my turn for a new computer over the summer. Oh, Apple store, you just keep calling my name.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
And today, I wrote my annual summation of the year. Technically required. Y Georgia law, I'm not actually obligated to submit it to anyone. I'm just supposed to write it and keep it on file. I guess it goes with the test scores that we have to have but not submit.
Now I've really got to finalize everything for next year. I have a lot of plans to finish writing before we start. Oh, and Bento to purchase. I love the Bento iPad app and really want to be able to enter things more easily via the laptop. Other exciting technological things on the horizon include my turn for a new computer over the summer. Oh, Apple store, you just keep calling my name.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
25.3.11
Weekly Report: Week Thirty-Two (days 156-160)
Busy, busy, busy: a really full week.
• FB turned six on Wednesday, which meant no schoolwork! He did read books, listen to a new book, play outside, go to the grocery store, and watch Schoolhouse Rock, which means that altogether I think he covered literature, physics, math, economics, and history, without even trying. ;)
• FB also finished the Orange Miquon book today! Hooray!
• EG started working through Excavating English.
• PC still has the occasional accident but basically is full-time pottying. She did REALLY well at the convention last weekend, although she refused to poop until we got back home. Apparently she's one of those.
• EG finally got access to her online course from Art of Problem Solving, so there's that.
• I spent another Large Sum of Money at Borders. I think this will be the last time (at the store that's closing, I mean).
• I didn't finish FB's sweater for his birthday. I may get it done before his party tomorrow, or he may just get it as an April Fools present or something. I forget how much longer something takes when it's not worsted weight or heavier. :P
I really need some time to organize things, put things away, and generally work on the house, mainly so we can paint a few rooms and overall so we can sell this place. So next week, we're going to do Reading School: math, lots of books, and probably a DVD or two in the afternoons (e.g., Schoolhouse Rock, Life, Planet Earth, Blue Planet, Young People's Concerts, National Geographic, etc.). I work best in the morning and while it's good I spent the best portion of my day on school, it's causing me to feel really behind on this whole moving thing. So that is my solution. The kids think it's wonderful, except FB wanted to make sure we could still do history.
• FB turned six on Wednesday, which meant no schoolwork! He did read books, listen to a new book, play outside, go to the grocery store, and watch Schoolhouse Rock, which means that altogether I think he covered literature, physics, math, economics, and history, without even trying. ;)
• FB also finished the Orange Miquon book today! Hooray!
• EG started working through Excavating English.
• PC still has the occasional accident but basically is full-time pottying. She did REALLY well at the convention last weekend, although she refused to poop until we got back home. Apparently she's one of those.
• EG finally got access to her online course from Art of Problem Solving, so there's that.
• I spent another Large Sum of Money at Borders. I think this will be the last time (at the store that's closing, I mean).
• I didn't finish FB's sweater for his birthday. I may get it done before his party tomorrow, or he may just get it as an April Fools present or something. I forget how much longer something takes when it's not worsted weight or heavier. :P
I really need some time to organize things, put things away, and generally work on the house, mainly so we can paint a few rooms and overall so we can sell this place. So next week, we're going to do Reading School: math, lots of books, and probably a DVD or two in the afternoons (e.g., Schoolhouse Rock, Life, Planet Earth, Blue Planet, Young People's Concerts, National Geographic, etc.). I work best in the morning and while it's good I spent the best portion of my day on school, it's causing me to feel really behind on this whole moving thing. So that is my solution. The kids think it's wonderful, except FB wanted to make sure we could still do history.
21.3.11
Memory Work Monday
One of the gals on the WTM forum suggested blogging on Mondays about memory work. What a great idea! So, I’ll share what’s going on as far as memory work around these parts.
Both EG & FB have memorized one level of IEW’s Linguistic Development Through Poetry Memorization this school year: level one for FB, and level two for EG (who memorized level one last year). Rather than continue onward immediately, we’ve spent the last two months or so cementing the poems via the every-other-one every-other-day method recommended. On Fridays, the kids listen to the entire CD for that level. It’s working very well. EG will probably start on level three’s poems after our spring break or in May, but FB will wait until August or so to start on level two.
Both of them also have a memory work notebook as well, for every other subject or piece of memory work. They have the dividers for daily, M-W-F & T-Th, each day of the week, and numbered dividers for each day of the month. This week, we’re not introducing any new pieces, but evaluating if any need to move to a new divider. This is mainly because FB’s birthday is in the middle of the week, and we don’t do formal schoolwork on birthdays. I don’t want to introduce a new piece only to skip the third day!
FB’s current daily memory work includes
• six regions of the United States
• speed of light
• the Olympians (plus Hestia/Vesta & Hades/Pluto)
• “Metrical Feet – A Lesson for a Boy,” Samuel Taylor Coleridge
• Psalm 100
• “The Star-Spangled Banner”
His M-W-F memory work includes “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot,” the seven wonders of the ancient world, the Egyptian Ennead, and “Four Seasons of the Year.” The T-Th memory work includes the Greek Alphabet song, “The Cardinal Directions,” the Pledge of Allegiance, boiling and freezing points of water, the speed of sound, the months of the year, and the names of regular polygons.
He has a divider for each day of the week, and under those we have elected officials, periods of early history, telephone numbers, “America the Beautiful,” the visible spectrum, days of the week in order, states of matter, “Days of the Week” (the Mother Goose rhyme), the four oceans, the seven continents, “How Many Seconds?”, the seasons, “Praise God from Whom All Blessings Flow,” and parallel & perpendicular lines. He’s also memorized all the poetry from First Language Lessons Level 1 and four Christmas carols: “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen,” “Adeste Fideles,” “Away in a Manager,” and “Silent Night.” We review the Christmas carols once a month (on the 25th, if possible!). I’m really pleased with how much he’s memorized this year!
I’ve required more of EG, as she’s older. I also planned the year based on how well she’d memorized poetry, forgetting that she had the audio for that. Memory work goes much more smoothly for her if she has audio to help her learn it, so next year, I’ll be scaling back so that the Spousal Unit or I can record the selections via computer for her. That said, she’s still accomplished a tremendous amount.
Her current daily memory work includes:
• tectonic plates
• “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot”
• Ecclesiastes 3:1-8
• Antony’s speech from Julius Caesar
• nutritional categories
• the water cycle
• properties of addition and multiplication
• the planets
• more telephone numbers
• Psalm 100
• “The Star-Spangled Banner”
• five kingdoms
• seven levels of taxonomy
• the Olympians (plus Hestia/Vesta & Hades/Pluto)
• the Greek winds
• current elected officials, including party affliations
• current justices of the Supreme Court
Her M-W-F memory work includes periods of early history, parts of animal and plant cells, the seven wonders of the ancient world, The Gettysburg Address, “The Charge of the Light Brigade,” and “Jonathan Bing.” (We’ve integrated the level one IEW poems into her memory work binder at this point.) Her T-Th memory work includes poetic verse lengths, “America the Beautiful,” “O Captain! My Captain!”, the five senses, four sentence purposes, “Metrical Feet – A Lesson for a Boy,” the Egyptian Ennead, “Godfrey Gordon Gustavus Gore,” and an excerpt from MLK, Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech, which she says with his cadences, having learned it from an audio of the actual speech.
Under her dividers for each day of the week, she has the continents, oceans, “In Flanders Fields,” four sentence structures, “The Ingenious Little Old Man,” “Persevere,” pronouns, prepositions, characteristics of living things, periods of Egyptian history, telephone numbers, “The Swan and the Goose,” the pledge of allegiance, “After the Party,” “My Gift,” “Praise God from Whom All Blessings Flow,” the Greek Alphabet song, the Pythagorean theorem, “My Shadow,” “Who Has Seen the Wind?”, and “The Eagle.”
Under the dividers for days 1-31 of each month, we have the same Christmas carols as FB, plus the remainder of the poems from level one of IEW’s poetry.
Whew! And that’s our memory work so far this year. I really need to re-evaluate how much to expect from dd; I expected a lot, as I said, but I also did this partially because I felt like I should have done more memory work, and done it more systematically, when she was younger. At some point I do have to accept that she’s just not going to memorize as many things as a result, and figure out where to concentrate her time and energy.
Both EG & FB have memorized one level of IEW’s Linguistic Development Through Poetry Memorization this school year: level one for FB, and level two for EG (who memorized level one last year). Rather than continue onward immediately, we’ve spent the last two months or so cementing the poems via the every-other-one every-other-day method recommended. On Fridays, the kids listen to the entire CD for that level. It’s working very well. EG will probably start on level three’s poems after our spring break or in May, but FB will wait until August or so to start on level two.
Both of them also have a memory work notebook as well, for every other subject or piece of memory work. They have the dividers for daily, M-W-F & T-Th, each day of the week, and numbered dividers for each day of the month. This week, we’re not introducing any new pieces, but evaluating if any need to move to a new divider. This is mainly because FB’s birthday is in the middle of the week, and we don’t do formal schoolwork on birthdays. I don’t want to introduce a new piece only to skip the third day!
FB’s current daily memory work includes
• six regions of the United States
• speed of light
• the Olympians (plus Hestia/Vesta & Hades/Pluto)
• “Metrical Feet – A Lesson for a Boy,” Samuel Taylor Coleridge
• Psalm 100
• “The Star-Spangled Banner”
His M-W-F memory work includes “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot,” the seven wonders of the ancient world, the Egyptian Ennead, and “Four Seasons of the Year.” The T-Th memory work includes the Greek Alphabet song, “The Cardinal Directions,” the Pledge of Allegiance, boiling and freezing points of water, the speed of sound, the months of the year, and the names of regular polygons.
He has a divider for each day of the week, and under those we have elected officials, periods of early history, telephone numbers, “America the Beautiful,” the visible spectrum, days of the week in order, states of matter, “Days of the Week” (the Mother Goose rhyme), the four oceans, the seven continents, “How Many Seconds?”, the seasons, “Praise God from Whom All Blessings Flow,” and parallel & perpendicular lines. He’s also memorized all the poetry from First Language Lessons Level 1 and four Christmas carols: “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen,” “Adeste Fideles,” “Away in a Manager,” and “Silent Night.” We review the Christmas carols once a month (on the 25th, if possible!). I’m really pleased with how much he’s memorized this year!
I’ve required more of EG, as she’s older. I also planned the year based on how well she’d memorized poetry, forgetting that she had the audio for that. Memory work goes much more smoothly for her if she has audio to help her learn it, so next year, I’ll be scaling back so that the Spousal Unit or I can record the selections via computer for her. That said, she’s still accomplished a tremendous amount.
Her current daily memory work includes:
• tectonic plates
• “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot”
• Ecclesiastes 3:1-8
• Antony’s speech from Julius Caesar
• nutritional categories
• the water cycle
• properties of addition and multiplication
• the planets
• more telephone numbers
• Psalm 100
• “The Star-Spangled Banner”
• five kingdoms
• seven levels of taxonomy
• the Olympians (plus Hestia/Vesta & Hades/Pluto)
• the Greek winds
• current elected officials, including party affliations
• current justices of the Supreme Court
Her M-W-F memory work includes periods of early history, parts of animal and plant cells, the seven wonders of the ancient world, The Gettysburg Address, “The Charge of the Light Brigade,” and “Jonathan Bing.” (We’ve integrated the level one IEW poems into her memory work binder at this point.) Her T-Th memory work includes poetic verse lengths, “America the Beautiful,” “O Captain! My Captain!”, the five senses, four sentence purposes, “Metrical Feet – A Lesson for a Boy,” the Egyptian Ennead, “Godfrey Gordon Gustavus Gore,” and an excerpt from MLK, Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech, which she says with his cadences, having learned it from an audio of the actual speech.
Under her dividers for each day of the week, she has the continents, oceans, “In Flanders Fields,” four sentence structures, “The Ingenious Little Old Man,” “Persevere,” pronouns, prepositions, characteristics of living things, periods of Egyptian history, telephone numbers, “The Swan and the Goose,” the pledge of allegiance, “After the Party,” “My Gift,” “Praise God from Whom All Blessings Flow,” the Greek Alphabet song, the Pythagorean theorem, “My Shadow,” “Who Has Seen the Wind?”, and “The Eagle.”
Under the dividers for days 1-31 of each month, we have the same Christmas carols as FB, plus the remainder of the poems from level one of IEW’s poetry.
Whew! And that’s our memory work so far this year. I really need to re-evaluate how much to expect from dd; I expected a lot, as I said, but I also did this partially because I felt like I should have done more memory work, and done it more systematically, when she was younger. At some point I do have to accept that she’s just not going to memorize as many things as a result, and figure out where to concentrate her time and energy.
Weekly Report: Week Thirty-One (days 151-155)
Last week was abbreviated by necessity, as we attended the Southeast Homeschool Convention. That will be subject of its own blog post(s); however, I will say that I definitely plan to attend one of the conventions each year. Next year it will likely be Memphis, because the proposed dates for Greenville include FB's birthday. Prior to attending, however, we did manage to complete approximately five days' worth of school, at least for EG.
EG is supposed to be taking an online course through Art of Problem Solving. She's missed two class sessions so far, because the authorization for her account didn't go through until this morning. So I had her work through some of the text in an attempt to (hopefully) keep pace. She's also still reviewing algebra via Art of Problem Solving's Introduction to Algebra book. While at the convention, she attended two of Ed Zaccaro's sessions, making her week full of math.
EG read several books for literature and history, all focused on medieval times, particularly in Europe. In science, she wrote about evolution and read several more sources, as well as reading about DNA fingerprinting. I picked up two additional sources for her regarding DNA while in Greenville, both dealing with forensic science. She's continuing to review grammar via copies of English Workshop and Sentence Composing in Elementary School, as well as reviewing her stems and words from Caesar's English. She finished her music appreciation assignments for the year! Overall, it was a successful week.
For FB, we did skip a few things, like Right Start; he kept going with Miquon, though. He did one lesson in Spelling Workout plus all of our other language arts work. He also learned about Octavian/Augustus Caesar in history and read a couple of Let's Read and Find Out science books. He didn't attend any math sessions, but he did attend one of Jim Weiss's sessions, and met him in the vendor hall, which may have made his day. Or week. I'd say month, but since his birthday is on Wednesday, I think that will make his month.
PC apparently refuses to use "normal" language. She was caught singing "Toot too chugga chugga big red go" over the weekend. When asked if she was going to ever call them "cars," she said "No. They're gos." Right on, kid.
EG is supposed to be taking an online course through Art of Problem Solving. She's missed two class sessions so far, because the authorization for her account didn't go through until this morning. So I had her work through some of the text in an attempt to (hopefully) keep pace. She's also still reviewing algebra via Art of Problem Solving's Introduction to Algebra book. While at the convention, she attended two of Ed Zaccaro's sessions, making her week full of math.
EG read several books for literature and history, all focused on medieval times, particularly in Europe. In science, she wrote about evolution and read several more sources, as well as reading about DNA fingerprinting. I picked up two additional sources for her regarding DNA while in Greenville, both dealing with forensic science. She's continuing to review grammar via copies of English Workshop and Sentence Composing in Elementary School, as well as reviewing her stems and words from Caesar's English. She finished her music appreciation assignments for the year! Overall, it was a successful week.
For FB, we did skip a few things, like Right Start; he kept going with Miquon, though. He did one lesson in Spelling Workout plus all of our other language arts work. He also learned about Octavian/Augustus Caesar in history and read a couple of Let's Read and Find Out science books. He didn't attend any math sessions, but he did attend one of Jim Weiss's sessions, and met him in the vendor hall, which may have made his day. Or week. I'd say month, but since his birthday is on Wednesday, I think that will make his month.
PC apparently refuses to use "normal" language. She was caught singing "Toot too chugga chugga big red go" over the weekend. When asked if she was going to ever call them "cars," she said "No. They're gos." Right on, kid.
11.3.11
Weekly Report: Week Thirty (days 146-150)
The weeks seem to just be rolling by... I am loving getting the infusion of new curriculum and I can't wait until the convention next week! Still, we're trying our darnedest to finish the year strong.
FB finished McGuffey's Primer, which he's been reading aloud to me at a rate of one selection per day! He's thrilled, especially since I told him we'd wait a week or two before we started the next book. He's still progressing steadily and somewhat rapidly through his other subjects & curricula: SWO A, WWE 1, Miquon Orange (just a few pages left!), Right Start B, and so forth. He continued learning about Caesar in history this week, we read several Let's Read and Find Out science books, and he's planning on experimenting up a storm while he & EG are at the grandparents' house this weekend.
EG is powering through her review of algebra using the Art of Problem Solving text. This is a great review for her and I absolutely love this text. I can't recommend it highly enough. She's actually just added a few new curricula in the last few weeks: Sentence Composing for Elementary School and Figuratively Speaking are two of them. The former is a little bit below her level but I wanted something structured to finish out the year as a good grammar & writing review, and this has fit the bill perfectly. She's doing on lesson of Figuratively Speaking a week, alongside continuing to use TIP's Growing Up Heroic. Literary analysis and terms are something we've largely skimmed over, so this is a good formal introduction. In science, we're taking a few weeks to do some in-depth study and discussion of evolution, including genetics. This week she read Evolution Revolution and wrote a summary for each of the four sections, plus did some other miscellaneous reading from Universe. She's planning on taking her Space Exploration science kit to the grandparents' house.
We stopped our day on Wednesday to watch Discovery land for the last time. I'm unaccountably sad about the approaching end of the shuttle program. I literally cannot remember a time when the shuttle program was not sending people into space (excepting the hiatus after Challenger, of course); my mother cannot remember a time when the US government was not sending people into space, exploring and experimenting and discovering. Ultimately, as my mother says, we are a nation that does not value education, learning, or life, and this is one of those instances where it is readily apparent.
PC is doing her level best to potty train. Alternatively, she's doing her best to wear every single pair of underwear that she owns. Ha! I am frantically scrambling to knit a shirt for FB's birthday (in two weeks). It's frantic because I initially ordered the yarn in January, there were myriad delays and lack of communication, and I finally received a refund and ordered it from another place late last week. I remain hopeful that I'll be able to get it accomplished. I'll be the frantically knitting one in Greenville...
FB finished McGuffey's Primer, which he's been reading aloud to me at a rate of one selection per day! He's thrilled, especially since I told him we'd wait a week or two before we started the next book. He's still progressing steadily and somewhat rapidly through his other subjects & curricula: SWO A, WWE 1, Miquon Orange (just a few pages left!), Right Start B, and so forth. He continued learning about Caesar in history this week, we read several Let's Read and Find Out science books, and he's planning on experimenting up a storm while he & EG are at the grandparents' house this weekend.
EG is powering through her review of algebra using the Art of Problem Solving text. This is a great review for her and I absolutely love this text. I can't recommend it highly enough. She's actually just added a few new curricula in the last few weeks: Sentence Composing for Elementary School and Figuratively Speaking are two of them. The former is a little bit below her level but I wanted something structured to finish out the year as a good grammar & writing review, and this has fit the bill perfectly. She's doing on lesson of Figuratively Speaking a week, alongside continuing to use TIP's Growing Up Heroic. Literary analysis and terms are something we've largely skimmed over, so this is a good formal introduction. In science, we're taking a few weeks to do some in-depth study and discussion of evolution, including genetics. This week she read Evolution Revolution and wrote a summary for each of the four sections, plus did some other miscellaneous reading from Universe. She's planning on taking her Space Exploration science kit to the grandparents' house.
We stopped our day on Wednesday to watch Discovery land for the last time. I'm unaccountably sad about the approaching end of the shuttle program. I literally cannot remember a time when the shuttle program was not sending people into space (excepting the hiatus after Challenger, of course); my mother cannot remember a time when the US government was not sending people into space, exploring and experimenting and discovering. Ultimately, as my mother says, we are a nation that does not value education, learning, or life, and this is one of those instances where it is readily apparent.
PC is doing her level best to potty train. Alternatively, she's doing her best to wear every single pair of underwear that she owns. Ha! I am frantically scrambling to knit a shirt for FB's birthday (in two weeks). It's frantic because I initially ordered the yarn in January, there were myriad delays and lack of communication, and I finally received a refund and ordered it from another place late last week. I remain hopeful that I'll be able to get it accomplished. I'll be the frantically knitting one in Greenville...
4.3.11
Weekly Report: Week Twenty-Nine (days 141-145)
Every February, I have witnessed a brain-growth spurt in EG. Then I spend March and April scrambling to challenge EG rather than present her with busywork. This year is no exception. Yes, I know, I should plan ahead, but I never know exactly how she'll spurt. Sometimes it's more in one area than another.
The big news this week is that EG finished all of her art appreciation assignments for this school year! Otherwise known as "the end of the year is approaching," I tend to think of it as beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel. The algebra book from Art of Problem Solving arrived and I have to say that I somewhat wish we'd used it from the beginning. Live and learn, I suppose; I had good reasons for choosing Life of Fred at the time, but wow, does it feel like a waste of time now.
FB has been voraciously consuming the SOTW audiobook. I had managed to keep him just reviewing what we'd already covered, but I think he's sprinted ahead of us now. We're officially learning about Julius Caesar this week. In one of the books we're reading about Caesar, the beginning of the paragraph has a little sentence where his mother is calling him inside, using his first name, Gaius. The next sentence refers to him as Caesar. Unfortunately, I found myself reading "Baltar." Oops. Yesterday, FB grabbed the Miquon book and did six or seven pages instead of the scheduled one. Hopefully my Rainbow Resource order will arrive before he commandeers the Miquon book another time and finishes it on me--the next Miquon is supposed to be on its way.
PC has finally stopped referring to going to the bathroom as "ouch." This sounds like a good thing, and I suppose it is, except she went straight to the stage of thinking it's amusing to insert "poo-poo" into almost any conversation. She also managed to attempt to break the drawer on the crib. Not that she sleeps in the crib, but it makes an adequate toy box, given our total lack of space for anything that PC owns. (Some of her toys are in the crib, some are upstairs in the playroom, some are in the living room. Some of her clothes are in the same room as the crib, some are in our bedroom. You get the idea.)
I'm hoping that we'll get something more accomplished around the house this weekend towards the goal of moving. We did get the piece of fencing that needed replacing finished this week. The dog is thrilled. Next up: drywall estimates, and landscaping. In keeping with my theme for the month, this is how I feel about the house:
The big news this week is that EG finished all of her art appreciation assignments for this school year! Otherwise known as "the end of the year is approaching," I tend to think of it as beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel. The algebra book from Art of Problem Solving arrived and I have to say that I somewhat wish we'd used it from the beginning. Live and learn, I suppose; I had good reasons for choosing Life of Fred at the time, but wow, does it feel like a waste of time now.
FB has been voraciously consuming the SOTW audiobook. I had managed to keep him just reviewing what we'd already covered, but I think he's sprinted ahead of us now. We're officially learning about Julius Caesar this week. In one of the books we're reading about Caesar, the beginning of the paragraph has a little sentence where his mother is calling him inside, using his first name, Gaius. The next sentence refers to him as Caesar. Unfortunately, I found myself reading "Baltar." Oops. Yesterday, FB grabbed the Miquon book and did six or seven pages instead of the scheduled one. Hopefully my Rainbow Resource order will arrive before he commandeers the Miquon book another time and finishes it on me--the next Miquon is supposed to be on its way.
PC has finally stopped referring to going to the bathroom as "ouch." This sounds like a good thing, and I suppose it is, except she went straight to the stage of thinking it's amusing to insert "poo-poo" into almost any conversation. She also managed to attempt to break the drawer on the crib. Not that she sleeps in the crib, but it makes an adequate toy box, given our total lack of space for anything that PC owns. (Some of her toys are in the crib, some are upstairs in the playroom, some are in the living room. Some of her clothes are in the same room as the crib, some are in our bedroom. You get the idea.)
I'm hoping that we'll get something more accomplished around the house this weekend towards the goal of moving. We did get the piece of fencing that needed replacing finished this week. The dog is thrilled. Next up: drywall estimates, and landscaping. In keeping with my theme for the month, this is how I feel about the house:
3.3.11
Curriculum Infusion!
Box Days! Some of this is for the remainder of this year, some is for May Term, and some is for 2011-2012.
English Workshop Second Course (grammar workbook)
Figuratively Speaking and Sentence Composing for Elementary School; the latter is really too easy for EG, but then, I wanted something light for the end of the school year.
Ellen McHenry curriculum: Mapping the World with Art and Excavating English. I started printing out the former and EG caught sight of it. "Oooh. This looks like fun!" I think so, too.
Art of Problem Solving. EG is going to review/refresh her algebra I & II knowledge for the next few weeks to couple of months, while also doing their Introduction to Counting & Probability course.
Lots of goodies! First Time Analogies for FB for May Term, and Primarily Logic for FB for 2011-2012. The Young Investor for EG (maybe May Term, maybe 2011-2012). Primary Grade Challenge Math for FB for 2011-2012 and beyond.
Geography! A May Term project/subject for FB
Vocabulary Workshop Purple. This is for FB, and we'll start it at some point in 2011-2012, though probably not at the beginning of the year. I ordered it at the same time as EG's Vocabulary Workshop A & B, but only this one arrived in today's shipment. Weird!
Last week, I won a facebook contest that Timberdoodle was having for Presidents' Day, and those goodies arrived as well:
A graphic novel-style biography of President Obama, a graphic novel-style book about Lincoln's assassination, a Sterling Point book about George Washington, a 3D puzzle/model of the White House, and Brainbox Presidents. Yay!
I got one more very awesome thing, but since I purchased it prematurely (a long story), it has to wait a few weeks to be introduced. It's really difficult to wait!
English Workshop Second Course (grammar workbook)
Figuratively Speaking and Sentence Composing for Elementary School; the latter is really too easy for EG, but then, I wanted something light for the end of the school year. 
Ellen McHenry curriculum: Mapping the World with Art and Excavating English. I started printing out the former and EG caught sight of it. "Oooh. This looks like fun!" I think so, too.
Art of Problem Solving. EG is going to review/refresh her algebra I & II knowledge for the next few weeks to couple of months, while also doing their Introduction to Counting & Probability course.
Lots of goodies! First Time Analogies for FB for May Term, and Primarily Logic for FB for 2011-2012. The Young Investor for EG (maybe May Term, maybe 2011-2012). Primary Grade Challenge Math for FB for 2011-2012 and beyond. 
Geography! A May Term project/subject for FB
Vocabulary Workshop Purple. This is for FB, and we'll start it at some point in 2011-2012, though probably not at the beginning of the year. I ordered it at the same time as EG's Vocabulary Workshop A & B, but only this one arrived in today's shipment. Weird!Last week, I won a facebook contest that Timberdoodle was having for Presidents' Day, and those goodies arrived as well:
A graphic novel-style biography of President Obama, a graphic novel-style book about Lincoln's assassination, a Sterling Point book about George Washington, a 3D puzzle/model of the White House, and Brainbox Presidents. Yay! I got one more very awesome thing, but since I purchased it prematurely (a long story), it has to wait a few weeks to be introduced. It's really difficult to wait!
25.2.11
Weekly Report: Week Twenty-Eight (days 136-140)
EG
Perhaps the biggest news in homeschool-land is that we’re switching math programs. EG recently finished Life of Fred Advanced Algebra and the accompany Home Companion, so we had not planned on her starting the next LoF book immediately as it was. However, LoF will no longer be her primary math program. She’s requested that she continue to use it for review (she does review math on the weekends and thoroughout the summer), and we’re happy for that to occur, but it will no longer be her first exposure to a topic. The plan for the remainder of the schoolyear had been to utilize Patty Paper Geometry as a pre-geometry course, to finish working through Real World Algebra, and to take the online Art of Problem Solving course Introduction to Counting and Probability. None of that has changed. That gives me at least two months to create a new trajectory.
EG had a good week; she finished all of her work just a bit early. Hello there, February growth spurt of the brain. It’s time to find something to challenge her. I think we’re going to increase what she’s doing for German through either The Learnables or powerspeaK. The Learnables is my first choice, but we have to investigate how we’ll trick the Mac into playing the Windows-only CD. I’m perplexed that in today’s day and age, major curricula providers would still have products compatible with just one operating system.
FB
The biggest news in FB-land is probably his increasing fluency with reading. I suspect he could skip lessons in OPGTR, but we’re continuing to go through it systematically. I have him working on reading from three angles at present (a reader each day, a story from McGuffey’s Primer, and OPGTR); I haven’t gone back to Explode the Code since he’s now doing spelling via Spelling Workout.
He learned more about ancient China this week, specifically Confucius, and also played with tangrams for awhile. He also played with several of the Thames & Kosmos Little Labs this week.
Perhaps the biggest news in homeschool-land is that we’re switching math programs. EG recently finished Life of Fred Advanced Algebra and the accompany Home Companion, so we had not planned on her starting the next LoF book immediately as it was. However, LoF will no longer be her primary math program. She’s requested that she continue to use it for review (she does review math on the weekends and thoroughout the summer), and we’re happy for that to occur, but it will no longer be her first exposure to a topic. The plan for the remainder of the schoolyear had been to utilize Patty Paper Geometry as a pre-geometry course, to finish working through Real World Algebra, and to take the online Art of Problem Solving course Introduction to Counting and Probability. None of that has changed. That gives me at least two months to create a new trajectory.
EG had a good week; she finished all of her work just a bit early. Hello there, February growth spurt of the brain. It’s time to find something to challenge her. I think we’re going to increase what she’s doing for German through either The Learnables or powerspeaK. The Learnables is my first choice, but we have to investigate how we’ll trick the Mac into playing the Windows-only CD. I’m perplexed that in today’s day and age, major curricula providers would still have products compatible with just one operating system.
FB
The biggest news in FB-land is probably his increasing fluency with reading. I suspect he could skip lessons in OPGTR, but we’re continuing to go through it systematically. I have him working on reading from three angles at present (a reader each day, a story from McGuffey’s Primer, and OPGTR); I haven’t gone back to Explode the Code since he’s now doing spelling via Spelling Workout.
He learned more about ancient China this week, specifically Confucius, and also played with tangrams for awhile. He also played with several of the Thames & Kosmos Little Labs this week.
20.2.11
Weekly Report: Week Twenty-Seven (days 131-135)
I feel vaguely defeated this week. There's no particular reason to feel that way; perhaps it's simply the fact that there's still a few months left, we're trying to finish up all the stuff that must be done so we can move, and so forth.
Me
• I did finish a piece of the "Hogwarts knitting," and started another.
• I kept going despite strange food poisoning-like illness on Wednesday. Sometimes you just have to power through, right?
PC
• PC keeps expanding her vocabulary, though in somewhat odd ways at times.
• PC's favorite book at the moment is my old copy of Lovable Furry Old Grover's Resting Places.
FB
• FB continued learning about adding four-digit numbers with "trading," using the base 10 picture cards from Right Start. It's time-consuming to lay out all those cards, but he thinks it's fun, so there you go.
• FB's reading is going well. I'm tempted to show him a lesson from near the end of OPGTR, just to see if he could read it.
EG
• EG is reading up a storm in terms of supplemental science books.
• EG read Tolkien's Sir Gawain and the Green Knight this week and wrote a lovely literature summary.
Me
• I did finish a piece of the "Hogwarts knitting," and started another.
• I kept going despite strange food poisoning-like illness on Wednesday. Sometimes you just have to power through, right?
PC
• PC keeps expanding her vocabulary, though in somewhat odd ways at times.
• PC's favorite book at the moment is my old copy of Lovable Furry Old Grover's Resting Places.
FB
• FB continued learning about adding four-digit numbers with "trading," using the base 10 picture cards from Right Start. It's time-consuming to lay out all those cards, but he thinks it's fun, so there you go.
• FB's reading is going well. I'm tempted to show him a lesson from near the end of OPGTR, just to see if he could read it.
EG
• EG is reading up a storm in terms of supplemental science books.
• EG read Tolkien's Sir Gawain and the Green Knight this week and wrote a lovely literature summary.
12.2.11
Weekly Report: Week Twenty-Six (days 126-130)
Just over a week ago, I was in Florida, enjoying 70 degree days while we played at Disney World. Reentering the cold, frozen land of Georgia (yes, I know, seriously, Georgia should not be cold and frozen) was a harsh reality check last Saturday. I had hopes that we'd buckle down and get a considerable amount of work done, since, after all, it wasn't very fun here. I forgot to take into account the cold my father acquired at Disney World, subsequently infecting the children. Monday, EG didn't go to Master's Academy; Wednesday, FB didn't go to his class or ice skating; Thursday, I took a really long nap by accident (but I didn't get full-blown sickness, so it must've worked!). FB got one good day of school done this week, on Monday, and we managed to finish his WWE assignments for the week. Tomorrow we're going to read more about ancient India. He also finished a lesson in Spelling Workout and two more pages in Miquon; I didn't worry about it beyond that with my very tired cold-ridden boy.
EG did manage to acquit her schoolwork fairly well. She finished MathPack: Quest, which TIP bills as a ten-week unit. She finished in exactly three. I didn't think it would be a ten-week unit when used as homeschool curriculum, but that helps me gauge future purchases from them, hopefully. She started TIP's Growing Up Heroic, completing the first four lessons. I need to dig into the supporting materials for that. She passed two songs at testing on Friday, and started reading about Asia & the Middle East during the time period commonly known as the Middle Ages. In all honesty, she had to really guide herself this week, thanks to the little two being sick, and she did extremely well.
I knitted a shirt for PC and a hat for myself, and listened to several lectures from The Teaching Company's Human Prehistory and the First Civilizations. I also shelved a bunch of books and culled others in the schoolroom, only to have a shelf collapse about ten minutes after I finished. Spousal Unit went to the hardware store this morning (the wonderful, locally owned one), and has since fixed the bookcase, so I suppose I ought to go fix the shelf. Again.
EG did manage to acquit her schoolwork fairly well. She finished MathPack: Quest, which TIP bills as a ten-week unit. She finished in exactly three. I didn't think it would be a ten-week unit when used as homeschool curriculum, but that helps me gauge future purchases from them, hopefully. She started TIP's Growing Up Heroic, completing the first four lessons. I need to dig into the supporting materials for that. She passed two songs at testing on Friday, and started reading about Asia & the Middle East during the time period commonly known as the Middle Ages. In all honesty, she had to really guide herself this week, thanks to the little two being sick, and she did extremely well.
I knitted a shirt for PC and a hat for myself, and listened to several lectures from The Teaching Company's Human Prehistory and the First Civilizations. I also shelved a bunch of books and culled others in the schoolroom, only to have a shelf collapse about ten minutes after I finished. Spousal Unit went to the hardware store this morning (the wonderful, locally owned one), and has since fixed the bookcase, so I suppose I ought to go fix the shelf. Again.
28.1.11
Weekly Report: Week Twenty-Five (days 121-125)
EG
• EG finished Caesar's English II and Essay Voyage this week!
• EG also wrapped up her study of "ancient times" and is using the Celts to transition into middle ages/medieval history.
FB
• FB learned about addition with carrying, at least with manipulatives (the base 10 picture cards from Right Start), and seemed to grasp the concept!
• FB finished his first "chapter" book - Henry & Mudge.
PC
• PC loves Mondays. Loves them. She loves her siblings, and is happy to see them again after Master's Academy, but she loves running around having me to herself.
• PC thinks in a lot of absolutes these days. Everything is either "hot" or "cold"–-no in-between. Similarly with up, down, and a whole host of other opposites.
• EG finished Caesar's English II and Essay Voyage this week!
• EG also wrapped up her study of "ancient times" and is using the Celts to transition into middle ages/medieval history.
FB
• FB learned about addition with carrying, at least with manipulatives (the base 10 picture cards from Right Start), and seemed to grasp the concept!
• FB finished his first "chapter" book - Henry & Mudge.
PC
• PC loves Mondays. Loves them. She loves her siblings, and is happy to see them again after Master's Academy, but she loves running around having me to herself.
• PC thinks in a lot of absolutes these days. Everything is either "hot" or "cold"–-no in-between. Similarly with up, down, and a whole host of other opposites.
21.1.11
Weekly Report: Week Twenty-Four (days 116-120)
Me
• I knitted my first pair of socks this week. I also made two hair kerchief things each for the girls, and two headbands for EG. Next up: a hat for me, mittens for EG, and a scarf for FB.
• I'm going slightly mad. It's strange to feel like you should be a Queen song. No, we just have a lot going on right now and then adding Disney planning and prep on top of it has made me feel slightly panicky right now. We're also not sure if EG will be enrolled in the second half of her online Critical Thinking course. The registrations are never announced ahead of time, making it hard to plan ahead, monetarily. This past registration window, by the time we could pay the sum (a day after registration opened to the public, a week and a day after it opened to currently enrolled students), she was first on the wait list. I was assured it would likely not be a problem. Then I heard nothing. I contacted them last week and was told nothing had happened and that they would "keep me posted." Not encouraging. I don't feel like I have time in my schedule to devote to teaching that subject this spring. I don't know what we're going to do.
EG
• EG is doing work from Real World Algebra and MathPack: Quest for the time being, in terms of math. I want to get her enrolled in an Art of Problem Solving course for the spring.
• EG wrapped up her study of ancient Rome this week. Next stop: the Celts!
FB
• FB, on the other hand, has barely started his study of Rome. (Confession: I'm already tired of it.) He learned about the gladiators and did two excellent narrations in history this week.
• FB is nowhere near as intuitive with regard to math as his sister, but I'm going to have to be careful not to assume he's not "mathy" because EG is so mathy. He's ripping through Miquon and Right Start both at the moment.
PC
• PC sings along with any of the memory work that involves a tune. She's also still singing Christmas carols.
• PC's new favorite thing to try to help with is washing dishes. I hope this continues for years to come.
• I knitted my first pair of socks this week. I also made two hair kerchief things each for the girls, and two headbands for EG. Next up: a hat for me, mittens for EG, and a scarf for FB.
• I'm going slightly mad. It's strange to feel like you should be a Queen song. No, we just have a lot going on right now and then adding Disney planning and prep on top of it has made me feel slightly panicky right now. We're also not sure if EG will be enrolled in the second half of her online Critical Thinking course. The registrations are never announced ahead of time, making it hard to plan ahead, monetarily. This past registration window, by the time we could pay the sum (a day after registration opened to the public, a week and a day after it opened to currently enrolled students), she was first on the wait list. I was assured it would likely not be a problem. Then I heard nothing. I contacted them last week and was told nothing had happened and that they would "keep me posted." Not encouraging. I don't feel like I have time in my schedule to devote to teaching that subject this spring. I don't know what we're going to do.
EG
• EG is doing work from Real World Algebra and MathPack: Quest for the time being, in terms of math. I want to get her enrolled in an Art of Problem Solving course for the spring.
• EG wrapped up her study of ancient Rome this week. Next stop: the Celts!
FB
• FB, on the other hand, has barely started his study of Rome. (Confession: I'm already tired of it.) He learned about the gladiators and did two excellent narrations in history this week.
• FB is nowhere near as intuitive with regard to math as his sister, but I'm going to have to be careful not to assume he's not "mathy" because EG is so mathy. He's ripping through Miquon and Right Start both at the moment.
PC
• PC sings along with any of the memory work that involves a tune. She's also still singing Christmas carols.
• PC's new favorite thing to try to help with is washing dishes. I hope this continues for years to come.
14.1.11
Weekly Report: Week Twenty-Three (days 111-115)
There's nothing quite like some ice to shut down the greater Atlanta metropolitan area for a solid week. Every single one of the kids' outside the house activities was cancelled this week, from Master's Academy on Monday right on through to band which should have been this afternoon. All the metro Atlanta school systems and private schools declared snow days, and they'll be making up those days later in the school year.
Not us.
I made my darling children proceed with school all week long. In fact, because of the absence of Master's Academy from her schedule, EG finished her work assigned for this week on Thursday afternoon. She's doing a few subjects today to make her load next week a little bit lighter–math, history, science, and language arts.
From youngest to oldest . . .
Starbuck
The dog thinks that we custom-ordered this stuff for her. She thought Monday was the best day ever, and then the snow has been nice and stuck around? She doesn't know quite what to do with herself.
Purple Child
• We learned that PC does not really like the snow. She would walk tentatively through it, looking at us as if to say, "Why have you brought me out into this cold, wet world?" At one point, her mitten slid off, and she stood there, staring at it in horror, wailing. Needless to say, we only took her out in the snow one day.
• Despite hating to be cold, PC continues to take off her clothing at any opportunity, and then proclaim "Cold!" in a despairing voice.
Fabulous Boy
• FB started learning about Rome this week in history. He was pretty excited to learn that Rome is still a city. I didn't attempt to confuse him by telling him there was an entire country inside Rome.
• FB started learning about multiplication in Miquon, and about thousands in Right Start.
Eclectic Girl
• The big news is that EG finished Life of Fred Advanced Algebra!
• EG is also approaching the end of both Caesar's English II and Essay Voyage; just two more weeks in each of them. School in February is going to have quite a different look than it currently does, and especially different from how it looked before the Christmas break!
Me
• I'm continuing on my knitting binge. I finished another project that just needs felting, and finished another seven projects since last week's report. Granted, most of the projects are small (a newborn baby hat for a friend, doll socks, doll pants), but still. Being stuck in the house will up one's productivity, I suppose. I actually need to go to the yarn store; I've nearly exhausted my options for knitting with the yarn, needles, and pattern combinations I currently have.
• I have nearly finished my annual re-read (with note-taking) of The Well-Trained Mind . I did manage to get to the library last week, and so I read one book I checked out, The Overachievers. It was interesting in that "Let's look at a 'subculture' that affects a very very small percentage of the population" sense, not to mention a now-outdated view of things like the economy; there were comments about the economy rebounding from the post-September 11 dip, a dip that now sounds like a dream to many.
Not us.
I made my darling children proceed with school all week long. In fact, because of the absence of Master's Academy from her schedule, EG finished her work assigned for this week on Thursday afternoon. She's doing a few subjects today to make her load next week a little bit lighter–math, history, science, and language arts.
From youngest to oldest . . .
Starbuck
The dog thinks that we custom-ordered this stuff for her. She thought Monday was the best day ever, and then the snow has been nice and stuck around? She doesn't know quite what to do with herself.
Purple Child
• We learned that PC does not really like the snow. She would walk tentatively through it, looking at us as if to say, "Why have you brought me out into this cold, wet world?" At one point, her mitten slid off, and she stood there, staring at it in horror, wailing. Needless to say, we only took her out in the snow one day.
• Despite hating to be cold, PC continues to take off her clothing at any opportunity, and then proclaim "Cold!" in a despairing voice.
Fabulous Boy
• FB started learning about Rome this week in history. He was pretty excited to learn that Rome is still a city. I didn't attempt to confuse him by telling him there was an entire country inside Rome.
• FB started learning about multiplication in Miquon, and about thousands in Right Start.
Eclectic Girl
• The big news is that EG finished Life of Fred Advanced Algebra!
• EG is also approaching the end of both Caesar's English II and Essay Voyage; just two more weeks in each of them. School in February is going to have quite a different look than it currently does, and especially different from how it looked before the Christmas break!
Me
• I'm continuing on my knitting binge. I finished another project that just needs felting, and finished another seven projects since last week's report. Granted, most of the projects are small (a newborn baby hat for a friend, doll socks, doll pants), but still. Being stuck in the house will up one's productivity, I suppose. I actually need to go to the yarn store; I've nearly exhausted my options for knitting with the yarn, needles, and pattern combinations I currently have.
• I have nearly finished my annual re-read (with note-taking) of The Well-Trained Mind . I did manage to get to the library last week, and so I read one book I checked out, The Overachievers. It was interesting in that "Let's look at a 'subculture' that affects a very very small percentage of the population" sense, not to mention a now-outdated view of things like the economy; there were comments about the economy rebounding from the post-September 11 dip, a dip that now sounds like a dream to many.
7.1.11
Weekly Report: Week Twenty-Two (days 106-110)
We had an amazingly smooth transition back to school this week. I admit that it probably helped that I didn't have EG practice piano (her teacher's assignment over the holiday break was to "look in the Christmas book" and try to play some of the other songs for fun), and I know it helped that EG & FB didn't have Master's Academy this week, but it was still nice. They are gearing up for our upcoming Disney trip by watching or rewatching all the Disney classic animated films. This is, of course, great fun, and they can't quite believe I'm letting them watching movies during the schoolweek. They're also enthralled by one of their Christmas presents–They Might Be Giant's Here Comes Science.
EG
• Spent her history time with the later Roman Empire, from Caesar & Augustus through the decline and fall. She'll keep reading about that time period for the next couple of weeks.
• Is excited that she's nearly completed Life of Fred: Advanced Algebra. Today was the last actual instruction in the book.
• Still isn't registered for the second semester of her online course for critical thinking. I was assured that she was first on the waiting list, and that it likely wouldn't be a problem, but it's been almost a month now with no news. Second semester starts at the beginning of February. Yikes!
FB
• Started Right Start B at last. The first few lessons have been review, but the break seems to have done him well. I also realized we only have about 45 pages left in The Orange Book of Miquon! Given we have seventy days of school remaining, I may have to get The Red Book sooner than I thought.
• Still loves history best of all. This week, he learned all about the ancient Americas. One of the books we read, Who Were the First North Americans?, was so awfully biased and strange that I found myself editing as I read it to him. I can't in good conscience recommend it, and I'm seriously considering getting rid of it. It seemed dismissive at best of Native American customs and beliefs. On the other hand, The Lost World of the Anasazi is very well-done, and worth purchasing if it can't be found in the library.
• Is acing his spelling each week, which makes me think he may not need a full week per lesson, at least in book A.
PC
• Is still not talking as much as she should be, but we're getting there.
• Is the impetus for all of us slowly shifting to gluten-free.
• Thinks that marching is the best thing ever this week.
I
• am cautiously optimistic about going gluten-free
• have been knitting up a storm. Since Christmas, I've finished four projects, nearly finished three more (two need felting, one needs fringe, but the knitting portion is completed), and today I'm making a coin purse to be felted. Good grief.
• am doing my annual re-read of certain homeschooling books. I'm working on WTM first, and taking notes. I hope to finish it off by mid-next week, because I really need to switch gears for a week or so and do Disney planning. Then it'll be back to homeschooling and re-reading more books.
EG
• Spent her history time with the later Roman Empire, from Caesar & Augustus through the decline and fall. She'll keep reading about that time period for the next couple of weeks.
• Is excited that she's nearly completed Life of Fred: Advanced Algebra. Today was the last actual instruction in the book.
• Still isn't registered for the second semester of her online course for critical thinking. I was assured that she was first on the waiting list, and that it likely wouldn't be a problem, but it's been almost a month now with no news. Second semester starts at the beginning of February. Yikes!
FB
• Started Right Start B at last. The first few lessons have been review, but the break seems to have done him well. I also realized we only have about 45 pages left in The Orange Book of Miquon! Given we have seventy days of school remaining, I may have to get The Red Book sooner than I thought.
• Still loves history best of all. This week, he learned all about the ancient Americas. One of the books we read, Who Were the First North Americans?, was so awfully biased and strange that I found myself editing as I read it to him. I can't in good conscience recommend it, and I'm seriously considering getting rid of it. It seemed dismissive at best of Native American customs and beliefs. On the other hand, The Lost World of the Anasazi is very well-done, and worth purchasing if it can't be found in the library.
• Is acing his spelling each week, which makes me think he may not need a full week per lesson, at least in book A.
PC
• Is still not talking as much as she should be, but we're getting there.
• Is the impetus for all of us slowly shifting to gluten-free.
• Thinks that marching is the best thing ever this week.
I
• am cautiously optimistic about going gluten-free
• have been knitting up a storm. Since Christmas, I've finished four projects, nearly finished three more (two need felting, one needs fringe, but the knitting portion is completed), and today I'm making a coin purse to be felted. Good grief.
• am doing my annual re-read of certain homeschooling books. I'm working on WTM first, and taking notes. I hope to finish it off by mid-next week, because I really need to switch gears for a week or so and do Disney planning. Then it'll be back to homeschooling and re-reading more books.
3.1.11
Looking Back, Looking Forward
We had the best of intentions to do school for two and a half days the week of December 20. We did, in fact, do school on December 20. Around noon, I felt so sick and tired, and took a three hour nap (this should have been my first clue that something was off). EG finished up her schoolday, but the remainder of FB's work languished (just a bit of phonics, and memory work).
The next day, I woke up early, feeling awful, and listening to EG bark like a seal. We sat in a warm steamy bathroom with the shower running, and then we went back to bed. We were both exhausted. We called the doctor, took EG that afternoon, and left with a positive diagnosis of flu, type A.
And that, as they say, was that. Nothing happened besides sleeping, coughing, and general sickness for the next few days, even in the face of Christmas approaching. Spousal Unit & I were moderately recovered by Christmas, but still so tired; FB & PC didn't get cases as severe as the rest of us; poor EG didn't even remember some of her Christmas presents after a day or two, because she was still so very out of it on Christmas.
Needless to say, the remaining day and a half of school didn't happen as scheduled. Still, though – I have a thing about keep our number of days ending with a 5 or an 0. We needed those days. They finished out a unit of math for EG. They finished a chapter of history for FB. So, the Tuesday after Christmas, we did a small, piddling amount of work. Yesterday, we did another small, piddling amount of work. And today, EG is doing a little more math than usual, and FB is doing a little more history than usual, and I'll feel justified in saying we completed those days, because the work that was assigned to them will be done, in addition to the work assigned to today.
Whew.
So, here we are, ready to face the new calendar year, with 105 days under our collective belts. A few things are changing. FB is finally starting back with RightStart, beginning Level B. The next four weeks are an experiment to see how well it works doing both RightStart and Miquon. I'm hopeful that a RightStart lesson plus one page in Miquon daily won't be overwhelming. EG will start a new literature course through Duke TIP – Growing Up Heroic: Adventures in Greek Mythology. EG will also be finishing up her Life of Fred book in the next two weeks, and she'll do the Duke TIP course MathPack: Quest for a few weeks as an intermediary before (hopefully) starting a class through Art of Problem Solving in early March. PC is going to have a rude awakening as I start imposing a few activities on her day; it's so awful when your parents make you do things like color and play with play-doh.
I'm starting my annual re-reading of select homeschool books. Each January, I re-read The Well-Trained Mind as well as The Latin-Centered Curriculum. This January, I'm also going to add re-reading The Core, and completing the exercises in the first few chapters of 100 Top Picks for Homeschool Curriculum, which I found at the used bookstore for just $4. I wouldn't pay full price for it, but my library doesn't have it (or didn't, last I checked), so this was a great way for me to read it.
We got up late this morning, except for EG. She has an alarm clock, but the rest of us depend on the alarm on my iPhone. So the first schoolday of 2011 is off to a late start, but I purposely planned the first two days this week to be a bit lighter as we ease back into things. That should help us get back on track.
My computer insists "schoolday" is not a word. Oh well, computer, I'm going to use it anyway; you also tell me Miquon isn't a word, and it obviously is.
The next day, I woke up early, feeling awful, and listening to EG bark like a seal. We sat in a warm steamy bathroom with the shower running, and then we went back to bed. We were both exhausted. We called the doctor, took EG that afternoon, and left with a positive diagnosis of flu, type A.
And that, as they say, was that. Nothing happened besides sleeping, coughing, and general sickness for the next few days, even in the face of Christmas approaching. Spousal Unit & I were moderately recovered by Christmas, but still so tired; FB & PC didn't get cases as severe as the rest of us; poor EG didn't even remember some of her Christmas presents after a day or two, because she was still so very out of it on Christmas.
Needless to say, the remaining day and a half of school didn't happen as scheduled. Still, though – I have a thing about keep our number of days ending with a 5 or an 0. We needed those days. They finished out a unit of math for EG. They finished a chapter of history for FB. So, the Tuesday after Christmas, we did a small, piddling amount of work. Yesterday, we did another small, piddling amount of work. And today, EG is doing a little more math than usual, and FB is doing a little more history than usual, and I'll feel justified in saying we completed those days, because the work that was assigned to them will be done, in addition to the work assigned to today.
Whew.
So, here we are, ready to face the new calendar year, with 105 days under our collective belts. A few things are changing. FB is finally starting back with RightStart, beginning Level B. The next four weeks are an experiment to see how well it works doing both RightStart and Miquon. I'm hopeful that a RightStart lesson plus one page in Miquon daily won't be overwhelming. EG will start a new literature course through Duke TIP – Growing Up Heroic: Adventures in Greek Mythology. EG will also be finishing up her Life of Fred book in the next two weeks, and she'll do the Duke TIP course MathPack: Quest for a few weeks as an intermediary before (hopefully) starting a class through Art of Problem Solving in early March. PC is going to have a rude awakening as I start imposing a few activities on her day; it's so awful when your parents make you do things like color and play with play-doh.
I'm starting my annual re-reading of select homeschool books. Each January, I re-read The Well-Trained Mind as well as The Latin-Centered Curriculum. This January, I'm also going to add re-reading The Core, and completing the exercises in the first few chapters of 100 Top Picks for Homeschool Curriculum, which I found at the used bookstore for just $4. I wouldn't pay full price for it, but my library doesn't have it (or didn't, last I checked), so this was a great way for me to read it.
We got up late this morning, except for EG. She has an alarm clock, but the rest of us depend on the alarm on my iPhone. So the first schoolday of 2011 is off to a late start, but I purposely planned the first two days this week to be a bit lighter as we ease back into things. That should help us get back on track.
My computer insists "schoolday" is not a word. Oh well, computer, I'm going to use it anyway; you also tell me Miquon isn't a word, and it obviously is.
17.12.10
Weekly Report: Week Twenty-One (days 098-102)
I liked my big/small weekly report this week, so let's try it again!
EG
• EG took a video of herself performing an "ad" for her critical thinking class. Her father vetoed posting it on youtube, so you won't be able to watch her performance, but it was pretty funny. She created a "product" – a ever-tied hair ribbon.
• The best discussion we had all week was probably about the nature of conclusions and their importance in writing a paper. We talked about how, with a good outline, you may want to do your rough draft of your conclusion before you write your body sentences/paragraphs.
FB
• FB has been zooming through the McGuffey Primer, now that I know he can read. :P It's really the perfect practice for him right now. Once we get to where it's more difficult, we'll do fewer sections per day. This is in addition to OPGTR, btw.
• FB is gobbling up Miquon at the moment. We're going to start on Right Start B after our holiday break, but continue doing Miquon as well.
PC
• PC had her belated two year old well visit. She's a tiny peanut, weighing just 22.8 lbs, which is the 5th percentile. She's a full 34" tall, though, putting her at the 50th percentile. It's a big discrepancy, especially given that she's fallen several percentiles since she started eating solid foods. Since she eats plenty, it's either that she's burning it all off, or there's an absorption issue. I think this is where the stagehands gives me the card that says "Stay Tuned."
• PC went to run errands with me after her well visit, just her and I, no siblings. She's hilarious when she doesn't have her siblings to entertain and gets to be the sole focus of parental attention. It doesn't happen often for her!
Me
• I made sausage balls. And cheese ball. And cookie bar. And then more sausage balls. Really, who could ask for anything more?
• I finished all of my Christmas knitting! I made a hat each for PC and FB, but the piece de resistance was EG's scarf.
The scarf pattern shares a name with EG's first name, written by the same company that dyed the yarn. The colorway on the yarn shares a name with EG's middle name. This scarf is literally her name.
EG
• EG took a video of herself performing an "ad" for her critical thinking class. Her father vetoed posting it on youtube, so you won't be able to watch her performance, but it was pretty funny. She created a "product" – a ever-tied hair ribbon.
• The best discussion we had all week was probably about the nature of conclusions and their importance in writing a paper. We talked about how, with a good outline, you may want to do your rough draft of your conclusion before you write your body sentences/paragraphs.
FB
• FB has been zooming through the McGuffey Primer, now that I know he can read. :P It's really the perfect practice for him right now. Once we get to where it's more difficult, we'll do fewer sections per day. This is in addition to OPGTR, btw.
• FB is gobbling up Miquon at the moment. We're going to start on Right Start B after our holiday break, but continue doing Miquon as well.
PC
• PC had her belated two year old well visit. She's a tiny peanut, weighing just 22.8 lbs, which is the 5th percentile. She's a full 34" tall, though, putting her at the 50th percentile. It's a big discrepancy, especially given that she's fallen several percentiles since she started eating solid foods. Since she eats plenty, it's either that she's burning it all off, or there's an absorption issue. I think this is where the stagehands gives me the card that says "Stay Tuned."
• PC went to run errands with me after her well visit, just her and I, no siblings. She's hilarious when she doesn't have her siblings to entertain and gets to be the sole focus of parental attention. It doesn't happen often for her!
Me
• I made sausage balls. And cheese ball. And cookie bar. And then more sausage balls. Really, who could ask for anything more?
• I finished all of my Christmas knitting! I made a hat each for PC and FB, but the piece de resistance was EG's scarf.
The scarf pattern shares a name with EG's first name, written by the same company that dyed the yarn. The colorway on the yarn shares a name with EG's middle name. This scarf is literally her name.
10.12.10
Weekly Report: Week Twenty (days 093-097)
I am, frankly, too tired to write a full weekly report. Therefore, we have one BIG thing and one little thing for everyone.
Me
• One of my good friends had her baby on Tuesday night, which happened to be her actual due date. She had a quick, intense homebirth-turned-unplanned-UC. Mama & baby are healthy, happy, and gorgeous!
• I updated my Ravelry account with actual pictures of my stashed yarn and my projects.
PC
• PC has added several words to her vocabulary lately. This week, however, we have added the all-important "Why?"
• PC also moves ever closer to be potty trained. We had to resort to getting her the non-preferred Publix training pants. Target's have a kitty on them and therefore she likes them too much.
FB
• I had suspected for a bit that perhaps FB could read more than he was letting on. Over the weekend, he exposed the depths of his knowledge. The little stinker can read! When queried about hiding it, he said, "I didn't want you to realize until I was eight or ten." Thanks, kid.
• FB finds the whole compost process fascinating to observe. We also finally finished reading a couple of the Greek myths books that we'd been slowly working through with him.
EG
• EG has been working diligently to wrap up the computer portion of PLATO Earth & Space Science before we break for Christmas. She's got just four mastery tests, three applications, and two lessons left!
• EG had her piano recital on Monday! She performed two pieces. Her pubic speaking class also performed a short skit.
EG & FB
Monday was their "Colonial Feast" at Master's Academy, as you can see…
Me
• One of my good friends had her baby on Tuesday night, which happened to be her actual due date. She had a quick, intense homebirth-turned-unplanned-UC. Mama & baby are healthy, happy, and gorgeous!
• I updated my Ravelry account with actual pictures of my stashed yarn and my projects.
PC
• PC has added several words to her vocabulary lately. This week, however, we have added the all-important "Why?"
• PC also moves ever closer to be potty trained. We had to resort to getting her the non-preferred Publix training pants. Target's have a kitty on them and therefore she likes them too much.
FB
• I had suspected for a bit that perhaps FB could read more than he was letting on. Over the weekend, he exposed the depths of his knowledge. The little stinker can read! When queried about hiding it, he said, "I didn't want you to realize until I was eight or ten." Thanks, kid.
• FB finds the whole compost process fascinating to observe. We also finally finished reading a couple of the Greek myths books that we'd been slowly working through with him.
EG
• EG has been working diligently to wrap up the computer portion of PLATO Earth & Space Science before we break for Christmas. She's got just four mastery tests, three applications, and two lessons left!
• EG had her piano recital on Monday! She performed two pieces. Her pubic speaking class also performed a short skit.
EG & FB
Monday was their "Colonial Feast" at Master's Academy, as you can see…
4.12.10
Weekly Report: Week Nineteen (days 088-092)
As much as I appreciate that the kids have extracurricular activities, I admit to enjoying this time of the year, when they slowly drop away for a nice holiday break. Band finished before Thanksgiving, and Monday will mark the last day of Master's Academy until 2011!
Even better news is that we passed our halfway point for the year!
EG moved into studying ancient Rome this week. She did not write an essay but did work on a biography paragraph for Julius Caesar. She also read Coolidge's Caesar's Gallic War. She completed four sentences in Practice Voyage and a lesson in Caesar's English II. Together we read through chapter seven, on quotations, in Essay Voyage.
Math & science both continue apace. She beat one level of drill (hooray!) and worked in both Life of Fred Advanced Algebra and Real World Algebra. I had a minor freak-out over where to go next with her with regards to math. She did three worksheets from PLATO Earth & Space Science, as well as finishing up the Atmosphere unit.
Logic, typing, music appreciation, and art appreciation continue to go well. We found out from her trumpet instructor that we need to plan to buy a new trumpet in the next six months or so. She has a performance on piano on Monday, as well as a skit with the other members of her public speaking course. Finally, we went to see The Nutcracker. EG enjoys watching ballet, which is something I hope she'll continue to enjoy as she gets older.
FB is voluntarily reading a few things to us outside of school time. Hooray! He learned about alternate spellings of the long a sound in OPGTR, and is almost finished with ETC 2. He's finished up week twenty in WWE 1, lesson 9 in SWO A, and lesson 62 in FLL. Yay! For literature, he's been listening to various retellings of Greek myths and Homer. History, as you may have guessed, continues to be about ancient Greek. This week's chapter focused on life in Sparta as well as in Athens. FB did four pages in Miquon and played with the rods extensively. I really need to get Right Start B out and get it going.
Over Thanksgiving, FB set up an experiment on composting from his MSB "Go Green" experiment kit, so he's been observing that periodically this week. He also listened to Sounds All Around. His music appreciation is temporarily superseded by listening to vast amounts of Christmas music, including the new Glee Christmas CD.
Speaking of Glee, that segues nicely into my update. I'm so thrilled with Glee. I can't wait to see next week's episode. I am trying to finish knitting a scarf for EG (which I have to do only while she's asleep) as well as a hat for PC (which, luckily, I can do while she's awake). I need to go buy one more skein of yarn to make into a hat for FB before Christmas. Other than a calendar for PC, I am nearly done with Christmas shopping!
Even better news is that we passed our halfway point for the year!
EG moved into studying ancient Rome this week. She did not write an essay but did work on a biography paragraph for Julius Caesar. She also read Coolidge's Caesar's Gallic War. She completed four sentences in Practice Voyage and a lesson in Caesar's English II. Together we read through chapter seven, on quotations, in Essay Voyage.
Math & science both continue apace. She beat one level of drill (hooray!) and worked in both Life of Fred Advanced Algebra and Real World Algebra. I had a minor freak-out over where to go next with her with regards to math. She did three worksheets from PLATO Earth & Space Science, as well as finishing up the Atmosphere unit.
Logic, typing, music appreciation, and art appreciation continue to go well. We found out from her trumpet instructor that we need to plan to buy a new trumpet in the next six months or so. She has a performance on piano on Monday, as well as a skit with the other members of her public speaking course. Finally, we went to see The Nutcracker. EG enjoys watching ballet, which is something I hope she'll continue to enjoy as she gets older.
FB is voluntarily reading a few things to us outside of school time. Hooray! He learned about alternate spellings of the long a sound in OPGTR, and is almost finished with ETC 2. He's finished up week twenty in WWE 1, lesson 9 in SWO A, and lesson 62 in FLL. Yay! For literature, he's been listening to various retellings of Greek myths and Homer. History, as you may have guessed, continues to be about ancient Greek. This week's chapter focused on life in Sparta as well as in Athens. FB did four pages in Miquon and played with the rods extensively. I really need to get Right Start B out and get it going.
Over Thanksgiving, FB set up an experiment on composting from his MSB "Go Green" experiment kit, so he's been observing that periodically this week. He also listened to Sounds All Around. His music appreciation is temporarily superseded by listening to vast amounts of Christmas music, including the new Glee Christmas CD.
Speaking of Glee, that segues nicely into my update. I'm so thrilled with Glee. I can't wait to see next week's episode. I am trying to finish knitting a scarf for EG (which I have to do only while she's asleep) as well as a hat for PC (which, luckily, I can do while she's awake). I need to go buy one more skein of yarn to make into a hat for FB before Christmas. Other than a calendar for PC, I am nearly done with Christmas shopping!
28.11.10
Weekly Report: Week Eighteen-Ish (days 086-087)
We did a two and a half day week for Thanksgiving, more or less.
FB completed two lessons in OPGTR, six pages in ETC 2, and reviewed his last lesson from SWO A. We did two lessons from FLL together and finished WWE 1 Week 19. He also worked on writing lower-case 'j.' We continued reading Greek myths; Usborne Book of Greek Myths, King Midas and the Golden Touch, and Black Ships Before Troy were his primary read-aloud titles.
History covered the Persians; we may manage to play the Conquer Mesopotamia game at some point today. FB did two experiments from his Magic School Bus "Go Green" science kit, including the start of a composting experiment.
In math, FB did two pages in Miquon and did drill two days. For fine arts this week, we merely listened to Christmas music; there was no Master's Academy. There was also a lack of oceanography class and gymnastics, but there was Thanksgiving to somewhat lessen that blow for FB.
EG did a bit more work than FB; she did complete a lesson in Caesar's English II, and worked on assignments for Essay Voyage. She also read The Aeneid for Boys and Girls. History, however, was skipped this week, as I work on refiguring how I want to approach the subject with her. She did complete three pages in her Outlining workbook.
For math, she completed three lessons and two days of drill; science was more work in PLATO Earth & Space Science. She also watched several lectures from The Joy of Science course.
EG also did music & art appreciation this week, and watched the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade including the ads, searching for propaganda techniques she could identify and post about in her logic class forum.
We have three and a half weeks until we break for Christmas (I want to end our number of days so that it's divisible by five – oh, obsessive-complusive tendencies), but already extracurriculars are lighter. Band is over until 2011! Just two more weeks of Master's Academy, as well, and three weeks of Wednesday classes & gymnastics. This also means I only have about three and a half weeks to finish up the last bits of shopping, but we won't talk about that. :)
FB completed two lessons in OPGTR, six pages in ETC 2, and reviewed his last lesson from SWO A. We did two lessons from FLL together and finished WWE 1 Week 19. He also worked on writing lower-case 'j.' We continued reading Greek myths; Usborne Book of Greek Myths, King Midas and the Golden Touch, and Black Ships Before Troy were his primary read-aloud titles.
History covered the Persians; we may manage to play the Conquer Mesopotamia game at some point today. FB did two experiments from his Magic School Bus "Go Green" science kit, including the start of a composting experiment.
In math, FB did two pages in Miquon and did drill two days. For fine arts this week, we merely listened to Christmas music; there was no Master's Academy. There was also a lack of oceanography class and gymnastics, but there was Thanksgiving to somewhat lessen that blow for FB.
EG did a bit more work than FB; she did complete a lesson in Caesar's English II, and worked on assignments for Essay Voyage. She also read The Aeneid for Boys and Girls. History, however, was skipped this week, as I work on refiguring how I want to approach the subject with her. She did complete three pages in her Outlining workbook.
For math, she completed three lessons and two days of drill; science was more work in PLATO Earth & Space Science. She also watched several lectures from The Joy of Science course.
EG also did music & art appreciation this week, and watched the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade including the ads, searching for propaganda techniques she could identify and post about in her logic class forum.
We have three and a half weeks until we break for Christmas (I want to end our number of days so that it's divisible by five – oh, obsessive-complusive tendencies), but already extracurriculars are lighter. Band is over until 2011! Just two more weeks of Master's Academy, as well, and three weeks of Wednesday classes & gymnastics. This also means I only have about three and a half weeks to finish up the last bits of shopping, but we won't talk about that. :)
