Weekly Wrap-Up

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It’s been a good week on the academic front. I felt like we got a lot accomplished and stayed on track. I’ve been especially proud of Brianna who has totally kept on top of her reading each day. You may remember that I worried that the amount of reading might overwhelm her, but I’ve heard not one complaint. As a matter of fact, she got up early today and started on her schoolwork…with no prompting! I wasn’t even up yet! She was completely finished by noon.

I’ve also been very pleased with her math. I had decided to go ahead and skip the end of the 5th grade book and move her into the 6th grade book. I had forgotten how the beginning of a new book affects all three of my kids. They love it! Horizons goes pretty far back into the previous book for review. Maybe that would drive some people crazy, but my kids love it because it all feels easy to them. It gives them such a boost of confidence! Then, they ease into new concepts slowly, so that the kids really feel like they have a good handle on things. It’s been a good decision for Brianna.

I’m proud of me, too. So far, I have stayed on top of checking the kids work (mostly Brianna’s since math and handwriting are all that I don’t do one-on-one with Josh and Megan). I’ve checked their work at the end of each day every day so far! That is so good for me because last year I was checking it all at the end of the week, which was overwhelming to me and didn’t offer immediate feedback for the kids. I thought it would be hard to stay on top of it every day, but, so far, it’s been MUCH easier than waiting until the weekend.

History is going well. We made a model of a Roman road, which turned out really well. (I know, I know. I keep promising pictures. I’ll post them before the weekend is over.) I’ve been reading Story of the World to Josh and Megan with the Magic Tree House book, Vacation Under a Volcano as our fun read. The books that Brianna is reading are Ancient Roman World, Detectives in Togas and Galen: Gateway to Medicine.

We have also been doing our Latin studies. Brianna is picking that up very easily. I’m not sure if it’s because we’ve done it before or it it’s because she’s older. I think Josh and Megan are going to need two weeks on each lesson, which is fine. I may let Brianna move on ahead if she wants to. We’ve been doing everything on the dry erase board and now I’m really wanting one of those writing pads for my easel so that I don’t have to keep writing out the lessons each day. I’ve got the attachment that holds the paper; I just don’t have the paper yet. I’m not sure how badly I want it, though…it’s $20 for two pads of paper.

We got the snakes out (I have two of them) for some hands-on study of reptiles for our Christian Kids Explore Biology unit. Most of what we learned didn’t surprise us since we own two snakes, but we did learn that the scales on the underside of their bodies are called “scutes” (which help them “scoot” along). That was something that we didn’t know, so it was neat to be able to look, up close and personal, at an actual snake and see the difference between the two types of scales.

I also did the comprehension test that comes at the end of Scaredy Cat Reading Level 2 with Josh and Megan today. Megan, of course, aced it and Josh only missed two things. I don’t really think it was that he didn’t understand, but that he gets easily flustered when he feels put on the spot. I tried not to make him feel that way, but I think he did. I admit to being the same way when someone asks me to add something. Even at 38 years old, I’m still a math-phobic and am worried that I’m going to make a mistake and feel stupid. How sad is that?

At any rate, they both did well and we’ll be starting SCRS Level 3 on Monday. It’s really cool to be able to move seamlessly from one lesson to the next. We didn’t spend quite as much time at the end of Level 2 as I would have if we weren’t ready to go right into Level 3. However, the first part of Level 3 is a review of the last part of Level 2, so I think we’re ready to move on into it. Ah, the evidence of progress after so much struggle with Josh’s reading is a heady feeling.

I picked up a book at the library today. It was recommended by a friend and is called Homeschoolers’ College Admissions Handbook: Preparing Your 12- to 18-Year-Old for a Smooth Transition by Cafi Cohen. It’s gotten mixed reviews on Amazon, but I’m anxious to read it since Brianna is talking about wanting to attend college. I’ll try to remember to post a review when I’m finished. Has anyone read it? If so, what did you think?

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Kris Bales is a newly-retired homeschool mom and the quirky, Christ-following, painfully honest founder (and former owner) of Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers. She has a pretty serious addiction to sweet tea and Words with Friends. Kris and her husband of over 30 years are parents to three amazing homeschool grads. They share their home with three dogs, two cats, a ball python, a bearded dragon, and seven birds.

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One Comment

  1. Wow, that’s quite an accomplished week!! My prayer is that I will STAY on top of the things that are going so well this year :)!!

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