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Weekly Wrap-Up

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We successfully survived our first full week with a new “student,” my niece, Nim. That really makes me sound a lot more courageous (or patient or saintly or whatever word you want to throw in there that people might use to positively describe a homeschool mom who is doing more than what they think they could do) than I really am, though. She was really, really good. She did whatever work I gave her, sat patiently through our whole day of school, and tried to do everything the big kids did. She really picked up on some things, too, because my mom was telling me, last night, all that Nim told her about what she’d learned this week. I was surprised at some of the things she’d told Nannie.

I plan to update Nim’s learning center tonight or tomorrow and will post pictures when I do. I won’t bore you with pictures every week, but I’m planning on making a couple of changes, based on what I’ve learned this week about what Nim already knows and I’ve found some nifty goodies to add to the board.

Josh really surprised me a couple of days this week. He asked to read more than what I was asking him to read! Yes, you read that right. My 8 year old boy who has struggled with reading for nearly four years now and who has, in the last year, started making measurable progress, wanted to read more than I was asking him to read. He seems to be enjoying reading now that he’s starting to get it. Is this what happens when you relax and follow a child’s lead? Could this finally be the reward for forcing myself not to put unnecessary pressure on Josh to read? Oh, I desperately hope so!

 

Megan has struggled a bit this week with jealousy over the time I’m giving Nim. It’s truly not any more time than I give any of the kids, school-wise, but it’s proven to be an adjustment for her. Some days, she’s my big helper, showing Nim how to do her work and praising her when she gets it right. Other days, she sulks if I compliment Nim more than she things I should. The highlight of Megan’s week, academically, was when she realized that she had done one of her math lessons perfectly — not a single mistake!

 

Brianna has also struggled a bit this week, but not with jealousy — with writing. I added Jump In back into our schedule last week, giving her the week to finish the paper that she was supposed to have finished by the end of the last school year. She finished it over the weekend without giving me a chance to go over her rough draft with her (I’m thinking probably because she didn’t do the rough draft). So, Monday, I made notes on it (and, no, they weren’t all negative. She had some very good aspects to her paper, but there were some things that she needed to fix.) and gave it back to her. She has, once again, dragged her feet on it all week, but her cruel mother has forced her to keep moving ahead in the book, too. I really just want her to see that when she is given an assignment, it’s not optional.

We didn’t do many projects this week. The only one we did was an art craft about mosaics for our ancient Rome studies. I used my Creative Memories square cutter to cut out a million or so squares from construction paper. Hey, I might as well get some use out of all that scrapbook stuff that’s been collecting dust. The projects didn’t turn out quite as I’d envisioned, but I’ll post pictures anyway, since the kids enjoyed it and were proud of their work.


We’re taking off Monday for Labor Day. We don’t usually take off since Brian usually has to work. However, the holiday just happened to fall on his long weekend this year, so he’s off. I don’t know if we’ll do anything special or if we’ll just hang around the house, but, I confess, I’m ready for a long weekend myself, especially since next week gets busy for us. Music class resumes and we’ll be starting an art/music/nature study co-op with some friends.

 

Do you and your family have anything fun planned for Labor Day?
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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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2 Comments

  1. Good job for your son and his excellent reading! Now my eight year old son on the other hand just acquired another Captain Underpants tome today. *groan*

    🙂

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