Weekly Report, Winter Term 2009 Week 2

Another week, come and gone. It was a hard week. It lacked flow. The whole Tapestry/Sonlight meshing that looked so great on paper just sucked the life out of me. Three days in and I chucked the schedule. Instead, I just began with Sonlight, and added from my home library so there was something age-appropriate for all. And we just read - every day, for two hours straight, we sat on the couch and read. Charlotte's Web, Hero Tales, Child's History of the World, Story of the World - no concerns over properly fitting the chapters to correspond to one another. We colored some maps and reviewed our US Geography. We also enjoyed The Bard of Avon, and some videos on United Streaming about early Egyptian life along the Nile River. My 9 yo son made up a skit - he names each US President, and does a bit about something "significant" that happened during his time in office. Now, "significant" is a loose term when it comes to this particular child - his favorite book on the Presidents is "Don't Know Much About the Presidents" . (I believe that is the title, anyway.) His performance was actually quite humorous, especially when he has William Henry Harrison delivering a speech while uncontrollably sneezing and coughing, and Ulysses S. Grant turning his pockets inside out while declaring, "I could have sworn I had twenty dollars in there."



In grammar, we learned how to diagram predicate nominatives, and how to properly use lay/lie & raise/rise. The younger twin polished off Doctor Doolittle in two days(loved it), completed a summary of each chapter, and parlayed it into a book report - all without any complaints! This was an amazing feat for this child. The older twin is working her way through The Golden Goblet. She did another Lively Latin lesson, took a test in Rod & Staff Math 7, and is now working her way through Life of Fred: Fractions by herself. She has always "hated" math, in her words, so I have high hopes for Fred. Don't let me down, boy!



I made the switch to Singapore for the younger twin. And I started him in book 3B. I felt there was some stuff in there that just had not been covered by Saxon. He did all of Ch. 1 in the text, WB, Challenging Word Problems, and Intensive Practice. Having a write-in book for this child has made a world of difference. And he is very much a mental math kid to begin with. It will be a challenge to get him to show his work.



Little Bear is doing so well with her 2nd grade work. Rod & Staff Spelling has been a wonderful addition to her written work. She loves it. She loves all workbooks - ETC, Wordly Wise, Spelling, copywork ... The more, the better. And she is loving the addition of the Story of the World activity pages. She just loves school.



Rocky listened in when he wanted to, continues to announce multiplication facts he has just figured out for himself, and keeps us safe from the dragons and demons that are in our midst. I took all five kids to the dentist yesterday, and he was so wonderful. He has really matured this year. There are times when I really question myself, my parenting, my children's "normalcy" & appropriateness. But, he was just so amiable with the staff, and allowed them to take x-rays, and even did a fluoride treatment. I guess, when my older children went through all this, I did not pay much attention because there was always someone younger to fret over. But, with my littlest guy, he just seems so little. Everything he does seems so ... big to me - too big for such a little guy. Interesting, huh? Yup, that is some insight into how my brain is operating these days.



As for my Prince, he has been working at a ski shop, and started his senior year of studies. He is studying for his permit, and conquering the mountain of work that is required of him in Anatomy & Physiology. He is doing Life of Fred: Statistics, but, so far, I am not particularly enthusiastic about this course. I think it leaves out too much in the way of explanation. I can better judge it as we get further along.



So, that's about it. Other than trying desperately to keep warm, life here is plodding along. Hope the week went well for all. Thanks for reading this far!