What All We Did This Week ...

First week of school in the New Year over!! Only X more to go!!! We say good-bye to the some of the titles above and the little men below - Middle Ages are a thing of the past. (Much to the chagrin of my 7 yo. He actually asked me if we could read SOTW II again.)

Along with SOTW Volumes I & II, we have completed an extended stay in Ancient Rome, so I am quite happy with our progress. History always seems to be our place-holder, our mark of progress, the spine of our school. The kids just love it, and can listen to read-alouds and audio books, color maps, and watch documentaries about historical figures and events all day long, if I let them.

We are beginning SOTW III, using My Father's World Explorers to 1850 as our guide. I must say, this Instructor's Guide is very well done. I have found my need for an IG to be more of a want, especially as the years go by. I am quite capable of designing my own course of studies for the children, and I do ... for the most part. But, I still convince myself that using one of these IGs will fill some potential void. The beauty of MFW is its simplicity - and music and art are scheduled for me. I love that! Books that I would have picked out on my own are scheduled, and the schedule is light enough that our love for rabbit trails can be fed without fear of getting too far off track.

We are also continuing with many of our programs from our last term, including Fallacy Detective. The kids are just loving this book - my 7-year-old requests it. All day long, I hear, "That's a red herring!", or "Don't use circular reasoning with me!"

Math is going well for all the little buggers, as is grammar, literature, and Latin. My 9 yo is using Matin Latin, and I am surprised by how much she enjoys the program. I had used Prima Latina as the introductory Latin class for the twins. But after researching Latin choices again, I wanted to give this one a try, especially since it emphasizes grammar more so than PL. We did a lesson on predicate nominatives this week, and she had no problem with it. I thought about supplementing with a lesson on the same topic from R & S, but decided against it. I am following the advice to let Latin instruction teach the English grammar - as much as it is a struggle not to supplement, supplement, and supplement some more.

So, that is the gist of our week. Our van is in the hospital after a lengthy period of illness that rendered it ... unconscious. So we have been house-bound. But we are making the best of our confinement. We exercise, play lots of chess, have a 1500-piece puzzle in progress, move the furniture around for a change of scenery, eat, and throw some learning in for fun. Hope your week was good, too!