2013-2014 Week 12

I can't believe this is week 12, it doesn't seem like this year should be this far along. This was a good week.  I had a lot on the schedule and was determined to get every last thing done, even if it killed me.  

Everett did another couple grammar tests, which means that after our break for the holidays we're ready for him to start the regular lessons.  He completed a story for writing as well and finished a step in his new spelling book.  That lesson was really long as it was a full review of the last book all in one step.

Annika finished lesson 10 in Barton level 3, which means one more to go, and she's done with this level! She completed a lesson in writing, but it wasn't an easy one.  We had some teeth gnashing and hair pulling on my end, but when it was all said and done, it was a good piece of writing. 

Lucas did 3 reading lessons in All About Reading 2, completed a step in All About Spelling 1, and finished a set of penmanship pages. He also did a science lesson from Nancy Larson Science 2 with Matt on Friday. 

All of them did math and completed their current chapters for their Math U See levels.  Ev and Annika added some timeline figures to their timelines after we made the decision to go back to Time Travelers Early Modern Times and save Ancient history for next year. They also continued working on their cell models.  Those should be fully dry by Monday so they can do the last step and finish them up.  The last thing we did is re-evaluate the Latin program we picked.  There were a few issues with things not being presented before they popped up on the work pages. The program was hard for me to teach as it has no TM and is a program that the kids are supposed to watch a DVD or just read the book and learn.  This wasn't working for them.  We are planning on shelving Latin for Children, and trying First Form Latin instead.  I plan to use the DVD to teach myself a few lessons ahead of the kids and then I can use the excellent teachers manual they provide to teach the kids what I now know.  I'm going to get started on this over our holiday break and getting a good few lessons under my belt.  



One more light week to tie up some loose ends before we take a break until January 2014.

2013-2014 Week 11

We took off a week for Thanksgiving, and this week was pretty slow as well.  We all seem to be over the coughs and sniffles that were running wild a couple weeks ago.

This week we did a little math and a little science.  Ev and Annika worked on their cell models a little bit, and everyone did math until they got to a new chapter.  The rest of the week was spent crafting (making new stockings) and running errands/going to appointments.

All the kids had to go for dental cleanings, no cavities all around.  Yay.

I'm hoping to get quite a bit accomplished in the next 2 weeks before we take off for the holidays.

I did write a new article for From Sandbox to Socrates about my attempts to raise Dubia Roaches as a food source for Spock the bearded dragon.  That should be published soon.  I'm still surprised that they even invite me to write articles and contribute.  I consider the group of ladies that started that blog to be so much more knowledgable than I, they apparently see something in me I don't see in myself.

Yes these last few posts really stunk, but we didn't have much to report.

I hope you enjoy the slideshow of pictures of the kids with their St. Nick Stockings