Week 22 Review -- March 23-27

Due to the kids getting colds, this was a short week. We don't have much left to do so that's ok. We only have Math and Language arts at this point that needs finishing.
Here's the rundown of what we did.

Everett
Grammar: Everett completed chapter 1 in his new Bob Jones University Press English Writing and Grammar 4 book. It was a review of the 4 types of sentences, but he needed it.

Math: Lessons 48-49 were completed. Math continues to be a fun subject for him.

Geography: Daily Geography this week covered reading a map of Washington DC. He really enjoyed this because in about a month and a half we'll be going to DC for a family vacation with my mom.

Annika
Phonics: She is continuing with Headsprout and seems to really like it. We also started using CLE's Learn to Read program and it's looking really good so far. It uses a mix of phonics and sight words which seems to be just what she needs. This week she was able to read phrases like "as many as" and "the brown mat" this may not seem like much but for a struggling reader it's a major milestone. The program has given her confidence quite a boost.

Math: CLE lessons 52-53 were completed. She really enjoys this program and looks forward to it, although because of her new Learn to Read program it's now tied for her favorite subject.

Geography: Daily Geography this week covered reading a map of a zoo. This was a fun one for her since she loves animals so much.

BOTH:
Science: This week we have been observing the caterpillars we got last week. Just yesterday they finally all put themselves in their chrysalises and we're now anxious to see them hatch out as painted lady butterflies. We also bought a marshmallow plant to see if we can get them to lay eggs.

We are continuing our read aloud of The Magician's Nephew from The Chronicle's of Narnia series.

Lucas has decided that he wants to do school work again so I've started using the About Three series from Rod and Staff publishing for him, along with books we read from our Sonlight Core P3/4.

Come back next week to check out our Week 23 review. In a few weeks I'll also be posting our final curriculum picks, so keep an eye out for that.

The curriculum that has made my daughter a happy girl once again

As many of you that follow my blog and know me are aware, Annika has been struggling with learning to read for about a year now. She has known all of her letters and sounds for quite a while but putting them together to read has been extremely difficult for her. After trying many other programs that all brought her to tears we decided to try one more thing. Since she was having such success with Christian Light Education's math program I decided to get their Learn to Read program as a last ditch attempt to help her. It has changed so much for her. She now looks forward to phonics time and after only 2 weeks with the program she's already reading phrases like "as many as" and "the brown bat." She is beaming with confidence and can't wait to get to the next lesson. The program uses both a phonics and sight word approach and the teacher's manual tells me just what to do to use the program to get the most benefit out of it. I couldn't be happier with it and am so greatful to have found something that clicks with her.

Week off for us at Fawkes Academy

Well I'll try this again, because I typed something up and it seems that it wasn't saved.

We had the week off here and I have done some thinking on what to do for the rest of the year. We will considere history finished and pick up next year with the discovery of America and the rest of Early Modern times. Science will wrap up in the next week or two depending on our painted lady caterpillars. Once they hatch into butterflies we'll wrap up science for the year. We'll then focus on Language Arts and Math for the last 10 weeks of our year. I've decided to shorten the year because the kids have worked on weekends for the past couple of months so they deserve a shortened year. This means we'll finish up the middle of June. During these last 10 weeks we'll continue math, but will focus on reading for Annika and on writing for Everett. They'll be taking their Iowa Test of Basic Skills in mid April and I'm sure they are more than ready for them.
We're also looking forward to a visit from my mom in May, during which we'll take a 3 day trip to Washinton D.C. and then my mom and dad will be back in June and we'll spend some time at the Great Wolf Lodge in Williamsburg. Matt's mom and dad will also be coming out in June and although we don't have any specific attractions we'll be seeing I'm sure it will be a nice visit.

That's all she wrote this time around (after all I tried this once already today.) Come back next week for the Review of week 22.