Week 17: A week in our homeschool
The first week back from a few days off is always a little rough! I don't think I realized how much ground we had made with C and his attention span. When we started in August he could only handle about 5-10 minutes, and the week before Thanksgiving he was handling about an hour or so getting all of his seat work done at once. Monday of this week? About 10 minutes in and his eyes glazed over. I did the absolute worst thing at first and tried to push him. Not smart. I had to face facts and slowly build back up. The end of the week brought remarkable improvement.
I thought for this week's "Week in Review" post, I would chronicle details of what we did for school this week. I don't usually list it all out, but I thought this might be helpful to see what we did in our little homeschool world for kindergarten and second grade.
This week in 2nd grade:
Math: yeah! E finished Math Mammoth 2B which we started last spring. I had decided it was getting too challenging too quickly so we slowed down drastically and played more Right Start games. It was a good call, and she is doing great. She was so proud of herself when she got a perfect score on her last chapter test on multiplication. (We use tests as an evaluation tool for me, but don't do grades). She likes stickers and smiley faces for a job well done though! Finishing a book always brings a sense of accomplishment (well, for me at least!) ;) We started 3A on Thursday and so far so good.
Language arts:
Spelling: All About Spelling steps 15-16
Writing with Ease: week 16 I am actually seeing some improvement here. WWE has always been a struggle, the comprehension aspect as well as the dictation.
FLL: lessons 40-42
Handwriting: Zaner Bloser pages 91-95
ETC: 3 pages a day of ETC 7. the vocabulary is getting more challenging, so I am having to help some, but really at this point I feel as though vocabulary is the primary purpose of ETC for her.
Reading: E read Tornado, and started Imagination Station: Showdown with the Shepherd
Bible: we took a break from Bible Study Guide for all Ages to catch up on TRUTH 66 Bible Drill. We worked on the books of the Bible through Obadiah, learned Matthew 5:44, and reviewed our previous verses and key passages. We worked on increasing visual memory to match verses with references using pictures.
Science and history: I decided to take a week and "catch up" in our content areas. The week before Thanksgiving was hectic and our week of history was not as thorough as I would have liked. I got behind on a few read alouds and while I could have skipped ahead, I really thought they would have more fun camping out with these books. So for history we finished Robin Hood of Sherwood Forest and started The Apple and the Arrow. We read The Squire and the Scroll as well. We had a ton of fun with our read aloud week! We also did a Castle and knight sticker book. They loved that.
We also had a first around here. C found a template for a paper Viking ship we never got to, and he asked to do it himself. Love it!
For science, I have been "behind" most of the year. Honestly that is starting to stress me out (although I know it is no big deal!) so, I bumped this weeks lesson and decided to "catch up." We did week 12 and 13 of ES ESA this week. We read and notebooked only. Next week it is week 14 of our content subjects, and I am hoping to fit a science experiment back into the schedule.
This week in Kindergarten:
Math: Right Start A lessons 49-53. C is doing really well in math. He is still using the abacus quite a bit, but I am ok with that. This week he worked on adding tens to tens, counting by 2s, +2 to ten, and graphing.
Phonics: All About Reading-- We finished the fluency practice sheets for lesson 10, and completed lessons 11-13. C is plugging along slowly and steadily in reading. He got hung up on the "e" sound in CVC words this week, and discovered he did better when he growled his blending. Lovely. That was frustrating fun! ;)
Handwriting: Monday's Handwriting without Tears lesson brought tears and that was my signal he had had enough for the day. (So yes, while I should have stopped at the more subtle signals, at least I got a clue at the tears!) We are really loving the new Handwriting without Tears iPad app "Wet Dry Try." It has been fun using it to mix up letter practice. This week we practiced the letters C, O, Q, G, and 10. Handwriting continues to be C's biggest struggle. I tend to be fairly pushy in academics, but I try not to be here. I am aware he is 5 and am confident he will develop into this skill. Until then we plug slowly along...
Bible, science and history: tagging along with E.
And the toddler?
Well, while we were schooling, she was tearing up the house, playing with special school time only toys, drawing (on appropriate and inappropriate canvases), watching Netflix, and getting better on the iPad. The Disney and Starfall apps are favorites! She begs for me to "teach her school" and I am trying to do more directed activity with her as she wishes. Oh, and yes, much of her activity happens on the kitchen table. (At least she uses headphones now!)
A few "extracurricular highlights!":
Lego class has been a highlight of their week for the last 8 weeks and they were both sad to say goodbye at their class this week. I hope we are able to do it again soon!
Friday was our TRUTH 66 Pit Stop where the kids say their verses and practice Bible Drills. After the pit stop, we had a homeschool group game day. So much fun! I really love opportunities that force me to do things I should do anyway...like play games with my kids! ;)
Saturday! The first of December and day one of our Christmas bucket list. Day One: pop popcorn and watch a Christmas movie. Finishing off our week with the kids cuddled up ready for movie night!
I thought for this week's "Week in Review" post, I would chronicle details of what we did for school this week. I don't usually list it all out, but I thought this might be helpful to see what we did in our little homeschool world for kindergarten and second grade.
This week in 2nd grade:
Math: yeah! E finished Math Mammoth 2B which we started last spring. I had decided it was getting too challenging too quickly so we slowed down drastically and played more Right Start games. It was a good call, and she is doing great. She was so proud of herself when she got a perfect score on her last chapter test on multiplication. (We use tests as an evaluation tool for me, but don't do grades). She likes stickers and smiley faces for a job well done though! Finishing a book always brings a sense of accomplishment (well, for me at least!) ;) We started 3A on Thursday and so far so good.
Spelling: All About Spelling steps 15-16
Writing with Ease: week 16 I am actually seeing some improvement here. WWE has always been a struggle, the comprehension aspect as well as the dictation.
FLL: lessons 40-42
Handwriting: Zaner Bloser pages 91-95
ETC: 3 pages a day of ETC 7. the vocabulary is getting more challenging, so I am having to help some, but really at this point I feel as though vocabulary is the primary purpose of ETC for her.
Reading: E read Tornado, and started Imagination Station: Showdown with the Shepherd
Bible: we took a break from Bible Study Guide for all Ages to catch up on TRUTH 66 Bible Drill. We worked on the books of the Bible through Obadiah, learned Matthew 5:44, and reviewed our previous verses and key passages. We worked on increasing visual memory to match verses with references using pictures.
We also had a first around here. C found a template for a paper Viking ship we never got to, and he asked to do it himself. Love it!
For science, I have been "behind" most of the year. Honestly that is starting to stress me out (although I know it is no big deal!) so, I bumped this weeks lesson and decided to "catch up." We did week 12 and 13 of ES ESA this week. We read and notebooked only. Next week it is week 14 of our content subjects, and I am hoping to fit a science experiment back into the schedule.
This week in Kindergarten:
Math: Right Start A lessons 49-53. C is doing really well in math. He is still using the abacus quite a bit, but I am ok with that. This week he worked on adding tens to tens, counting by 2s, +2 to ten, and graphing.
Handwriting: Monday's Handwriting without Tears lesson brought tears and that was my signal he had had enough for the day. (So yes, while I should have stopped at the more subtle signals, at least I got a clue at the tears!) We are really loving the new Handwriting without Tears iPad app "Wet Dry Try." It has been fun using it to mix up letter practice. This week we practiced the letters C, O, Q, G, and 10. Handwriting continues to be C's biggest struggle. I tend to be fairly pushy in academics, but I try not to be here. I am aware he is 5 and am confident he will develop into this skill. Until then we plug slowly along...
Bible, science and history: tagging along with E.
And the toddler?
Well, while we were schooling, she was tearing up the house, playing with special school time only toys, drawing (on appropriate and inappropriate canvases), watching Netflix, and getting better on the iPad. The Disney and Starfall apps are favorites! She begs for me to "teach her school" and I am trying to do more directed activity with her as she wishes. Oh, and yes, much of her activity happens on the kitchen table. (At least she uses headphones now!)
A few "extracurricular highlights!":
Lego class has been a highlight of their week for the last 8 weeks and they were both sad to say goodbye at their class this week. I hope we are able to do it again soon!
After some convincing on my part, C decided to expand his basketball playing from the Wii into real life. We had his Upward basketball evaluation this week. He may have had to be forced convinced initially, but now he is so excited!
Wednesday was our annual "Christmas with the Pastor" at church. After the service the kids enjoyed a treat of cookies and chocolate milk. It was a great kick off to the Christmas season.
The weather was beautiful in our part of the world and E took advantage by doing school in the playground fort. One of our favorite things about homeschooling!
Friday was our TRUTH 66 Pit Stop where the kids say their verses and practice Bible Drills. After the pit stop, we had a homeschool group game day. So much fun! I really love opportunities that force me to do things I should do anyway...like play games with my kids! ;)
Week 17 complete! Phew!
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