2006 Student Showcase

Our first student showcase this year. We worked on a "History Pockets" project on explorers of North America. Didn't finish, as it included people way ahead in our chronological history study. And, I didn't want to try to jam anyone in and not give any explorer enough attention. We also added a few other explorers we wanted to study.

Everyone really enjoyed the showcase. I was pleasantly surprised that there were not more "parent-driven" projects. It was clear the kids had done the work.

The showcase also helped me see the value in being part of the hs group. I had been considering quitting as there are several things that annoy me. The adherence to the school calendar, for one. A "back to school party" in the fall - for kids who don't go to school! The nearly useless meetings. But, now I see there are good things too. So we will persevere.

4/5-7

Tough week - J was sick all week, allergies or what, dunno. Not much work done. Bible and catechism daily, then through the week a little math practice, a bit of science, etc. Read The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe in less than 24 hours (but over 2 days). Now on The Horse and His Boy.

My own reading, oh my. So scattered. I am in the middle of so many books. But now I have to concentrate on Women's Ministry in the Local Church as that may be the first book in our summe reading.

4/4

J is suffering from the allergies or the allergy meds. Dizzy, headache. Lazy, too, of course, and hard to get along with. So no writing for him today, very little except some reading aloud and our Charlotte's Web reading/study guide. Spring is not so fun around here.

April 3 already

Well, what have we been doing? Not much....

Finished Hans Brinker

Reading Deuteronomy.

Doing the checklists.

Reading a lot, sort of. A semi-lot.

Almost done with ETC 4! But stuck on some phonics rules.

Almost to subtraction on MUS! I think J will breeze through that but E will not.

History - finally on book 3 of SOTW. Getting a bit tired of her format but we will press on.

Kids are reading Charlotte's Web and doing a Vertias Press study guide with it.

Need to look into swimming lessons.

My reading: hahahhahaha!

Through March 21

Fair bit of reading, but mostly sticking to those checklists. Started keeping a notebook for Catechism. I will write the question, they will write the answer. Today was easy, as Question 1 is pretty short. But they have a week to do each question...

The history pockets are going well for J, but E has lost interest. I don't think the part she has to do is too much for her, even though the grade level is 4 - 6. The pocket decorating is not above her level. I am surprised how well J can read the facts sheets. Frankly if my kid was doing that in 6th grade I'd be disappointed.

J is doing well on the verbal portion of the test prep. The math part scares me. But he has a whole year to get up to it. He is getting quicker on his facts.

E is having such trouble with MUS suddenly. Sometimes I still think it's fake.

Both are reading well, and daily.

I am still reading about bees and hope to finish Sweetness and Light soon. Keeping up the daily Bible reading and TableTalk.

Through March 13

Was out of town 3/8 - 11. And it snowed, so other than some Daily Math Warmups for J, and I think some copywork for E, nothing much got done. Oh, the Bible was read.

Got mostly back on track today, with a new MUS lesson (which is way too easy), some ETC (instead of copywork or other writing), Daily Math Warmups, and some history. We are reading about Sir Francis Drake in specific, and explorers in general. Read the chapter on Tides in the Tiner book Exploring Planet Earth. Also continuing with history pockets, finishing up the pocket on Jacques Cartier. Later this week we will make the pocket for Drake. So, a little disjointed but working for history nonetheless.

We have two field trips (Moonstruck Chocolate and a Lewis and Clark thing) and a game day to which I promised to go, so today was probably our big day for this week. Well, there is no art class on Friday so that may end up being a work day.

I am progressing through Sweetness and Light but stopped that for a while to read A Little History of the World, a beautifully-written book for the kids.

through March 7

Yes, time does fly. We started the science textbook on 2/22 and here we are just on chapter 3. We are reading a lot of science books on the elements, though, from "A True Book" series which are interesting. And doing experiments, though never enough. And because the writing is such a struggle, we don't do any writeups. I know the kids, and J especially, are getting a lot out of it, and he is remembering it, but I would like to produce something!

History - age of exploration, and the Elizabethan age, are so interesting that is not difficult at all. The kids enjoy the History Pocket projects and are happy to work on those. I bought another of them, on American Indians, or Native Americans. There is also one on Colonial America that I want to order.

The kids are doing better with their reading but only E is doing much on her own. J went through a spell of doing a lot but now seems to have slowed down some. Maybe it's temporary. Next week we are going to start going through Charlotte's Web with the study guide.

J works on the Spectrum 3rd grade test prep and does great on the language parts, but can't do the math at all. He freaks out over a 4-digit addition problem even if the math itself is easy (ie. no carrrying). He still doesn't get it that he can't subtract a large number from a smaller one. (We are not anywhere near to working with negative numbers and I despair of us ever doing so.)

Behavior is still a problem. He just whacked E on the leg for no reason. The solution he proposes is for her to whack him back. This is perhaps the most frustrating part of all.