Scholars' Report

For sometime now, I've tried off and on to participate in the Weekly Reporter posts. I just can't seem to ever get really excited about them...I mean if *I* don't enjoy reading lists of school assignments completed, how can I write them?

But I really like the idea of keeping a running journal of our homeschool. So, I keep giving it a try and I last for a week or two and then I ditch it for a few months. Well, I'm going to try again...however, I'm not really going to do the list of assignments completed. I'm not sure exactly WHAT I'm going to "report", but not that.

Hmm...maybe I'll just share with you some interesting tidbits from our days together. What was successful, what failed, who made a great stride forward, what good idea didn't pan out, etc. What do you think? Well let's give it a try....


This week: October 6th-10th
School Week 7, Classical Conversations Week 5

Individual kid updates:

DD 6 - Well, I finally ran into a speed bump with her in her phonics. I thought she would be able to handle going straight through Explode the Code 1 without the extra practice book, but this week I decided she does need it. We are on the review Lesson and I can see that, while she is getting it, she's not ready to move on quite yet. So, I stopped by our homeschool store (yes, we are lucky enough to have one very near by) and picked up the practice book (Explode the Code 1 1/2). This will give us the flexibility to practice more when she needs it.

DS 9 - My boy who swore he couldn't read most of last year (and the year before and the year before) is now reading whole articles from his God's World News with words like "fantastic", "atmosphere", "equipment" as if it were no big deal. You know how you always hear that story of the homeschoolers whose son didn't read until he was ready at age 8 or 9...well, I'm not sure I really believed it until I lived it. Do you have a boy who is struggling with reading? I posted about the gentle way we've tried to pull him into reading and my suggestions for older kids still struggling with reading. Patience, Practice, and Perseverance!

DS 12 - Whew! We had a couple really trying days and a couple really encouraging days. The week started off with him feeling totally overwhelmed with Classical Conversations Challenge A work. All we heard for two days was, "Why do I have to do ALL this? I'll never get it done!" Then for the last two days of the week, he worked hard - even when he was feeling crummy from nasty cold. He got up and worked without even a word from me. It was very encouraging to see him taking ownership of his work - which is one of the reasons we are homeschooling. I think it helped that I gave him a "by-week" on his science report next week - Arachnids (he hates spiders).

Oh, and I've started learning Latin along with him. I'm slightly ahead of him having taken a class this summer which covered the first 10 or 12 chapters in Wheelocks, but I'm not telling him that! So, I picked up a used copy of the workbook and we are going through the lessons together. It is fun and I think he likes to see when he beats Mom. :)

Family school updates:

- Started to make the punched tin lanterns, but haven't quite completed those. They aren't hard, just haven't made the time to finish them. Funny - literally moments after I typed this sentence, my middle son came in and said, "Hey, Mom, can I do my lantern now?" So, he is outside right now punching holes in his "lantern".

- Had fun trying out a number of different experiments on our senses (tasting a lemon with a pinched nose to see how different things taste when we can't smell them; various touch and sight experiments, too. )

- We completed all our reading (Classics, History, Science, Literature) except for our Christian reading. I hate it when that is the thing that slides. I might try and do that reading tomorrow evening.

- I've started letting my Grammar kids earn pennies during school for their memory work. They don't earn a lot, but they sure do excited about it!

So, those are the basic highlights from our week. It was a pretty normal week - which, as any homeschooler will tell you, is anything but normal.

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