Our Adventures: Week 5

Weekly Reporters!!

(Connection is to weak to upload pictures)

This last week was probably one of the toughest weeks that I have had personally in a long time. I struggled daily with my own personal demons and that effected our overall day of homeschooling... but with the Lord we got through it and rejoiced in His grace. I am going to turn these little weekly reports down a more detailed path. I have been just vaguely updating on each subject but need to be more specific with them. Each subject I will report where we are and where we should be and what I liked/disliked about it and changes that I feel will help it or us.

Starting us out as usual is...

Math: Where we should be: Lesson 25
Where we are: but we actually just finished lesson 20 along with the test. I am not sure how that happened? I thought we were on schedule with our math... This week I made some pretty big adjustments to our lessons. I bought a timer and did not allow any lessons go over 20 minutes. It did not matter whether or not we were "finished" or not. I told him that we only had 20 minutes to do each lesson and that I demanded his full attention in that short time. I was suprised at how well he accepted this and how much more we actually acheived in that amount of time rather than the usual drawn out 45 minutes :0).

Grammar: Where we should be: Lesson 7
Where we are: we finished lesson 6 this week so we are OFF but that is okay (no pressure :0) I have been so relaxed with this and just enjoying each lesson really trying not to put on any pressure with each new idea. What I am really trying to do with our grammar is read up on the lessons and then approach each one as a casual conversation... I am learning that we both respond with restful and giving spirits to the excercises when they are just "apart of our day".

Spelling: Where we should be: Exercise 5
Where we are: We finished Ex. 5 "The laborer is worthy of his hire." Luke 10:7. This is so simple but for me that can become my worst enemy, letting it slip between the cracks of math and science. This week was nice because I had a plan. Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursdays are SW(Spelling Wisdom)day. Tuesdays we simple observe the exercise until we are confident of each word then spell each out loud several times. Wednesday's it is copied several times while examining each word and then spelled out loud and then on Thursday we dictate it. If it is still not his then we go into to Friday for a little more examination. I have each exercise typed out and put on an index card for easy use and then put on a metal picture holder where he can see it daily.

History: Where we should be: Lesson 5 The Medievel Indian Empire
WWA: We are there and this week was a little hard to concentrate on but I am very proud of his growing concentration and articulation in retelling me each chapter. Again like in the grammar I want each History lesson to be as natural as possible so we listen to the story together and then just discuss it together like any other story, NO pressure! We didn't do any projects :0(.

Science: WWSB: Flowers...
WWA: We passed flowers and are went through Food. We all enjoyed talking about and reading book about what foods we eat that come from seeds. We are continueing to observe our bean that has "gone crazy" as Superman puts it. He draws and colors his observations, he is just amazed at it.

Our bean gone "crazy" and it has only gotten crazier since this picture.

T-Rex captivated by ALL the seeds in a pumpkin!

Superman reading a beautifly illustrated and written children's book on Wildflowers.

Explode the Code: WWSB: Lesson 5
WWA: We finished lesson 4. I love these books and the great thing is that so does he! There is no fuss when I pull them out, from either one of us :0). He just glides right through each page in his little workbook and loves how they describe the rules of decoding... magical "e"s and making new words from old words!

Nature Study: This was fun, we went on a Mushroom hunt after reading the book Mushroom Hunt. We only found some very small ones but it was still fun. We have also been on the look out for any fungus we can see and I just love how excited my boy gets about a piece of old bark that has green fungus on it! :0)

Artist and Music Appreciation: We are nearing the end of Vincent and Mozart. We have njoyed them both so much. This week Superman created his own painting using the same technique as Van Gogh, Impasto. He had fun and I just love his creation. I have all of his paintings that we have hanging on the walls of our home. It is our own little Vincent Van Gogh exibit. It is fun when company comes over wondering why his paintings are placed all through out our house :0).

Extras: He decided last week to write a book. I honestly didn't think he would follow through with this but he did and he wrote about 5 pages. I was amazed and so pround. I am hoping to help him edit it and illustrate it and then turn it into a "book" :0).

I am praying that this next half week will be much more enthusiastic, disciplined, joyful and complete. It is a "half" week because we are taking 2 days completely off. One day to go to Six Flags and the other the Texas State fair. Mon. and Tues. are the only 2 days we can fit them in for sure. I hope that the Lord will grant me strength to push hard but joyfully the rest of the 3 days left in the week to complete all of our weeks lessons... but if not we press on and leave it all in His hands.

JOYfully in Him,
Kelli

A Pitiful Week 4 Report

Math: We just took it really easy with our math lessons. I have been trying to shorten his workpages and then just work with him on concepts and facts that he struggles with.

Grammar: Taking it slow... he is beginning to come around in what I will call "creative thinking" in forming sentences. It was really hard at first for him to think of any sentence at all and if any they were very short and dry. He is getting much better and I am impressed :0).

Spelling: I have not been force feeding him in this area. I have us scheduled for 2 lessons a week but know that each week will be different with the different sentences given. So far it has been very smooth.


Cursive: He is still just loving this, he really enjoys connecting the letters to form words and is constantly practicing on any piece of paper he can get his hands on.


History: We enjoyed learning about Emperor Justinian and Emperoress Theodora although he didn't seem to interested in the dress up dolls in the activity pages. Go figure :0).

Science: We are continueing to observe our bean and just going with the flow in our flower study.


I realize that this is a pitiful excuse for a Weely Report... this week just kind of slipped through my fingers and time to actually "report" about it has been hard to find. But for somewhat of a record... here it is. :0(.

JOYfully in Him,
Kelli

Our Adventures: Week 3

Okay, I just realized that I never updated on last weeks report. We were not able to get some of the other things I had wanted to do for that week that were going to be in the update, so I guess I just figured I would'nt do a part 2 to last week... we did do the doubled edged axes but I didn't get any pictures.

Well, this week was ROUGH. We all really struggled to keep focused and engaged. Our "principle" also known as head of the house suddenly left for Galveston on Monday night and did not return until late Thursday evening. I am somewhat of a worrier so my mind was torn. We did however make it through the week with smiles and some real joyful learning experiences.

Each subject shared a certain level of difficulty this week and a certain amount of joy. We really just focused on 20 minute lessons and not allowing things to get to stressful. I am to tired to do my usual examination of each subject and will just say that we are where we should be. Here are some pictures:









Honestly I really struggled with giving 100% this week and found myself doing other things along side of our lessons. I want to and must be 100% devoted to them during all of our lessons, anything else can wait. In order for us to get everything done and go beyond that into the extra exciting more hands on learning I absolutely must be wholly devoted to our time together. With a lot of prayer this week will be different.

Our Adventures: Week 2

Praise the Lord for another awesome week! He has been so good to us in His unconditional love and graciousness in bestowing strength to me. There were a little more struggles within week 2 of our homeschool adventure but we have been in a season of change around here, not physical but mostly mental and emotional and it was evident as we turn pages in books and schedules.

This week we struggled with getting up on time to start by 8:00 again and this is totally my idleness in sleep. Idid make it on Thursday and this morning. I realize that I must go to bed earlier! I use to could get by with 5-6 hours of sleep and be fine but it is prooving to be to much for my body to handle at this point in my life, being 27 and all :0). If I don't go to bed by 10:00 or so I will not even respond to the sound of the alarm or at least I don't remember responding to it... next week.

Math: I am really feeling a struggle from within concerning our daily math. I can see that we are to confined to the textbook of Horizons and I don't like it and can see a continual burden with the material and overall downfall of the joy of learning the concepts, it is becoming very monotonous and that bothers me. I am researching more ways to breathe life into our math. I am almost certain that next year we will pick up Right Start math for this reason. Math is the only subject that is lacking in being a more living part of our day, it is defintely the most lifeless of them all.

Grammar: Honestly... this is not going exactly like I had imagined it would, which was smooth and easy. He is having a little harder time grasping all of the terms and instruction but we are getting through it with a fairly good attitude. I think I need to be more actively involved with him in this, I do try to make it refreshing by taking it outside and just allowing the lull of creation inspire his senses and imagination.

Spelling: Just coasting along... nice and smooth.

Cursive: Just enjoying the steady excitment of the pencil striding over the slanted letters and slowly across the page each day.

History: We enjoyed a week in Rome and Britian traveling with the Celts and into the heroic story of Beowolf. Today they boys and daddy are going to make a Celtic Double Edged War Axe and fight to the death... well figuratively speaking :0).

Science: Seeds, Seeds and more Seeds! Oh what fun seeds have turned out to be so much fun in fact that Superman tried to find a movie at the library on seeds and beans, to his dissapointment he came up empty handed. He did find a science movie on experiments. Our plants are continueing to grow....

and we put some beans to observe and chart their growth over the next few weeks...

Nature Study: We have just been following along with our science so on our walks we keep our eyes out for seeds and flower and just discuss the things we are learning. Today we will go for a little nature hike at a near by park. I also try to have what I call a daily Nature Mission but sometimes they fail or we have to abort the mission but they are fun and they keep us interested and observing :0).

Artist and Music Appreciation: I just can't express how much fun we are having with these to and how much they are impacting us. Superman has become a very active artist around here and is so intrigued with Van Gogh. We have read many books about him and will read a short bio next week while studying his Sunflower painting and then he will try his hand at his own recreation. Music, we have just been enjoying Mozart all through out the week, we painted a picture of him yesterday. Next week we will start a little study on the Orchestra with a lapbook.

Latin: :0)

Other: Hands on activities for T-Rex and Butterfly...

I am still working on T-Rex and getting him more engaged in learning... he is very opposed but I am very determined. I will set in times to get on the floor with him to read, play and learn through time with momma. I believe that is the only way to reach him. Butterfly is just our little wanderer and is doing much better now that I have a table just for her.

I will probably have a follow up to this week to share our nature walk and double edged war axe!! So stay tuned :0).

JOYfully in Him,
Kelli

Week 1

All through out the week... he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." And I praise God for His continual presence through out our week, our very fruitful and enjoyable week. Since it was the first week it prooved to be a challenge, the first day was exciting and full of energy but every day after steadily slanted slightly down hill as we pushed ourselves to stay in a somewhat straight line with our daily plan. He daily supplied me with His power to not only walk in a straight line but also to beable respond with grace to all of the behavior issues and daily distractions.

(Isn't he handsome!)

Math: Superman completed all 5 lessons from his Horizon 2 workbook and each day we played a simple but fun math game to follow our lesson. I was very proud of how quickly and eagerly he took to his math lessons. I have his workbook by his desk so that he can reach it and pull out the daily worksheet and then he completes it pretty much on his own. If he struggles with anything I assist him and explain on our white board. I am loving our daily math game, it is a nice way to lighten up our lesson and have some fun practicing our lessons.

*A funny math quote from Eli this week: "65... is embarrassing me." No idea, just thought it was cute and funny.

Grammar: We didn't go as fast as I thought we would with our grammar lessons, it seems that Superman has a lazy brain when it comes to thinking about verbs and sentences. I know that over time he will begin to run a little faster, I am not rushing him but it is hard, this is one of those areas where His grace is poured all over my head as I sit there and just know what he is capable of but realize he is holding back.

Spelling: Super simpe and awesome! I don't really have a year or even weekly plan for this, we are just going to "go with the flow" of it because it is all about learning through sight and dictation. This week he focused on CM's children's motto: "I can; I am; I ought; I will." Ought was the focus word, he got it!

Cursive: Oh my goodness does this boy LOVE his cursive, he would do it all day if I would let him. I am so suprised at how well he is doing and how diligent he is about not only doing it but learning it correctly.

History: It started off a little rocky when Superman couldn't anwser any of the review question but as the week went on he did better. I decided to try out head phones for him to listen to the chapter and that worked a lot better, no distractions. I will have to listen to the chapter the morning or night before so I know what is going on. We did our coloring sheets and carpet craft and today we will do one of the activities. I am determined this year to follow through with my plans to do one craft a week + an activity if one is given. I want History to be alive, to jump off the pages of the book and live in his imagination.

*Note: we were using the revised edition of the book but not the Activity Book and when I looked through it at the store yesterday I was amazed at the illustration differences in the two and purchased the revised edition. They are amazingly better!

Science: Ya know we are just truly enjoying ourselves here and it is only going to get better, I have A LOT up my sleeve. 2 days ago I took a little trip to the library to assist us in our Plant study and Nature study. I will begin pulling alot out of my sleeve this weekend to begin doing. We studied a little bit about the seed, made a little booklit on it, read some books and planted some flowers. Just this afternoon I noticed they have already sprouted, we were all excited about their life.

Before lunch Superman has his independent reading time. I do not have this scheduled out, it really depends on the subject and availibilty of it. So far he has been able to dive into artist, history and science books while I cook lunch. Sometimes I had him read it to me and sometimes he read silently.

Artist and Music Appreciation: Amazing... we have had such a blast with each of these and I can not tell you how much I have personally enjoyed watching him growingly increase in enthusiasm and appreciation for them. I will say that I have allowed him to lead in this. He observed The Starry Night one day, read a book on Van Gogh and then decided to try his hand at recreating The Starry Night. For music we have simply enjoyed listening to Mozart's music and his life, I (the big student in the room) was very intrigued by Mozart's life. Superman already has a favorite of his works.

Latin: Ha! We have struggled with our latin lessons, we only made it to one this week. That is not good. We will extra hard to make it apart of our day next week and following, I really do not want it to fall between the cracks of the day.

Rest Time: Okay so rest time isn't a subject but it was a success this week! It is a giant chore to get T-Rex to actually sleep at rest time, he usually plays the whole time which is 2 hours usually. Well I thought up a plan. I told him that he wouldn't get his afternoon snack if he didn't sleep, I told him I would leave it on his night stand but only if he was asleep, it worked:

Butterfly has her own little "desk" that she climbs in and out of as she pleases working on her own little creations and education.

And here she is tormenting poor precious, who was trying to get some sleep:

It was a great week! I need to start getting up earlier to soak each day in prayer.

JOYfully in Him,

Kelli

A Weekly Report

We had a wonderful week! A wonderful few weeks actually. Superman has been on a reading spree, I am so proud of him. He read 6 books this week. We finished all of our math sheets and Superman anwsered his test 100% correctly, :0). In history we are in Greece and loving it and all other learning that fills our life. Here are some pics from our week of learning: