Week 14 (Finally!)

We successfully completed our first full week of school since b4 Lincoln was in the hospital! It was a really tough week, trying to balance Adam's new rotation diet, get all the kids ready in the morn' by my wee little self (dh just can't keep headin' in to work at 9!), and getting most of Jefferson's lesson completed. Granted Monday was miserable and the laundry is ALL still in baskets (and don't even look down at my floors! Yikes - Adam could snack all day on the crumbs alone!). But the Lord has shown me that I AM capable of what He has called me to in this season of life!

Since this is my first true 'weekly report' since I started blogging, I'll start each subject with a summary of where we stand so far.

Spelling:
We finished SWA b4 Lincoln came along and so I am using Phonics Pathways to make up my own lessons. First he copies the 5 or 6 words that I've chosen, while I explain the particular rule/s that he needs to remember in order to spell them correctly. Then I have him spell them one by one on a blank sheet of paper. It really only takes 10 mins at most and we're really only reinforcing what he's learned earlier in the year. But I just didn't feel like SWA sank in very well so this is just a way for me to get some repetition for him on this skill. We only got 3 lessons in this week which is enough, in my opinion.

Reading:
Jefferson is finally past his readers and into a variety of easy, short books such as 'The Cat in the Hat' and 'Green Eggs and Ham.' If left to his own devices he would still choose short, easy books (which are okay but not heavy enough for him to stretch himself) but will persevere through harder ones such as "Paddington Bear" and "Thomas the Tank Engine." These are still slow but he is not as nervous about "to many words" on a page anymore!
Jefferson read outloud to me about 30 to 45 minutes per day. I wasn't able to read to him more than 20 minutes per day this week however. I need to be doing so every time I sit down to nurse.

Phonics:
We are working through Phonics Pathways this year. It has been a great supplement to his reading and great for teaching him spelling/phonics rules. This week we reviewed:
vowel diphthongs (oi,oy,ou,ow)
j=ge,gi,gy
adding suffixes to -y, -ie, -f

Grammar:
So far, we are working through First Language Lessons. Don't know if we will stick with this next year, but will plan to see it through this year as I can't take time to figure anything else out these days. This week we went through lessons 25 to 27 - all building on the definition of a noun.

Memory Work:
"Hearts Are Like Doors" by anonymous (FLL)
Phillipians 4:13
I need to pay more attention to his memory work and also remember to keep reviewing past pieces. I think I should keep his 'Memory Work' practice log over with the books we use daily instead of on my desk.

Writing:
Right now this is just copywork and practicing penmanship. Soon I hope to add short dictation also. Tis' the season for ....

... thanks you notes! Our motto this week was 'New day, new note'! Lots of gifts means lots of thanks-you's.

Math:
We switched to AL Right Start Mathematics this year since I was not having fun teaching math last year. ALRS uses TONS of manipulatives, abacus work, and card games, which Jefferson loves. So you won't be seeing many worksheets as they are few with this curriculum. I feel like we are going over a lot from last year but that the repetition is worth it if it gets solidly into his head. Basics are important after all.
So this week we worked more with right triangles, continued with 'warmup' stuff (months of the year, days of the week, count by evens/odds -just simple memory stuff), working with large numbers (understand the value behind them), adding tens & ones, and 'trading' (ie. 22 is the same as 2-tens and 2-ones).

History:
Wow are we behind here! But oh well -Jefferson still loves it and looks forward to it. Continuity is troublesome here so I'm looking into TOG (Tapestry of Grace) for next year. But that's a story for another blog! This week we (or should I say dh, since he's trying to lighten my load a little by doing the lesson in the evening) learned about Africa and Ananti the Spider out of Story of the World:Volume 1.

Science:
We're even more behind here! Jefferson loves life science so far even though we've really only just begun. I've taken the lesson plan from Trivium Academy and chosen the animals that Jefferson wants to learn about. We've learned about habitats, camouflage, types of food, and different classes of animals. Friday dh hubby took him to the pet store to take pics of animals from different classes to put on the wall in their different habitats (each drawn earlier in the year). Here are 2 of his favorites and his bean/lentil lizard:

Notice the lack of any Bible time here. B4 the arrival of Lincoln, dh was getting the kids up and reading and discussing with them and reviewing memory verses while I made breakfast. The kids loved it (and so did I). I hope that we can get back to a good pattern again soon as I prefer for them to have this teaching from the spiritual leader of the house.

So that's it for this boring blog! Check in later for something more interesting (if I have enough brain cells left this week to think of anything interesting)!