Weekly progress report....

Not a bad week altogether, although we didn't get everything done that I wanted to (i.e. the Greek vases are now a Saturday project).

Elf
Got through math well enough this week, but I think I need to find supplemental times tables stuff, maybe Times Tales or Times Tales the Fun Way. This is the first downfall I have really found with Saxon - I don't think they cover times tables very well. I could alwys just print out a bunch of blanks and have him work on it from there, as we did in school when I was a kid.... Other than that, he's good with measurements, figuring out missing numbers, and so forth.

In language arts, he has started to read The Magician's Boy, which is by one of my alltime favorite authors, Susan Cooper (The Dark is Rising). We were casting about for a new "assigned" book for him, and the librarian suggested this one. So far, he's really enjoying it! We also completed almost all of lesson 15 in Writing Tales. While Writing Tales is working pretty well, Elf gets a bit bored doing the same thing over and over every two weeks - read a story, do copywork, vocabulary, rough draft, etc. - so I've been doing a little research here and there, and came across a great workbook version of Intermediate Language Lessons! I showed Elf the sample pages, and he liked the flexibility and variety it offers. I love the workbook format as it is easier to set up each day. Plus, they have them for grades 4-6, so I'd be covered for the next three years, and they're quite inexpensive. We're definately dropping ETC for him next year. I think he's gotten what he can from it, though we'll finish up planned books this year.

Fairy
She is good at math. Still a few issues on number identification, but she gets that math - addition, subtraction, etc. - really well. She loves to apply it to daily life too, asking me to let her know if she's adding things correctly, or giving her prices to add up...

In language arts, she is definately making progress. Phonics Pathways in conjunction with early readers seems to be doing the trick, along with Explode the Code. She's showing more dedication to learning to read as well, which really helps! If I can get her ready for it by then, the same company that makes the great ILL mentioned above is putting out two workbooks for Primary Language Lessons in the next few weeks. I have an old copy of PLL, but not having to copy things out would make it so much easier!

Both
We read about Cyrus the Great this week. Both kids liked the fact that he allowed people to follow their own paths even after he conquered their lands. They thought that was really fair of him. Both have been busy coloring away in the Greek coloring books I have too - Elf loves Life in Ancient Greece and Fairy adores Greek Gods & Goddesses.

In science, we've been a little lax, but we'll make up for that today!

And there, in brief, is our first week back after winter break!