Handwriting thoughts...

I am thinking about handwriting right now because a lady on a homeschooling message board I frequent asked if it is important that children follow the instructions in the Handwriting Without Tears series and always start their letters at the top. Several people responded, saying yes, it is very important, and should be enforced. However, I can't say I've come to the same conclusion. Cyrus used HWOT off and on from kindergarten through second grade. He frequently starts letters "the wrong way", yet he has better handwriting than nearly anyone else in our home. For Cassia, being left-handed means that starting some letters the wrong way works better. Hmmm. What are your thoughts on developing proper handwriting skills? I have the handwriting I do because my great-grandmother assisted me. Her methods of teaching beautiful script and cursive were different than what I learned at school, but they worked.

In other news, yes, we are homeschooling again. We actually "hit the books" three days last week, and are aiming for at least 4 this week! So here's a brief progress report...

Cyrus - loving Saxon Math 5/4 again. I don't make him write out the problems because he doesn't need to. I simply compare his answers to the problems in the text. Out of the three lessons he did, he has scored a perfect 26 out of 26 each time in the mixed practice, kind of. He did get a couple of sequencing problems wrong, but I simply pointed out that the answers were not correct and had him rework them.

He's also doing well in Writing Tales. He's done some vocabulary work, grammar, and copywork, and is working on a rough draft of The Elves and the Shoemaker. I showed him how to access and use an online children's dictionary since we have misplaced our regular edition. He started reading The Whipping Boy as his assigned book, just a couple of short chapters a day.

He has also spent some time browsing our new selection of encyclopedias! A coworker gave us an entire set of a children's encyclopedia from 2007. It is wonderful to have on hand. He is currently more than halfway through Percy Jackson and the Lightening Thief, and has already placed the second book on hold at the library.

Cassia - She is moving on to lesson 4 in The Reading Lesson. I've had her do some word family activities to go along, using letter cards and a whiteboard to reinforce what she is reading. Her reading skills, although developing sloooowly, are developing! I am searching the house for my collection of Bob Books for further reinforcement. Oh, and no, she does NOT like Funnix. She thinks it is too slow ("point to the peanut, point to the ice cream"). Oh well, at least I didn't waste any money on it!

Mathmatically, she's doing well. She's moved through a few more lessons in Saxon Math 2. I have her do just one side of the worksheet, and then if she struggles with anything, we do that problem on the back of the worksheet as well.

We're continuing to read Beezus and Ramona, along with various other books.

Both - We're really enjoying Norse mythology. I hope to read Leif the Lucky this week. Cyrus made a really neat 3D map of the routes Erik and Leif Eriksson took in venturing to Greenland and the Americas back in 1000 AD (roughly). We traced the same routes on our globe to see how far they traveled. I plan to spend this week and next wrapping up our Viking studies, then we can move on to other explorers. I have some projects in mind from our Viking crafts book, and I want to dig out the coloring books today too.

Last week was not much of a science-y week. While the kids are enjoying an occasional chemistry experiment, they don't seem to want to really focus on it much at this point. Instead, they are both fascinated by all things astronomical. I don't mind switching! I have lined up some good documentaries on Netflix through our Wii. Cyrus is building a solar system mobile from a kit he got for Christmas. I think we may do a few months of astronomy studies and then move into earth science. I have plenty of resources for both. In the meantime, they can continue their occasional chemistry experiemts and we'll do a more formal study of that branch of science later.

We had our book club meeting with 4H last week, discussing The Saturdays. The leader asked some good questions, and then the kids made collages of an activity they would like to do, given a Saturday to themselves. The whole thing was finished off with the creation of ice cream sundaes (or as one girl called them, ice cream Saturdays), since one of the characters in the book had a sundae on her Saturday. Next month's book is Beverly Cleary's The Mouse and the Motorcycle, which Cyrus loves. I also want to read The Smoky House (by Elizabeth Goudge) to them at some point.

And that's it for now. Hope you're all having a good New Year so far!