Week Two, 9/2/11-9/5/11...

We had plumbing issues this week. The kitchen sink (a lovely big double one) starting backing up. M took everything apart, we plunged, and so forth and so on, with no success. Then we noticed that the sink next to the washing machine and through which the washing machine drains, was also backing up. So M took the sink out, and snaked the exit pipe from that. Finally, some success!

Why am I talking about plumbing instead of homeschooling? Well, two days of washing dishes in the bathtub, and the displeasure of thinking about the local laundromat, and we had some interruptions in homeschooling! Still, we managed a few things...

Cyrus
Did another couple of lessons in Teaching Textbooks. He is loving this program! Nothing lower than 95% yet, which happened when he clicked the wrong button. He doesn't used the hints much and hasn't needed, yet, to have the program go over any problems with him. Still mainly review work, and I have noticed that his understanding of place value is far better.

He also worked a bit in Igniting Your Writing, combing short choppy sentences into longer ones. I think I might use a bit of the approach I used with Cassia with Cyrus. Type up the sentence bits in large, clear font, cut it apart, and let him re-sequence, then write from there. Not that he didn't do a good job - on the contrary, he did quite well, but I think this would tap into his creativity a bit more. At the moment, he is also working on writing a story about robots. I found it funny that he couldn't spell "person" correctly, but knew how to spell "simulation"!

Cassia
Also did a couple of lessons in Teaching Textbooks, and is doing quite well. She loves the helper animals and all the cheering on she gets. She also hasn't yet scored under 95%, and secretly... I think the program is helping her reading too!

She read from Dr. Suess this week, starting with Hop on Pop. She loved the sheer silliness of it. I may have her focus a lot on this next week, doing some copy work, rearranging rhymes, etc., while we wait for All About Spelling (AAS). She also spent some time with an old favorite, Starfall, to review sounds in preparation for AAS. She is asking about words more frequently, and can spell many things from dictation now. I am starting to breathe a little easier in regards to her lack of reading... phew!

Both kids...
On Monday, we took it easy, as it was, after all, a holiday. So we read about Labor Day, thanks to Living Books Curriculum, which was as educating for me as it was for the children! We also read Melisande, a mathematical fairy tale from one of our favorite authors, E. Nesbit. Cyrus saw the problem with the princess's wish immediately - he remembered reading One Grain of Rice - and Cassia caught all the allusions to other fairy tales.

Tuesday, we headed out for the first Executive Board meeting for 4H. Cyrus, being Vice President of our club, needed to be present to learn more about his duties. He took some notes, and participated in the conversation, while Cassia played with another little girl.

Besides that, all the days have kind of blurred together. Wednesday evening, we noticed the plumbing issues cropping up. Thursday we were in the midst of that, so much so that we postponed our first piano lessons, and Friday we missed Park Day. Oh, we did go to the library on Wednesday, for the first time in ages (library fines), and we were glad to see our favorite librarians still at the helm. We started listening to Alice's Adventures in Wonderland on audio disc, and the kids are thrilled it is read by Jim Dale. He is an awesome story teller/narrator!

Next week we hope to be "back on task" with history and science, as well as the basics. We have decided that perhaps we'll start on a unit of American history when we finish up with the Egyptians, and at the same time we'll switch from anatomy to oceanography/marine science. That's a while in the future, so I am not stressing about it right now, although I am getting impatient to see our new American history book! Or, we may do both histories concurrently. I'm thinking one day a week for American history, two for Ancient, and one for cultural studies - I'll let the kids choose a country a month to learn about and then use this list.

Before I go, we also found a neat resource this week, SpanishDict dot com. The kids and I are going through the free Spanish lessons! I like the clearness of the speaker, and the way the program is put together. Go check it out!