Smooth Sailing...

Image courtesy of Creating Daily

Homeschooling is in fact going so smoothly right now that I am a bit worried.

Fred

 After having flip-flopped between math programs, we've happily welcomed Fred back into our lives. The Girl is nearly done with Farming, so I have ordered Goldfish. She's worked on set theory, multiplication, addition and subtraction review, geometry, cardinality, collinear points, and much more. She's going through a chapter a day, so I think by the end of our school year, we'll be through not only Goldfish, but also Honey, Ice Cream, and probably Jelly Beans. Then she can tackle the "Intermediate Series" next fall. I am selling each book as she finishes with it, though I am not selling The Boy's, since The Girl will be using them later down the line.

The Boy just finished his second "Bridge" in Fractions. There is a bridge at the end of every 5 chapters, a cumulative test on previous work. He nailed it on the first try! He's working on long division, fractions, multiplication, circumference and radius, area, and so forth. He'll wrap this book up in time to finish of Decimals & Percents this year too, then we'll jump into pre-algebra in the fall. I have not decided yet whether we will use Elementary Physics at all... I have heard a lot of negative reviews, and since it was only added into the pre-algebra sequence recently, I am not sure it is necessary. If we do use it, I think I will place it after the other pre-algebra books, rather than before.

Language arts are going very, very well. The Boy is doing a great job with Writing With Skill, so I guess I am going to have to shell out the money and buy the actual book! I do have 8 more weeks before I hit that point really, with the beta sample. He's worked so far on summarizing and one level outlines.

The Girl is doing fantastic fluency/review work with Reading Pathways, and I have been picking and choosing writing exercises for her from both Primary and Intermediate Language Lessons. She likes the picture studies, and the copywork, and we've touched on a fair amount of grammar as well.

We started Figuratively Speaking yesterday, learning about connotations and denotations. We did most of the work orally, though I did have The Boy do one set of the exercises in the workbook on his own. Next week, I plan to add in some supplemental reading from him, taking a few selections from this awesome resource. I think I'll just have him read through some of the suggested American Tall Tales for chapter 2.

Our Afternoon Basket reading has been a pleasure the last couple of weeks! We've traveled to the Blue Grotto and Athens in The Complete Book of Marvels; laughed at the mathematical trickery/wisdom in The Man Who Counted; learned about orbits, ellipses, and comets in The Magic of Reality (I'm hoping to live to be at least 89, so I can see Halley's Comet a second time!); and we revisited our ancestors in The Human Odyssey. We do need to work Harry Stottlemeier's Discovery back in there, as it is a delightful introduction to logic and philosophy. Homer Price is just sheer fun!

Independent studies are going along nicely as well. The Boy has gotten through a few of the video lectures from the first week of his Coursera studies in physics, and likes the professor and his explanations a lot! He's been studying quite a bit for the National Mythology Exam, which I plan to proctor the first week of March. And of course he reads... a lot. Fences twice a week. And he's working on a series of car drawings, using the grid method for proper scale.

The Girl and I are happily reading a few books together, mainly The Quest for the Tree Kangaroo (Scientists in the Field series), Enchantment of the World: Australia (while she waits for the one on Papua New Guinea to arrive at the library), and Caddie Woodlawn. She's re-watched all the Royal Diaries adaptations, alongside the Dear America series. She baked an apple crisp last night, with very minimal supervision from her dad, while The Boy and I were at his fencing class.

And, around the house, I was inspired by Kim's meal planning, so I am working on a similar set-up for all three meals. So far, I have breakfasts pretty well completed. My mom does a monthly menu -- comes up with 30 days worth of dinners, and then chooses week-by-week, sometimes day-by-day, what she'll serve, and in a similar vein, I am working on at least a couple of weeks worth of breakfasts, lunches, and dinners!

I can only hope it continues to go this well!