Yet another week (week six?) has come and gone. Overall a good week—we're over our cold/flu thing, except for a lingering cough, but that's tolerable. And we're ready for the weekend!
...In Homeschooling...
The kids like our art of the month so far! Both have seen references to American Gothic in the past, and now they know more about it. And both said it's nice to see art on the fridge again.
The Boy worked through another few lessons in Teaching Textbooks. We had our first hiccup yesterday, when he learned about simplifying algebraic fractions. So I sat with him, worked through several examples, and I think he got it. I might have him watch a couple of videos on this topic on Khan Academy over the weekend.
He's been better this week about scheduling/regulating his homework load, which is good, because his first midterm ever is coming up next week in Machine Tool Technology! He won't say so, but I think he is a little nervous. Thankfully, he can use notes on the test, and he takes some pretty extensive notes!
The Girl is buzzing right through her multiplication and division review. What's really nice is that this year, because we've worked so hard on reading skills, she is finally reading the assignments herself! I'm adding in practice pages next week from Right Brained Multiplication & Division, just one each day, to really cement the multiplication/division tables. The more fluid she is with those, the better off she will be as we move up in math!
And reading aloud is going very well for her. She doesn't really want to do it, but she can see that she reads better than she thought she did. And she got 100% on her spelling test this week!
We started reading A Young People's History of the United States, and both kids really liked the voice of the writer (Howard Zinn). So we will definitely be continuing that, and I'm going to loosely match up episodes of America: The Story of Us. The Men Who Built America looks intriguing too, for a little later in our American historical journey. Right now the plan is to do American history until winter break, then switch to an overview of world history after that. I think we might use this book, and this series (and this one) for that. Asian history, at the request of the kids, using (most likely) this book, and this one, followed by this one, and then perhaps this one. As for documentaries, I am not sure yet!
Now that history is falling into place, I want to add science in over the few weeks, with a study of microbiology for both kids, physics/quantum physics or astronomy for The Boy, and more animals for The Girl.
...In Our General Day to Day Life...
I'm getting better at balancing two jobs, college, homeschooling, etc. Meal planning helps, as does keeping on top of basic chores. M is now in charge of Thursday dinners, since I am with The Girl at derby practice from 7-9 pm, and he's at home. And I'm getting the kids to help more, both around the house, and in doing more on their own.
We're getting ready to launch the first of who knows how many Home Improvement Saturdays. This week, I am totally overhauling the living room (small room, good to start with!), I've been using the Look Inside feature at Amazon to view this book,
and the intro is my inspiration for the living room overhaul. The
author, Marie Kondo, says "Start by discarding. Then organize your space
thoroughly, completely, in one go." We'll see if it works! Right now
the living room is sort of a depository... books, body boards, scooters,
skateboards, kites, a stack or two of laundry... you get the picture.
And we're moving the load of free bricks we got into the backyard, where M has been working hard at leveling the ground for a new patio! Next week, I will tackle the dining room, and we will work together on the slightly leaky family room roof...before the predicted winter rains get here!
The Boy should be back to fencing tonight, The Girl did fine with derby practice yesterday, and we're definitely getting some physical activity back in there—we walked around a local lake on Wednesday, then The Boy and I rode bikes to the junior college library, and back, yesterday, so I could work and he could study. It feels good to feel better.
I'll leave you with a sunset picture from our Wednesday walk...have a good weekend!
linked up over at Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers
Wow - that is an awful lot to balance but you sound like you are doing it well! I love your art of the month idea - we have done no picture study at all this year, I keep forgetting.
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