Weekly update for the week of 11/15/2010

This is actually an update for the past 2 weeks. Once again I didn't quite get my update done before the next week was half way over, so I decided to combine them. We have just finished week 13 in CTC. I asked N. this week if he was still enjoying it and he said yes!

In Poetry last week they painted paintings of a night scene that I really like and this week they painted a meadow with flowers and a spider web. Although it is tough to see the spider web.




In R & S English he worked on identifying comma splices and run on sentences. He also learned about using a variety of sentences in a paragraph. He wrote a paragraph about an incident this week where he was at the top of a slide on the platform and was dropping leaves on the boy below. He lost his balance and flipped over the railing and landed on the ground on his arm. His arm isn't broken, but he is still having pain and trouble lifting it above his head. We are thankful it wasn't worse. It did make a great story to write a paragraph about.

In Science he learned about spiders and mites and lots of creepy crawly stuff. For his Science experiment he made a web complete with sticky and non sticky yarn and then crawled his fingers across to eye drop his venom (water) on a bug (cap with sugar) to watch the sugar liquefy, and then he sucked it up with the eye dropper like a spider would. Wish I had a picture of his sisters face during this one. As you see from the pictures school is often done in pajamas around here. They start school early so usually clothes don't come on until lunch time.



In Geography we are about done studying Israel. N. and I have learned so much. In Math there continue to be good days and not so good days, but that is mostly due to N. getting tired of writing long problems out. Sometimes he does them on the white board and sometimes I let him dictate the steps to me, but often he just has to work them out on his own and takes breaks when his hands are tired. On Fridays we do Life of Fred fractions and he loves this book.

In history this week he made a map of Israel and the surrounding area. He worked very hard on it. He then quizzed himself by removing the labels and then putting them back in the proper spots.


He read the story of Elijah and the chariot of fire. He didn't have any trouble doing the written narration on this story. We continue to read "The God King" in storytime. This book has been a little tougher for him to follow, so I went back to letting him sketch pictures as I read and this definitely helps him keep track of the events and characters. He gives a much better detailed narration when he does this.

All in all we have had a good 2 weeks and next week we take the whole week off for a Thanksgiving break.

Weekly update for the week of 11/1/2010

N. had a good week this week. He decided that he was going to switch his entire schedule around and see if that helped his attitude about Math. He has always done the right side of his guide in the morning and then the left side after lunch. Well he decided to do the left side and part of the right in the morning and save Math for after lunch. He thinks it helped his attitude and it probably did. He started learning how to solve and balance equations in Math and about Parallelograms. He loves anything to do with Geometry and did ok with the equations once he understood it. Long division is his nemesis, mostly because with his dysgraphia, writing all that out wears him out.

In Poetry he and S. painted 2 different sky pictures. The second didn't seem to work out, so not sure what we did wrong. In Write with the Best he started a new unit on describing a character. It will be interesting to see how he does with this because it is more abstract than writing he has done before.

In Science he read more about reptiles and amphibians and in his science experiment he learned how frogs are able to breathe through their skin when in mud or under water.

His history project this week was making an ancient Phoenician game called twenty squares. He and S. both made game boards and pieces. The pieces were made out of glue and bread. They were very funny trying to roll up this "dough" because neither one liked the texture.

The fun part came when the game was completed and N. was able to challenge his Dad to a game.


In his Bible time he continues to work on memorizing Philippians 2. He is doing pretty well with this. He definitely knows the songs and then can usually transfer that to saying it.

In everything thing he did this week he tried to use his best handwriting. In school he had used wrist weights to steady his hands. He remembered this and put one on and his cursive did look better, but the weight is heavy so his shoulder got tired. I am looking at ordering a weighted glove for him. It is amazing to watch him mature and try and problem solve for himself how to make things work for him.

We finished reading Jashub's journal so next week we start The God King. I am looking forward to reading this since I have heard good things about it.