N. has been reading "Galen and the Gateway to Medicine" for his science and has enjoyed it more than I thought he would. He likes that Archimedes was mentioned and he was telling me how they tied together. He also told me all about the original Hippocratic oath.
He continues to do well with Rod and Staff Grammar. I really wish that we would have started with it from the beginning. We still do most of it orally with a worksheet or just one exercise done in written form. He is almost finished with his fable in Write with the Best and I must say I love it. I have let him dictate it to me so that he can really put down all he wants to. He will then edit and type his final copy himself. He wanted the moral to be that you can't judge a book by it's cover (something near and dear to his heart). Since he loves dogs he made it about a lost Chihuahua, a boastful St. Bernard and a very humble Beagle. It is very cute.
For his independent history this week he drew Hannibal's Elephant. This was, as always, one of his favorite parts of the week.
We are reading the book City by David McCauley for Storytime and he loves this book! He is now working on a Lego model of the Roman streets complete with stepping stones and drainage pipes. He also talks about maybe becoming an Architect when he grows up. I love that he gets so excited about what he is learning.
He has moved on to the next phase as far as written narrations. Starting last week he no longer has questions in the guide that he is supposed to answer to guide his narration. Last week he pretty much had a meltdown when he realized that and was convinced he couldn't do it. I guided him in figuring out what he wanted to write about and what questions he would answer if there were questions. It was rough, but I knew it was part of a learning curve for him and he still lacks so much confidence when it comes to writing. This week was so much better. He decided to write about Hannibal's army and he decided that before he read, so he paid close attention to those details as he read and even stated things out loud as he went. I have learned this is how he retains best so I let him do this. He then went to the computer and typed away without complaint. He used the book for spelling and to make sure he got some details like numbers write, but overall did a nice job of narrating what he learned. I was proud of him.
The very sad part of our week was that we found out our 11 year old Greyhound, Bailey has bone cancer in his leg. N. is very close to Bailey as Bailey is his audience for poetry readings and history projects. N. has been making sure that Bailey is kept comfortable by bringing his favorite dog bed in by the school room.
