Weekly update week of 8/29/11

This week started out kind of rough, but ended on a very good note.  N. was getting frustrated with his history reading in "Peril and Peace".  The readings are long with lots of names and he was having trouble following the story.  Midway in the week I started partnering in the reading with him.  I will read around 3 pages so that he has a good idea of the story and then he finishes it up.  This has really helped him figure out what is going on in the story and to retain more of the information.  God has shown me through some good advice on the HOD board and through just speaking to my heart that it is ok to make this modification for him.  It doesn't lessen his accomplishments in any way and it will help him get the maximum benefit from the program as well as then he is able to give more energy to other subjects.
His history project this week was a stained glass cross that he did with chalk.  He worked really hard on this and really gave it his best effort.

In storytime we finished up reading "Forbidden Gates."  This was another wonderful selection from HOD.  N. loved it and did very well with all the follow up activities.
In Science we continued with AIG's Wind and Weather book.  He enjoys the little demonstration type activities in it.
He continues to love Looking at Pictures.  I am amazed at how many details he can remember from the paintings we are studying.  This box rotates with a Poetry box as well as reading Boyhood and Beyond which is a fantastic book.  This week we talked about honesty and being a man of integrity. 
In DITHOR reading he is reading "Gentle Ben" and he loves it.  I am glad to be back to DITHOR.  He is really enjoying the book and the activities that go with it.
The big gains this week have been in his writing.  He is doing very well with IEW's Medieval writing lessons.  The style of instruction is really clicking with him.  He wrote a nice paragraph based on a source document and did it all on his own.  I am also seeing what he is learning there carry over to other writing assignments like his research post card and his written narrations.  

He is really enjoying school again this year and for that I am very grateful.