Weekly update for the week of 12/12/11

This past week was a fun, but busy week.  Between N. and S. we had lots of cooking projects going on.  N. is studying the early explorers and therefore his history project was making hard tack.  After tasting it he decided that he understood why the sailors would stage mutinies after so long at sea.

In Science he is studying all the layers of the atmosphere.  To give a visual of this his science experiment was to make a layered model using edible ingredients.  It really allowed him to see the ratios of the different layers.  He was amazed to see how small the troposphere is in relation to say the thermosphere. He then added a few more ingredients to his model to make cookies.

S. is studying Canada for her World Geography course so she made Blueberry Crisp.

Noah also finished up last weeks science experiment which was looking at the effects of acid rain.  He put a penny in each cup and added water, water and salt, vinegar  and vinegar and salt.  He was fascinated with the fact that the salt and vinegar cup grew blue crystals on the outside of the cup.  The vinegar turned the penny quite blue in just a week.

His written narration this week was about Columbus and his four journey's.  It was by far his best written narration.  He did adapt how he did it now that we know he has some memory issues.  He read the paragraph's about his first voyage and then stopped and wrote those sentences and then did the same thing for each voyage.  I am allowing this because he truly would not remember near as well if he waited until the end of the reading to try and write it.  This way he didn't need to look back at the book unless it was for spelling.  It was more than 8-12 sentences, but I allowed that because usually he gets the bare minimum.

In Boyhood and Beyond we had good discussions on what defines a leader.  I really like how this book makes the types of topics very tangible.

The one other exciting thing this week was that we had a friend give N. an older version of the Lego Mindstorms Robotic kit.  The neuropsych had strongly recommended that we explore Robotics for N. because he tested very high in the engineering related areas.  We didn't know how we would afford a kit for him.  Then this friend called, knowing nothing about the doctor's recommendations and offered the kit to N.
It is like new and N. is having a great time learning how to program it.  This will serve as a nice addition to his studies on days that he has some time.

Update for the week of 12/5/11

Once again this is going to be a bi-weekly update.  These past few weeks have just flown by.  We have had Choir Cantata's to go to and co-op performances and this weekend is the kids/teens musical at church in which N. is playing Isaac.  We have managed to still keep up with school though.

N. continues to really enjoy RTR.  The history projects continue to be his favorite part of each week.  Last week he made a banner like the one King Sigismund carried.

This week he made a replica of a Fra Angelico's painting "The Annunciation".  He really took his time coloring it.  I was proud of how hard he worked at it.

He started Mystery of History Volume 3 this week for his history reading and he is enjoying it.  Even on days he doesn't have to narrate he likes to stop and tell me about each person he is reading about.  For Storytime we are reading "Ink on His Fingers" about Johann Gutenberg.  We both have really enjoyed it.

During the good sales around Thanksgiving we broke down and bought a laptop computer.  Both kids end up needing the computer during the day and with N's CP he really does best if he can type things.  He likes being able to do his research for his postcard right there at the table.

In Science he is now reading A Child's Geography of the World.  He seems to like this book and likes that we are back to a predicable Science routine using Carrie's plans.  Right now his written narrations for science are back to sounding more like summaries, but I know this will improve as he goes along.

He is reading "Guns for General Washington" for his DITHOR book.  He seems to really enjoy this although sometimes he seems to get stuck when it comes to filling out his pages for the workbook.  I think he is afraid to give a wrong answer.  I keep encouraging him to just say what comes to his mind. 

We received the results of his neuropsychological evaluation this week.  It clearly showed his strengths and weaknesses.  HOD definitely teaches in a way that will help with his areas of struggle.  His math and visual perceptual scores were very high, which according to the Dr. is unheard of with kid with CP.  We are praising God for his news. 

The other big news in the past 2 weeks was that N. tested for his Interim Black Belt in Karate and got it!!  This has taken a lot of dedication on his part.  His next belt will be a black belt. When he first started Karate in 2nd grade I never believed he would make it this far.  Once again an answer to prayer.