Weekly update 1/16/12

This week started a little rough because N. who had just gotten over his cold came down with a stomach virus.  He did manage to catch up on all his school work though.  He is really enjoying this time period in history.  This week he read about some of the explorers as well as about Martin Luther and his 95 Theses.  His history project was making a salt dough map of the world and then drawing Magellan's voyage. 

He also learned about Pizarro and Cortez and his mapping activity was marking the Aztec and Inca civilizations.  It is tough for him to write small enough on these maps, but I have him do it anyway so the locations get imprinted in his brain.

He finished up his report on Knights in IEW medieval history based writing lessons.  My dh read it last night and was very impressed.  He had a hard time believing that N. did it on his own because it was so much better than anything he has written before.  IEW doesn't fit my learning style at all, but it is perfect for N.  He loves the step by step progression and how it tells him exactly what he needs to add and make sure he has.  I see carry over in his other writing assignments also. 

In Science he did an experiment that showed how salt water from the ocean becomes fresh water when it comes down as rain.  He used his ipad and the Notability app to write up his experiment sheet.  He typed a much longer guess and conclusion than usual which is exactly what I was hoping for.  The drawing is still a little rough.  He used the stylus, but had trouble getting it to write every time. 

In storytime we are reading Mr. Pipes and the Hymns of the Reformation.  He loves it.  He has become quite a fan of hymns so if it talks about one he doesn't know he wants to find it on youtube to listen to it.

Since we are halfway through the year my dh and I sat down and looked at the progress N. has made this year and it is very encouraging to see the gains, especially in expressing his thoughts that he is showing.  Sometimes it is easy to think that gains aren't being made because he does make them slower than a neurotypical kid, but they are definitely there. In fact I see the narration skills he is learning in HOD carrying over to other things.  He is in a constellation class in co-op and last night he gave a presentation to the family about what he is learning.