Weekly update 1/2/12

After taking a full 2 weeks off it took us about a day to get back into the groove.  My ds and dd went to a Winter Youth Conference with church so they were pretty tired at the beginning of the week.  My ds got quite a surprise for Christmas.  One of the recommendations by the neuropsychologist was an Ipad due to the ability to use dragon dictation and also other apps that could help streamline his work some.  Also since he needs to see things more than once it is beneficial to have the ability to call up videos and multimedia to reinforce what he is learning.  We knew we couldn't get him one, but my dh's family went in together and got him one.  He was very surprised and excited. 

In history he learned about what was going on in Africa during this time period. He enjoyed telling his dad about the different empires. For his history project he made an African mud cloth.  He really took his time with this.  He then made a virtual one of the computer.

In Storytime we are reading Leonardo DaVinci by Diane Stanley.  He knew some of the information from other times we have looked at Leonardo, but this book went into more detail about all the things he invented.  He continues to love Mystery of History 3.  He seems to really grasp this book.  His written narration this week was also on Leonardo and he choose to write on the section about the Mona Lisa.  He continues to show improvement in this area.

In Science he did a simple experiment with Graham Crackers to show how faults develop and how earthquakes occur.  I thought it might be too easy, but it really helped him visualize things and he applied what he learned later in a conversation we were having.  One area I feel he could improve on is his Science Experiment sheets.  I have had him write them and he always writes short answers and doesn't go into as much detail as I would like on his experiment sheet.  I have found an app for the Ipad called Notability that will allow him to type out the question, guess and conclusion and also draw the procedure.  Once he has it done we can convert it to a pdf and print it.  He didn't do an actual sheet yet, but I am anxious to see how it works.

In Grammar he continued to learn more about comma placement and he started working on an oral presentation.  He needed to take brief notes so he dictated it on the Ipad on dragon dictation and it typed it for him.  He loves this even if he does have to edit when it doesn't understand him.

In Boyhood and Beyond we talked about not complaining or whining.  That is a good lesson for all of us.  Talked about being willing to try new things.  My dd listened in and it challenged her also.

I really think if we weren't using HOD I would be completely burned out at this point, but as it is I have as much fun as he does seeing what all each week holds.