Update for the week of March 11,2013

     N. and I had a good week this week.  The week started with him not giving full effort in a few things, but we talked and he really improved by the end of the week.  In fact I came down with a bad cold and so on Thursday he scheduled anything he needed me for in the morning and then in the afternoon he worked very hard at completing everything without any help at all from me.  I usually do things like draw the lines on his copywork paper just to make things quicker for him and to help reduce hand fatigue, but he did this on his own as well as a very complete written narration with just some corrections from me as far as 1st person vs 3rd person.  I could tell he felt really good about his day.  Again God reminded me I need to back off and let him struggle a little bit. 

    He also cooked his Civil War Soldier meal on Thursday.  He is called the baconator at church because he cooks all the bacon for the men's bible study.  So he was excited to show me his bacon cooking skills.  He also served baked beans and the shortnin bread he had made.

Science this week was a lot of fun because he was able to launch his rocket several times.  We did have some bad weather to work around but it was cool to see it actually blast off.

In Storytime we are reading Gabriel's Horses.  This is a very good book, the kind that has me trying to sneak and read ahead.  N. has enjoyed studying the Civil War and learning more about Abe Lincoln.  He wants to meet Jim Weiss at the homeschool convention so he can put a face to the voice he enjoys listening to so much. 

He wrote the rough draft for his creative story and I didn't want to look at it yet because I knew I would be tempted to start making revision suggestions and he isn't supposed to revise it yet.  His dad looked at it though and was amazed at what he could do as a rough draft.  He has come a long way in his writing skills.

I don't mention S. much since she is doing her own thing and not HOD, but she is finishing up her senior year and this week went to her first orientation at the college she will be attending.  She is excited, yet at the same time she says she doesn't want to leave.  I know that N. is going to really struggle not having her here next year during the school day. I know it will be a tough time for me also so I am glad we have the familiarity of HOD to help us through that time.

Update for the month of February

So I somehow managed to go all the way through February without posting a blog post.  In fact I have taken very few pictures.  Not sure how that happened.  I guess just because we are in a groove and I don't often remember to snap pics.

N. continues to enjoy the Rev to Rev. He has done more of the Draw and Write Through History drawings and those continue to be a hit.  I love this little Gold Prospector that he drew.

One of his history projects was to make a Carpenter's Wheel Quilt Square out of paper.  This had to be a project we did together.  We both traced and cut out the shapes.  Then I ended up gluing them down once he told me how they went.  He has very strong visual spatial skills and I do not, in fact mine are terrible.  He did a great job of telling me exactly how to position the pieces.  His tremor just wouldn't allow him to position the pieces.

He continues to enjoy the composer study.  I can't wait until he puts it together in a lapbook.  Here is one of the pieces he has done.

We are reading Florence Nightengale for storytime and I am learning as much as N. about the Crimean War and her role in getting the hospitals in shape.

Science has been a little frustrating this week.  He had several experiments that did not go well for one reason or another.  The scale continues to cause some struggles, but we talk about how that is real life and he knows it is after reading the Inventor Study books. His narrations for the inventor study have improved significantly.  He is still using his Ipod to take verbal notes, but then it is funny how little he listens back to it as he writes his narrations.  Now that his content has improved so much we have been able to focus more on using the editing checklist.  He is improving in his ability to self edit.

He finished "That Quail Robert" for DITHOR.  He says he enjoyed this book, but it wasn't his favorite.  My guess is that there wasn't enough action for him.  I see it as a great book to help him learn that literature doesn't always have lots of action and that you need to be able to glean things from books that are more descriptive. 

The other thing he has spent a  lot of time doing is making Lego Architecture sets.  The bricks in these are tiny and you would think it would frustrate him, but I think he enjoys them because he has read about so many of the buildings in HOD.  Here is a picture of his White House and The Brandenburg Gate.

It is hard to believe that we only have 2 1/2 months left of school.  I am already looking forward to N. doing MTMM next year.