Week in review for 2/17/14

N. had a good week of school this week.  He buckled down and really focused after we talked a little bit more about expectations.  I find these talks are good for both of us.  It makes me put in words what I expect from him as far as quality of work and it allows him to hear it again and also to ask any questions about the expectations. 

His history project this week was drawing animals related to South America since he learned about Jim Elliot and Nate Saint as well as Mission Aviation Fellowship and Betty Greene.  We know some missionaries with this organization so he found it interesting to read about the founding of it.  I especially loved his Jaguar.  He spent lots of time getting it just right.  He has found that listening to music while he draws helps him to focus.

He was to draw a sunrise and sunset for his Nature Journal.  He copied one of them from a picture he had taken on his ipod and then one from the book. This picture is the one he copied from the book.

It amazes me that he enjoys drawing so much, especially if you watch his hands tremor.  He never would have attempted drawing if it weren't for HOD and he has found that it is actually relaxing for him.

His president's notebook is really looking impressive.  I admit I do watch the videos with him, just because I feel very lacking in my knowledge in this area. 

 

He is reading a book on Albert Einstein in science and is enjoying it.  I think it is great that he reads these biographies of famous scientists to complement the rest of the study.  As much as his memory can sometimes be an issue for him, when I least expect it he will come up with something during a conversation that I know he only knows because of something he read in one of his HOD books.

He is moving right along in Rod and Staff Grammar and this week was able to diagram some pretty complicated sentences.  I don't usually have him diagram every sentence just because his hand tires so easily.  Often we will pick around 2/3rds of them and he will talk me through the diagram as I draw it on the white board.  He has difficulty coming up with the correct words sometimes such as independent clause or subordinating conjunction,again I think this is due to his short term memory issues.  However, he can always tell me in the diagram what phrase is related to what other phrase and how.  This is the main reason we do the diagramming.  He is a visual perceptual kid and I think this helps him understand sentence structure in a way that just naming things never would.  He enjoys it also.  This week he noticed we were nearing the end of book 6 and he wanted to make sure there was another book after that one. 

Week in review for 2/10/2014

We finished week 23 in MTMM this week.  It is hard to believe.  N. had a good week of school.  He has realized that a negative attitude towards one or two subjects can affect his entire day so he has been praying about his attitude towards subjects like Math.  There were a few times this week as we were having our Biblical Worldview time together that it directly addressed some of the things he has been struggling with.  I don't know why I am always amazed when that happens.  I love how HOD continually draws N. back to God's word to see what the truth is about things. 

I made one change this week and this is where I hope others can learn from my mistakes.  I was waiting to grade his bible study workbook on Fridays.  He has been getting more and more wrong as the weeks go on and I realized that he needed me to grade it right after he does it so I can see if there is something he doesn't understand or if he is just not writing out a complete answer due to his dysgraphia. I discovered a little of both so even though it is an independent box we have a meeting time right after he does it just to make sure he understands what the point of the passage was.

In science he finished "Atoms in the Family".  He said in the end it was a good story, but he just struggled understanding it.  He is now reading Albert Einstein and I can tell that this one is much easier for him to comprehend.  He is still doing the science labs with his dad and they both are really enjoying the time together.

We have had a very snowy winter so doing nature study outside hasn't happened much.  Most of the time he picks a window to look out of and draw.  This week he decided to go out and draw.  I am sure the neighbors thought we had lost our minds.

In storytime we are reading "I Am David", and I have to say it is one of the most interesting books I have ever read.  The daily readings are longer than most at around 24 pages, but it doesn't seem like it because this book is so good.  N. is fascinated by it.  When I finish each day he says "read more". 

He continues to do fairly good narrations.  He tends to pick one section of the reading to narrate instead of getting the entire chapter.  I have allowed this due to his short term memory issues.  He spends a good hour reading and writing his narration and he is improving in his editing skills.  He does still gets some facts mixed up at times though so I have to skim read if something doesn't sound quite right.  Here is his notebook page for the week.  The map of Africa is a little messier than I care for, but he really does have a tough time coloring inside the lines.

Overall I am pleased with his progess this year and I can see where the skills he is fine tuning now will be utilized in the World Geography guide next year for high school.