Week in review August 25-29 2014

We have finished our second week and actually started our 3rd also since we are only going to school 3 days next week.  Things are going much better!  As I have related other places I was really going through some doubts and frustration that first week, not sure if he was going to be able to handle HOD for highschool.  I spent time talking to dh and more time talking to God and God revealed to me several things that helped me to adjust my thinking and my expectations. 

In science he did another experiment this week and also many days he did 2 lessons instead of 1.  This is a challenge for him and I can tell he starts to wear out because he always misses more in the second lesson than the first.  We have talked about that and the need to stay focused all the way until the end. 

He is enjoying logic, but it is hard for him.  He got very frustrated this week when the numbering was wrong for the questions at the end of the chapter-they left out number 4 and 5.  This threw his answer sheet off and as a result we aren't sure if he really missed ones or if it was due to the numbering.  I tried to model for him that it wasn't a big deal and that the important thing is just to look at the answers and make sure he understood why they answered the way they did. 

Spanish is still his favorite part of the day.  Filling out the workbook is tough, but he is really enjoying learning the new words.

I really like the EIW program.  I like how it breaks things down and has him practice individual skills before moving to the essays. 

One unique thing we are doing with the guide is in regards to the book Practical Happiness.  He reads and annotates it on day 4, but he waits to discuss it until Saturday morning when he and his dad go out to breakfast together.  My dh is reading the book right along with N and so far they have had really good discussions and they both look forward to that time.

He did a better job on both written and oral narrations this week.  It is still a work in progress, but I am learning that's ok.  It's ok for him to grow into the high school level skills.  He dictated the generations chart to me.  I really try and pick and choose where all his energy goes.  I figured the important part of this was reading through the bible and picking out the generations, not the actual writing part.  He is getting better and better at picking out phrases from the text to make bullet points of his readings.  This time it was about Petra. 

He also drew his first map this week.  I was very impressed he didn't ask for help with the labeling.  He did it all by himself.  He said it was hard and wore his hand out but he did it.

As for Literature he did do better this week.  He still struggles with things like atmosphere and mood and finding examples of persuasion, but I realized after looking at the WH guide sneak peek that he will continue to have exposure to these things next year, so I decided to teach it the best I can and move on.

His favorite part of the week is something called BEAST class.  This counts as his physical education.  The acronym stands for Boys Endurance Agility and Strength Training class.  He gets to work on all the free running, parkour, American Ninja Warrior moves that are truly his passion right now.  Here is a video of one of those.  Here he is practicing his front and back flips.

 

I hope this post is an encouragement for anyone else that started out kind of rough that things really will get better.