Week in Review 10/13-17,2014

Week 9 was finished this week so that means we are 1/4 way through the guide!  I can honestly say I am very pleased with the WG guide and with how N. is progressing each week.  I feel he is being challenged in so many important skills and he is also enjoying what he is learning and applying it to every day life.  Not sure there is anything more I could ask for.

He enjoys his bible time so much that he always does it first.  What a great way to start his day and what a wonderful habit to get in to.  He and his Dad continue to go out on Saturday mornings for their time to discuss "Practical Happiness".  They both really look forward to this time together and my ds is being challenged to grow in his faith and learn to be content in Christ. 

He continues along in Logic and this week as I was telling him about an "argument" 2 friends of ours were having on facebook he was quickly able to point out that one of the points was a generalization fallacy!  He has also picked out fallacies in some of the political ads.  I love that he is learning this skill.  In our world he is going to really need it. 

In Literature he is reading "Treasure Island" and he loves it!  We did watch the Muppets version of Treasure Island before he started reading the book.  This seems to really help him paint a picture in his head as he reads.  He loves to draw comparison's between the movie and the book.  I just love that he is actually enjoying reading literature.

He wrote 2 descriptive paragraphs this week.  One he did describing the steps of a parkour move that he does and the other one describing a Dairy Queen Blizzard.  For several years I have had a goal of getting him to use more mature vocabulary words in his writing.  We have done multiple vocabulary programs, I have tried to get him to increase his vocabulary in every day conversation, and we have talked about it over and over, and yet he has still really struggled with vocabulary in general, but especially in his writing.  Well I don't know what happened, but the light bulb has gone off and suddenly he is motivated to use more complex words in his writing.  It started with his Blizzard description where he talked about it cooling his innards.  That made me laugh out loud. 

His use of vocabulary continued with his written narration.  He sat with his Ipad Thesaurus app and he would type what he wanted to say and then would use the app to find more descriptive replacement words.  He actually enjoyed doing it and couldn't wait to show me his narration.  It was on Iceland.  There are still some grammar and punctuation issues, but I wasn't going to dim his enthusiasm for his narration, by picking it apart too much.  I have learned that will shut him down.  Right now he is pushing himself to do better each time so I am going to just give minimal suggestions each week and see how that goes. 

One of his World Geography projects was a Viking board game.  This was a fun break in the afternoon for both he and I.

I love the blend of the resources in the World Geography boxes.  He started out having difficulty with A Book of Discovery, but as he gets further into the book he is enjoying it more and more.  I love how the other books, which are easier reads, complement A Book of Discovery so well.  He also really enjoys the DVD's.  I have to admit to watching those with him, even though it is an Independent box. They are a great addition to the readings and really give strong visuals to the places he is reading about. 

He is moving right along in dictation and if all goes well  he will finish level 7 around Thanksgiving.
He types his dictations and this works our well for him.

I posted one of these on my facebook page this week and commented how much I love being this young man's teacher.  I never thought I would enjoy teaching him high school, but thanks to HOD we truly are having an enjoyable year.  I love watching him grow and mature into the man God would have him become.  It is such a privilege to spend as much time with him as I do.