Week in Review 12/7-11,2015

It has been awhile since I did a week in review post.  It seems like it is challenging this time of year to remember to take pictures and to find time to post.  Things continue to go well and we just finished up week 16 of the World History guide.  We will do one more week before breaking for 2 weeks for Christmas. 

In Literature N. finished up "King Arthur and His Knights".  N. liked this book ok, but I do think he struggled to follow it at times just due to the large amount of characters and sub-plots.  He did the plot diagram at the end of the book by dictating the answers to me.  This time it was pretty challenging and I was grateful for the answers in the back of the book.  He is supposed to be reading "A Man for All Seasons", but I chose to have him only watch the movie.  We will do this over our break.  It has actually worked out well to have a slightly shorter day during this time of year when we both are struggling some with concentration and motivation.

In EIW he finished his Cause/Effect essay.  He chose the prompt "What are the effects of owning too many animals/".  Since we volunteer at a county animal shelter, as well as have 3 dogs and 2 cats of our own, this one was a logical choice.  I love the step by step teaching of EIW that starts with a Graphic Organizer.  I was pleased with his end result. 

In history he studied the history of Islam, which is very appropriate given world events.  He did his written narration on this.  He is at a plateau with these and after Christmas I plan on trying a few things to see if he can move forward some on his depth of content.  He also is studying the time of King John and did a Critical Reading Assignment on Eleanor of Aquitane.  These are challenging questions based on the reading of Primary Source Documents.  I really like that he is having to think this way, but it is tough for him.  I also wish the answers they were looking for were in the book somewhere. There are notes about the Primary Sources and these do help some. He also had Critical Thinking questions for Short Lessons in World History.  Again these questions are really good, but there isn't an answer key and sometimes I can come up with a logical answer if I read the few pages of reading, but sometimes I can't.  If he comes up with something that makes sense then I count it, but sometimes he truly doesn't have a clue and honestly neither do I.

Each week he has a talking point assignment after a history reading.  I really enjoy this time with him to see what he truly found interesting and then to question him further about it and then sometime this leads to a few rabbit trails of things I know or remember.

 All of his other subjects are going well.  He still really enjoys Visual Link Spanish and also Health.  I really like the Total Health curriculum.  It is very well done and very God honoring.

Week in Review 11/9-13,2015

The last few weeks of school have gone by quickly.  N. says he really is enjoying this year of school.  He is being stretched, but it is a good kind of stretching.

In history he is reading Trial and Triumph more often.  I love that he is revisiting at a deeper level some of the stories of the Christian Martyrs he studied in earlier guides.  There is much to be gleamed from these stories.  The notebook activities that go along with these stories and the In Context quotes are very good and have him probing the scriptures in order to answer them.  The notebook pages are scanned into his Ipad so sometimes he has 2 Ipads up and running, his old one which is now his Dad's for the scripture references and his new one for the typing.  Technology can cause a lot of issues with teens, but for N. it truly makes a world of difference in his ability to do the work as written.

He had his first health project and he chose to do an exercise program for a neighbor boy that he has been training. He has been training him for several months and had some rough plans marked out, but he took a baseline for all the exercises and then came up with specific written goals and exercises to meet those goals.  He really enjoys doing this and the neighbor reports that the training has really helped him get more fit.  The irony of the kid with CP being the personal trainer of other teens in the neighborhood is not lost on either one of us.  Only God could do that!

I really do love the Total Health curriculum.  The discuss questions each week make it easier for me to discuss topics with him that I might be hesitant to bring up other wise. 
He just started a chapter on mental health and stress and anxiety.  We had a very good discussion on positive and negative stress.

We just finished reading the Lantern Bearers from the Living Library.  Once again an excellent book that really brought the history to life for both of us.  He now reads about 2/3rds of the daily reading silently and I read only 1/3 out loud. 

He is reading King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table for lit and says he likes it also.  It is interesting to hear his thoughts on the different chapters. 

He still loves the Art History study and I feel like the short answer and writing project questions really do push and stretch him.  He has already asked to go back to the Art Museum at the end of this year.

He continues to do well with Algebra 2 and Biology.  In Biology he is studying parasitic intestinal worms which has not been a very enjoyable topic, however the day he read about them we got the Compassion International gift catalog and he stated that for $7 you could buy medicine that would keep 1 child parasite free.  He plans on taking some of his money and doing this since now he understand the implications of those parasites. 

The other big news is he got his driving temps.  He could have gotten them a year ago, but he felt like he wasn't ready.  He is going very slow in learning to drive with his dad and we pray his confidence will grow as he gets more practice.

Week in Review 10/19-10/23,2015

This is actually 2 weeks in review.  Since things are just going along fairly smoothly I don't have much to say and I don't take many pictures.  I guess that is a good thing.

N. just finished week 10 in the guide.  There continue to be new types of assignments, usually these are a step up in the level of challenge.  Last week he had a Critical Thinking Using Primary Source Documents assignment.  He had several primary source documents to read about Caesar Augustus and he had to then decide a mock trial verdict of guilty or innocence of the accusations against him.  He also had several questions to answer.  This was a tough assignment and another one I hope to see growth in as the year goes on. 

He also had another You Are There assignment on the Last Days of Pompeii.  I always listen to these with him since I then scribe his notes into the notebook.  We both agreed this one was pretty chilling.  This one was harder to hear than the others so I think he struggled more with it.  He also had to give a topic oral narration and previously the topics have been listed in the guide.  This time he had to come up with the topics.  He thought it was going to be too hard and we had to discuss attitude a bit, but then he did it and did fine with it.  He also had some quotes from the book In Context that he was asked to answer some questions on, that were designed to have him make connections with his belief's or other knowledge.

He continues working on his Art History notebook.  Almost every week there is a writing assignment.  These seem to be difficult for him.  He struggles to pull in lots of details and wants to give very general answers.  We are working on that.

He is enjoying the Pilgrim's Progress Study.  This picture is grainy, but it shows how intensely he is focusing as he listens and follows along in the text.  We have had some really good discussions with the discussion questions that the guide directs us to do together.

Last weekend our church did a service project for Hands Against Hunger.  Around 100 of us went and packed 45,000 meals to go to Sierra Leon.  N. was at a table of teens, many of whom are homeschooled, and they worked very hard to get all their meals packed.  It was pretty amazing to see 4 year old up to 70+ year old working side by side.  N. was rocking his hairnet.

Week in Review week of 10/5-10/9,2015

We had another good week this week.  He had one or two long days, of around 7 hours of work, but mostly his days are 6-6 1/2 hours of work.  He doesn't complain about the long days, he just keeps plugging away.  We only do school 4 days a week so that leaves the 5th day for co-op and volunteering at the animal shelter and this week his Dad took him back up to the gym run by Michelle Warnke of American Ninja Warrior fame.  I say all this to make sure people know that even though the days are full he still has plenty of time to pursue his passions.

This week he finished reading Julius Caesar and really enjoyed it.  I love that at the same time the history tied in with the death of Julius Caesar, so one day after he finished the book he then listened to the "You Are There:The death of Julius Caesar".  It was very interesting for him to see where Shakespeare  took some liberties with the actual events.  At the end of each lit novel he has to complete a Plot diagram.  I knew I would get more complete answers if I let him dictate to me the answers.  He just goes down through each number and answers it out loud while I dictate exactly what he says.  It amazes me how much he remembers and how well he draws conclusions.  I love that the guide includes an answer key for this assignment, so it makes it easy to check it.

He also had to do a written narration this week for literature where he was to contrast the Roman view of suicide as presented in the book and the Christian view of suicide as presented in the bible.  Carrie gave him some bible verses to look up.  This is definitely a different type of written narration, but I felt like he did a pretty good job with it.  The work he has done in EIW and other writing programs definitely helped him know how to tackle this.

He continues to enjoy the history reading.  He started a new book called In Context this week and he found those stories very interesting as well.  I try to catch a picture of him reading without him knowing it, but it never works as evidenced by his grin in the first picture.

He took a Science test this week and he is figuring out that open book tests aren't as easy as they seem.  Since I know my daughter takes many open book tests in college I think this is a good skill for him to learn.

One more funny story from this week is that on day 1 in Art History he finally had the video by Mr. Stebbing scheduled again, it has been several weeks since he has had that as an assignment.  It was pretty funny to see him clapping when Mr. Stebbing appeared on his computer screen.  I sure wish he was giving one of his seminars in our state, because that would thrill N.

And here is just a video of him pursuing his passion for all things Parkour and American Ninja Warrior.

Week in review for the week of 9/28-10/2/2015

I only took 2 pictures this week so this will be a short week in review.  N. finished week 7 this week and he had a few days that ran pretty long due to the additon of the You Are There listening assignments.

A typical day has consisted of around 6-6 1/2 hours of work up until this week.  Day 1 of this week he worked for 7 1/2 hours and day 2 was around 7 hours of work which doesn't include his lunch break.  He was pretty exhausted.  He had a "You Are There" listening assignment every day this week and they seem to add time to the day.  These can be challenging.  I had been told that some of them are hard to hear.  We dealt with that by plugging in a USB speaker to the lap top.  This has worked very well.  Due to his dysgraphia he is unable to take notes in his notebook while listening so he takes them on a piece of paper and then I later scribe them into his notebook while he is formulating and typing his opinion paragraph.  This system has worked well.  He is still struggling some with doing a more detailed and in depth opinion paragraph.  The first one he did this week was a difficult one to figure out what he was supposed to form an opinion on, but the other 3 were easier to figure out.  

He and I are doing the Living Library and we finished Cyrus the Persian which was fantastic and gave me a much deeper understanding of this time period.  We then started reading "A Sparrow Alone".  We have been splitting the readings.  I read about half out loud and then he reads the rest on his own and gives the book back to me so I can read the rest to myself.  I have to admit with this book it has been hard for me not to read ahead. The living library is optional, but honestly I just can't imagine skipping it.  It brings so much depth to the study and makes it much more memorable.  I will admit that I have been having him only do the literary synthesis sheet on every other book and since this week the days were going so long we have been discussing the information orally instead of filling it out. 

In lit he is entrenched in Julius Caesar.  We watched most of the film that stars Marlon Brando.  That seems to have helped his comprehension and enjoyment of the book.  He continues with his lit journal assignments.

He also watched his first true dissecting videos for Biology this week.  I am impressed with how clearly you can really see what is being dissected.  This makes the videos very worthwhile.  Even though he could never do a real life dissection, he handled the virtual ones very well.  I have done many dissections in my time and I feel the video ones are just as beneficial as the in person ones. 

That is our week in a nutshell.  He continues to enjoy this guide and I feel he is learning beneficial skills that will certainly help him in future years.

Week in review 9/21-9/25, 2015

This is actually 2 weeks of review.  We just finished week 6 of the World History guide.  I am very pleased with how he is doing thus far in this guide and as a bonus he is really enjoying it.  We have started a thing at dinner where he is to tell 3 or more interesting things he learned during the day.  It is fascinating to hear what things stick out to him by the end of the day.  It is also good to see that that his facts come from different subjects each day.

The Art History study continues to be a favorite.  This week his writing assignment was to imagine that he snuck in on Michelangelo painting the Sistine Chapel and to describe what he saw.  He enjoyed this assignment.  Of course he had to get goofy as I was taking his picture.

 In EIW he has been working on expository paragraphs.  The first one of the week was not the quality that I expect of him and he had to redo parts and we had a heart to heart.  The next one he did was much better.  His prompt was if he could go back in time to any event where would it be and why.  He picked something related to his parkour passion.

He really is enjoying his bible time this year and I love the answers he is coming up with in The Most Important Thing You Will Ever Study.  The hymn this week was "It Is Well With My Soul".  I caught this picture of him lying on the couch singing his hymn.  I love hearing him do this.

He is getting back in to the groove of written narrations and is using more descriptive vocabulary and letting his sense of humor shine through.

I absolutely love how the literature is written in this guide and he does also.  The things the guide points out before he reads are fantastic and the fact he writes in his lit journal each day according to the prompts in the box really keeps him engaged in the reading and helps him make connections.  He mainly highlights for his annotating.  He is now reading Julius Caesar.  I did change it slightly from the guides directions.  He is reading the modern English version as instructed, but instead of then reading the original version while listening to the audiobook, we opted to just have him view the movie.  I knew the lit box as written would take him a very long time and that could steal the joy that he is feeling right now with lit.  He had done 2 days of the book when we watched the movie and I was amazed how many of the characters that he remembered and how easily it was for him to understand the movie.  I know a lot of this has to do with his lit journal assignment of making a list of those for Caesar and those against Caesar. 

We did end up changing Spanish programs.  This was a very hard decision for me because I really thing it is best to use all the recommended resources for each program, but the Lifepac Spanish just wasn't clicking with him.  We went to Visual Link Spanish and he loves it. 

The other highlight of his week was the fact that we drove him 2 hours each way so he could work out at a new gym that is owned by American Ninja Warrior competitor Michelle Warnke.  He was able to try obstacles that he has never tried before and he really enjoyed it.  I used to pray and pray that God would give N. a passion for something.  I never dreamed it would be something so physical.  That totally goes against all logic given his challenges, but that is our God, He loves taking what seems impossible and showing that with Him it is possible. 

Week in Review 9/7-9/11,2015

   We did 3 days of school this week and now we have now finished week 4 of the WH guide.  It is really hard to believe that we have been doing school for a month now.  I didn't take many pictures this week so this will be short and sweet.

    In Art History he studied about Botticelli and did his first writing assignment in his art notebook.  I thought he did a pretty good job, but as with anything at the beginning of the year there is always room for improvement.  I will push him to think deeper and expand on the topic a little more.  At this point I am labeling the paintings for him.  He just can't write that small.

In history he had his first You Are There listening assignment.  I have to admit that I was worried about this assignment.  I wasn't sure how he was going to listen and take notes that were neat enough to go in the boxes in the notebook.  We talked about it and decided that at this point he would take notes about each person on notebook paper as he listened and then I would transfer those notes over to his notebook for him.  That seemed to work out pretty well.  I was also worried that he wouldn't be able to hear it very well, since I had been warned about that, but we used an extra speaker on the laptop and that seemed to help. 

He also had some critical thinking boxes for Short Lessons in World History. I probably made a mistake with this in telling him there isn't an answer key for these questions because now he thinks he can write anything and it is right.  I told him it has to make sense.  I don't think he gave these quite as much thought as he could and next time he does this assignment I will push him a little harder. 

We finished reading The Cat of Bubastes and now are almost done with The Hero Schliemann.  This has been a nice light-hearted read we do at the end of busy days.  His days are still averaging around 6 1/2 hours, less on day 4 where he doesn't have the art projects.  He is finishing up his online drivers ed on those days.

The final thing we did this week was to attend a performance of The Secret Garden at our professional theater company here in town.  He loved it and was able to discuss different elements of the staging with me based on what he has learned in Musical Theater. 

Week in Review August 31-September 4, 2015

We finished up week 3 of the guide and started day 1 of week 4.  This week went pretty well.  He is doing more boxes without my assistance and seems to have the flow of this guide down. 

He is still really enjoying the combination of hymns, The Most Important Thing You'll Ever Study and Pilgrim's Progress.  This week he had to answer all the Digging Deeper Questions in Pilgrim's Progress on his own and he did a pretty good job.  I'm still trying to get him to give a little more detail with his answers, but his thoughts are right on.

In History he did his best narration of the year so far.  If you read it, it may seem disjointed when he jumps from family to abortion, but that is exactly what the chapter did.  He feels strongly about both topics so this one you see a little more of his personality and feelings coming through, but he also used the authors words at times. 

He continues to love Ben Hur and is doing a nice job with his literature journal.  Again he needs to add a little more detail to his answers, but I think that will come as the year progresses.

Spanish was a struggle again this week.  He didn't do very well on a self-test.  It is just very hard for him to learn all the phrases one day and not really go over them much and then try and test on it the next day.  We have agreed to give it until the end of this little lifepac booklet and then decide what we are going to do.  He says he probably will just stick with it, but I think he may start to get really frustrated and he loved Spanish so much last year that I don't want him to end up hating it and also getting a bad grade on his transcript if another program would work better for him.

He has moved on to Mammals in science and is enjoying that more.  

For the Living Library we are still sharing the reading some.  On some days I read it all and on others we split the duties.  This works well.  We just finished up "The Cat of Bubastes" which we both really enjoyed.  He finished his literary synthesis sheet.  He did a pretty good job with it, but we talked about some areas he could improve on and will continue to work on this as the year progresses. 

In TT Algebra 2 he is doing very well because at this point it is review of Algebra 1. 

Next week we will school 3 days only because co-op starts back.  He is doing voice lessons and Musical Theater scenes again, as well as helping with the younger kids musical theater class.  Should be a good year for him.

Week in Review for the week of 8/24-8/28, 2015

We finished our second week and day one of week 3 and honestly I can't believe how smooth things are going.  I know there are some assignments coming up that will be much harder for N., but right now he is doing well. 

His favorite 2 subjects right now are Art History and Literature.  I'm not surprised by the Art History, but if you had told me Literature would be one of his top two subjects for the week I would have never believed you.  He absolutely loves Ben Hur.  We finished watching the movie and he is fascinated by all the differences between the movie and the book.  Not a day goes by where he isn't coming in to tell me something about the book and what it made him think of or what he thought about a character's actions.  He had his first written narration in lit this week and it was a very different style of written narration.  He was given the topic to write about.  He was to compare and contrast Ben Hur and Arius' view of death and then comment on how his compared to theirs.  I was expecting some "I don't know what to write" type of comments, but he was actually intrigued by this assignment and did a fairly good job.  There is room for him to grow in this area as far as details go, but he definitely got the foundational ideas. 

He also loves the Barry Stebbing videos in Art History.  Again he often has to tell his dad some of the points that Mr. Stebbing brought up.  He has already told me we have to go back to the Art Museum this year so he can see some paintings by the Christian artists mentioned in the video. He also had me look to see if Mr. Stebbing had any books he could read at night!  Ok this is astonishing because he does not read in his spare time at all, so I think it is safe to say that these videos have made an impact.  The Adobe Reader app is working wonderfully for him to type on his art notebooking pages. 

In history he really likes the book Unveiling the Kings of Israel.  He was disappointed to find out that he will finish this book up in a few weeks.  He has done 2 written narrations so far and they have been ok.  He hasn't gotten back up to where he was last year, but that is typical for the beginning of the year.  His timeline is also coming along nicely.

He also likes the bible study this year, combined with the hymns.  Hearing him sing "Great is Thy Faithfulness " this morning was such a beautiful way to start a Friday. He is using the Adobe Reader DC program on the computer for this and wow his answers are much better than when he was writing his answers last year.  He missed a few on the lesson I got the picture of and yes I do give him that grade, but we talk about what the answer is supposed to be and make sure he understands it all.

Spanish is a subject that is just going ok.  Honestly I am still not sure this curriculum is going to work for him.  He needs to have more of a spiral approach and I am afraid the Lifepacs are jumping around too much for him.  I am pretty much sitting by his side and helping him quite a bit.  Today he didn't do very well on his self test on syllabication and accents.  I will give it a month and reassess and see what he thinks at that point.  The other problem is the native speakers speak really fast and he is supposed to reply in rapid fashion.  Due to the CP N talks a little slower than most so he can't get out the words before they are on to the next phrase.

Grammar, Essentials In Writing,Pilgrim's Progress and Math are going well.  Science is his least favorite subject right now because he doesn't care for the way the presenters talk on the DVD.  He is funny about things like that, but basically I acknowledge what he is saying and he still has to watch the DVD's. 

Overall I am very pleased with how this year has started out.

Week in Review for August 17-21, 2015

I'm back.  We started our new school year on the 13th and did one day last week and 4 days this week.  We are doing things this way due to labor day and the first day of co-op falling on the same week so that will be a 3 day week and N. likes to have Mondays fall on day 1 of the guide so it will do this after Labor Day week.  I was expecting things to start off kind of rough because there is a pretty big jump in writing work load and this guide will take even longer than the World Geography guide did to complete each day.  N. faced the first day with his typical optimistic attitude.  He wasn't read for summer to end, but be likes getting done in mid May so he was ok with starting so soon.  He wanted to do a unique first day of school pic.  I also convinced him to give me a traditional one.
His-

Mine-

He started the first day singing "Be Thou My Vision" which was a perfect way to start our school year.  It is part of the hymn study he is doing as part of the Bible credit.  He is enjoying "The Most Important Thing You'll Ever Study".  The company sent us the pdf so I loaded it on to the laptop and he is using Adobe Acrobat Reader DC in fill and edit mode to type in his answers.  What a blessing this software has been.  It is brand new and it is free!

He is also using the app for this software to type on his Art Notebook pages on the Ipad.  I scanned them in using the Scanner Pro app and had planned on using the PDF expert app to type on them, but that was difficult to use. The Adobe app works well, even if we haven't figured out how to make the type black instead of blue.  He likes the blue so he hasn't actually tried to change it.  He absolutely loves the God and the History of Art DVD's.  He even talks about what he learned at dinner.  Which if you know N. this is highly unusual. 

 In Literature he is reading Ben Hur.  We started watching the movie before he read the book and have watched about half.  This has really helped him to get excited about the book.  He loves finding where it is different.  He is annotating well and writing in a Literature journal each day.  He is using Onenote on his laptop to keep his lit journal.  He says the book is awesome-again unusual for this guy.

He has said he really likes the History spines he has used so far.  Last year the main spine took him about 9 weeks before he could really understand and like it.  These books are easier reads and he likes doing the follow up activities.  He had some Critical Thinking questions to do this week and his answers were pretty good.  I think he will show growth in this area as the year goes on.

He also is really enjoying Health.  I didn't think about the fact that this is right up his alley as far as exercise, diet, nutrition, fitness and how your body works. 

He is doing ACE Biology and I have him watching the DVD's as well as doing the reading.  He thinks the speakers on the DVD are boring and he doesn't like that they stick close to the text of the reading, but he will admit that the visuals, video clips etc to help him to understand the material.  He also isn't a fan of how many questions he has to answer each day, but he knows it is non-negotiable so he moans a little and does it. 

His days have ranged from 6-7 hours of work.  The long day was the day of the history written narration.  He has a good attitude about it all and is still finding time to practice his parkour and his American Ninja Warrior stuff so all is good.  I asked him at dinner how he liked it so far and he gave me a thumbs up which is pretty good for so early in the school year.