The past few weeks have been challenging due to the loss of my mother. I guess the one positive about it all is that N.is so comfortable with HOD that he was able to still get school done even when my mind and heart wasn't in it. I don't have very many pictures for this update, but still wanted to pop on and give a report as to how the last 1/3 of the guide is going.
We are half way through week 28 and honestly it is going very well. He really doesn't struggle with anything other than how long Teaching Textbooks Geometry takes (average 1 1/2 hours), and actually I get more frustrated than he does.
I see so much maturity in him this year. He and his Dad continue to meet early on Saturday mornings to go over what he has annotated in Practical Happiness. This has been a wonderful time for both of them. They will both really miss it when they are done with it.
In Literature he is reading Children of the New Forest. I cut out Captains Courageous so I could stretch this book out some. This has worked well for him because if he has too much to read at once he just can't remember it or it overwhelms him so much he rushes through it. It took a little bit for him to get into this book, but now he likes it. I enjoy hearing what he finds interesting on the days we have this discussion scheduled. He usually does his written narration on a small part of the readings, but it is what stands out to him so I go with it.
I have heard some complaints that the Science is just fill in the blanks, multiple choice etc, but I have to say the way it is written really sticks with him. I was grading his science several hours after he had completed it and I noticed he had skipped a question. He was able to come over and without even looking in the reading text realize he had put the answer for one question in the wrong place and from memory give the right answers for both of the questions. For anyone who has followed this blog they will know that his memory can cause some struggles, but obviously this is written in such a way that it stays with him. I will take that over a "more challenging" science that he just memorizes things for a test and remembers nothing the next day.
He continues to type most things including narration. He is a very fast 2-4 finger typist. I love this picture because it shows that even at the very end of the day he is still smiling and we are having fun.
It is hard to believe that soon we will be in the home stretch of this guide. N. said he couldn't believe it either. I asked him if this year had been too hard and he said no. He usually works from 8-3 with an hour for lunch. He has plenty of time for his parkour, church things and just down time. I feel like the balance is perfect.
