Week in review 3/14-3/18/2016

     The past few weeks have gone very well.  We just finished up week 28 in the WH guide and are getting ready to take a spring break, so I thought I would update the blog.

     In history N. has been immersed in the French Revolution and the time following it when Napoleon was in and out of power.  I love the coverage of this time period in the guide.  I feel like I truly understand it now.  It is covered in literature in The Scarlet Pimpernel and then also in The Count of Monte Cristo.  In the living library we read The Patriot's Daughter which also included this time period and then of course the coverage in the history box, including Critical Thinking with Primary Resources as well as The You Are There episodes.  I think my son and I both finally understand all that went on during this period.  The Critical Thinking questions still remain one of the toughest assignments for him and I am still having to give him some guidance. His answers aren't where I want them to be yet as far as complexity.  I worried about his until I saw he will do similar assignments next year, so I think it is fine to look at this as a training year for this type of assignment.  He is doing better with the You Are There assignments in his ability to pick out crucial information as he listens.  I am hoping this will help him with note taking during lectures.  He also is doing well taking notes to then give an oral topic narration. 

He is doing well with his written narrations and can easily write at least 300-400 words. 

     His art notebook is coming along and I feel like this study has given him a great overview of all the artists.

    In Biology he continues learning about the human body.  As a Physical Therapist I am picky about the coverage of this topic and I feel like it does a good job with this.  He doesn't love filling out all the questions each day, but he does retain a lot of what he reads due to the act of writing down the answers.  I would never have him do all ACE, but for one subject it works well.  He said he finds the reading interesting and has loved some of the video labs.

    He continues to move along with TT Algebra 2.  Some days we only do 1/2 a lesson, but since I like him to do math during the summer anyway, it shouldn't be a problem. He continues to do well with Visual Link Spanish and is doing this at his own pace.  If he needs to repeat an activity he does.  Again I want him to do some Spanish during the summer so he won't lose what he has learned so this works out fine.

     In literature he is now reading Les Miserables.  I modified things just a little bit.  I am having him do 2 of the lit journal assignments a week as instructed in the guide and then the other ones he is presenting to me orally.  I also am having him do his written lit narrations for this book orally.  He has to prepare for it with notes and address the question and include any quotes just as instructed in the guide, he just does it orally.  This is mainly just a time saving technique.  He can take so long to read and type and with this book he is also listening to the radio drama each day, which we both love.  I just didn't want him to not like the book because this box was taking too long for him to do.  This is an example of something I tweaked a little bit due to his challenges, but try to not interfere with the intent of the assignments.  

     In closing just a fun picture of what he does in his free time when he finishes his school day.