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.

Getting Ready for the World History Guide

It is really hard to believe I am already getting ready for the next school year, but with some family commitments coming up at the end of summer I knew I needed to get it done now.  I will go subject by subject. My set up does look different than some because of N's dysgraphia. It means we don't buy composition books instead I set up the Ipad and the computer for him.  I am listing my adjustments for his dysgraphia to hopefully help others see what they can do if they have students with different learning needs. 

World History:  I bought a 1 1/2 inch notebook with a place for the cover page and put in the World History notebook pages as well as a stack of clear sheet protectors in the back since we slide completed pages in those.  He already had his book of Centuries from last year and I printed out the new timeline figures for this year.  I checked to make sure the MP3's would play on our computer.  I did go through and photocopy the pages from the Critical Thinking Using Primary Sources in World History as indicated in the guide so N just has to cut them out and glue them in his history notebook on the correct day. I also photocopied the "Literary Synthesis Sheet" and the "Wold and Idea Helper Sheet" for the living library.  I laminated the Word and Idea Helper Sheet.just for durability.

*Adjustments for dysgraphia:  I got permission from HOD to scan into the Ipad certain boxes from the notebooking pages that have lots of questions which he is expected to fill in.  I used Scanner Pro and PDF expert so now he can actually type onto those pages with his Ipad and then print the boxes out and glue them in.  I also scanned the Literary Synthesis sheet in so he can type on that using either the Ipad or the computer.  The new Adobe Acrobat Reader DC has fill and edit capabilities which is super exciting and it's free!

Fine Arts:  1" binder with a cover page insert for his Art notebooking pages.  He isn't doing the Art projects.

*Adjustment for dysgraphia-Again I got permission from HOD to scan in certain Art History notebook pages so he can type on them using the Ipad.  They are stored in a folder on his Ipad.

Bible and Pilgrim's Progress:  He has his Prayer journal from last year and the instructions are also to print out the pages from the Pilgrim's Progress CD as scheduled in the guide.  I also bought a binder to put completed Pilgrim's Progress sheets in.

*Adjustments for dysgraphia:  The publishers of the bible study were kind enough to not only give me permission to scan the bible study into the Ipad, but they actually sent me a pdf of the entire book.  I promised not to sell my printed copy.  I also realized that since the files on the Pilgrim's Progress are reproducible and are pdfs I can just open them in the Adobe Acrobat Reader DC program on the computer and he can type on those.

Health:  The instructions call for a composition book.  I am doing a binder instead since his answers will be typed, not written. 

Biology:  The main thing I did with this was I went through and pulled out the Lab reports and the tests from the middle of each booklet.  You could leave the lab reports in there, but I felt like they got in my way when I was reading.  Again I used a binder to put these in.   I did double up this binder with one of the others. I put the answer keys in my teachers binder. We also did buy a microscope and a slide set to do the microscope slides live.

Spanish:  It says to go through with your student and using the Teacher's guide write the assigned audio CD number and track number on the blanks.  I decided to do this now, ahead of time, and I'm glad I did.  I actually messed it up several times and had to erase and go back and fix it.  It isn't as easy as you would think.  I also pulled the Unit Tests out.

English:  N has his Common Place Book from the last 2 years.  It also lists a bound journal for the Literature journal and 3 lined composition books for for grammar, dictation and composition.  N is done with dictation and he types composition so I just do a 3 ring binder with sections divided off. I also copied the Plot Diagram page and will laminate it also.

*Adjustments for dysgraphia:  I set up a lit journal on the Notability app and N. will do all his writing there I think, unless he just finds it easier to do it on the computer. 

Math: We do a different math so I don't have the set up for that.

Looking forward to another good year with HOD. 

Week in Review May 18-22, 2015

This is the final week in review for the World Geography guide.  We finished it on Tuesday and spent the rest of the week doing standardized tests which is one of the options for homeschoolers in our state.  

These past 2 weeks the days were shorter.  I'm not sure why, maybe just because he was working on  final projects and reviewing bible verses rather than doing full lessons.  He finished up the World Geography portion with a Seven Wonders of the World project.  He had several options to chose from and he wanted to do a 3-d model.  He had to fill out a planning page and then follow his plan to get it done.  He decided he wanted to build a 3-d model of stonehenge.  He also had to use 3 sources to find 7 interesting facts about Stonehenge and do the bibliography.  I thought his finished project looked pretty cool.  He still has to present it to his dad, but he will most likely do that tonight.

He also finished his research paper.  He was to pick an event in history that impacted a large number of people and examine the cause and effects of that event.  He chose "The Fall".  I have to say he couldn't have picked an event that impacted more people.  He did a nice job researching and writing his paper and he followed the rubric well.  Next year though I will make him pick something he isn't quite so familiar with so he has to research more and not just put down things he knows from his head. He is very passionate about the topic though and that came out in his paper.  Overall though for his first research paper he did a nice job and EIW broke it down in such a way that it made it very doable and not overwhelming to him at all.

 The weather was beautiful this week so he decided to do his last reading in Practical Happiness outside on his obstacle course that is fashioned after American Ninja Warrior.  You might be a homeschooler if you enjoy reading 9 feet above the ground.

I asked him what he thought of this year and he said he thought it was a good year.  I think the same thing.  I think he was really challenged and yet for the most part he rose to that challenge.  In hindsight the only thing I think I would do differently is have him grade his own science.  I can go over what he missed, but that doesn't seem to sink in as well as when he grades it.   We take a picture of he and his guide at the end of every year.  Amazing how much he has changed.

So now off to enjoy summer and get things set up for the World History Guide for next year.  Here is one last picture of N. doing what he enjoys the most, hanging outside and working his muscles. 

Week in Review May 4-8,2015

We are half way through week 34.  We hit some big milestones this week and I am amazed how quickly he is getting done with his day now and how smoothly everything is going.  I think back to those first few weeks, especially the first day and I thought there was no way he would be able to handle the workload of this guide, but he has handled it very well.

The first big milestone is he finished Level 8 of studied dictation so he is completely done with studied dictation.  He was pretty excited about this fact and we celebrated with a milkshake that night.

The other big milestone is that he finished his World Map Project.  He chose to do the Option that used a template that gave some guidelines and 4 pieces of parchment paper taped together.  I did help trace the guidelines and I labeled the countries, because his tremor makes those things pretty tough to do.  He did all the drawing and coloring.  It was exhausting for him and he often took breaks because his hand was cramping, but he persevered.  I am so glad that I have always made him do all the drawing required in the guides.  I think it has been the best therapy his hands could have ever gotten.

He also finished reading A Book of Discovery, which is easily one of the more challenging history spines he has ever read.  He ended up liking it and learned a lot about the exploration of our world and those that persevered despite great odds.  We listened to the story of Shakelton and both of us were amazed at all he and his party endured. 

He continues to work on his research paper and is getting ready to start his 7 wonders of the world project.  I'm excited to see how both of these turn out.

Week in Review 4/27/2015

This really isn't a week in review it is more like the entire month of April in review.  We have just been busy living life and I just forgot to blog.  N. is now in week 33 of the WG guide, so the school year is truly winding down.  The challenge has been to stay motivated.  I don't know that either one of us is as motivated as we were a few months ago, but I think that is pretty typical for this time of year. 

Here are some pictures of what we have been up to the past month.  He made an Africa Cookie.  It looked really good before he baked it, but once it baked it looked more like a pinterest "nailed it" photo, but we had a good laugh about it and it still tasted good.

 His World Religions notebook is now finished and it looks great.  Such a great keepsake/portfolio of what he learned this year.  He typed most of it, but sometimes it was just easier for him to dictate to me.

 He is now working on his World Map project.  This isn't easy for him, but he so far he is rising to the challenge.  I love that these type of multiple day projects are included in the guides.

One big adjustment we made the past few weeks is we are now stretching his TT Geometry lessons out over 2 days.  The lessons were taking 2 hours a day and that is just too much.  Now he works about an 1 and 10 minutes the first day and finishes up the next day.  This has made a huge difference in the flow and enjoyment of the day.

In A Book of Discovery he is learning about the exploration of the Arctic and Antarctica.  This has been fascinating.  We are listening to the audio drama of Shakelton's voyage and both of us are listening in and learning so much. 

One other big thing is that he had his end of the year co-op performance.  He and his buddy performed the song "Moses Supposes" from Singin in the Rain.  His goal was to perform a backflip off his vault at the end of the song.  He practiced for weeks in the yard.

Finally show night came and they did a great job and he landed his flip!  Such a testimony to the power of God that he is even able to do something like this with his CP.

I love that he has time to pursue the things he loves.  I hear people say that the WG guide is so full it gives no time for dc to pursue other things.  We haven't found that to be true.  He has plenty of time for all the things he loves and is getting a very solid education also. 

Week in Review March 16-20, 2015

Well I guess it is time to play catch up.  I have fallen behind with my updates which is typical for this time of the school year.

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.

In World Religions the topic he is studying is timely for obvious reasons.  He filled out his graphic organizer in his World Religions notebook and then he started reading "I Dared to Call Him Father".  I really enjoyed this book when I read it and I think it will bring the happenings in the world in to clearer focus for him.  I asked him before he started reading it what the significance of the title was and he knew right away and explained it very clearly.

I love that he is studying these World Religions in the context of how they compare to the Christian Worldview and that he is studying them at home so we can really have some great discussions where we continue to use the Bible as the ultimate source of truth.

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.