Weekly update for the week of 2/21/11

Once again I let 2 weeks go by without blogging.  Things have just been so busy around here.  Thankfully even in the crazy times our school still seems to go pretty smooth.

 N. has been reading "Galen and the Gateway to Medicine" for his science and has enjoyed it more than I thought he would.  He likes that Archimedes was mentioned and he was telling me how they tied together.  He also told me all about the original Hippocratic oath. 

He continues to do well with Rod and Staff Grammar.  I really wish that we would have started with it from the beginning.  We still do most of it orally with a worksheet or just one exercise done in written form.  He is almost finished with his fable in Write with the Best and I must say I love it.  I have let him dictate it to me so that he can really put down all he wants to.  He will then edit and type his final copy himself.  He wanted the moral to be that you can't judge a book by it's cover (something near and dear to his heart).  Since he loves dogs he made it about a lost Chihuahua, a boastful St. Bernard and a very humble Beagle.  It is very cute.

For his independent history this week he drew Hannibal's Elephant.  This was, as always, one of his favorite parts of the week.

We are reading the book City by David McCauley for Storytime and he loves this book!  He is now working on a Lego model of the Roman streets complete with stepping stones and drainage pipes.  He also talks about maybe becoming an Architect when he grows up.  I love that he gets so excited about what he is learning.

He has moved on to the next phase as far as written narrations.  Starting last week he no longer has questions in the guide that he is supposed to answer to guide his narration.  Last week he pretty much had a meltdown when he realized that and was convinced he couldn't do it.  I guided him in figuring out what he wanted to write about and what questions he would answer if there were questions.  It was rough, but I knew it was part of a learning curve for him and he still lacks so much confidence when it comes to writing.  This week was so much better.  He decided to write about Hannibal's army and he decided that before he read, so he paid close attention to those details as he read and even stated things out loud as he went.  I have learned this is how he retains best so I let him do this.  He then went to the computer and typed away without complaint.  He used the book for spelling and to make sure he got some details like numbers write, but overall did a nice job of narrating what he learned.  I was proud of him.

The very sad part of our week was that we found out our 11 year old Greyhound, Bailey has bone cancer in his leg.  N. is very close to Bailey as Bailey is his audience for poetry readings and history projects.  N. has been making sure that Bailey is kept comfortable by bringing his favorite dog bed in by the school room. 

Weekly update for 2/7/11

Life has been very busy so I haven't had much time to blog, but I did want to at least post the last 2 weeks in pictures so you can see what fun things we have been doing.
Last week started off with an ice storm so S. had to go out and slide down the drive way on her stomach.  N. was more cautious with his exploration of the lack of friction.

N. has drawn Alexander the Great's horse Bucephalus and the Lighthouse of Alexandria for his independent history.

Last weeks history project was an indoor Olympics since N. was learning about Olympia Greece. Of course S. couldn't sit around and not join in the fun.

History project this week was making his own papyrus so that he could draw a map of the 7 Wonders of the Ancient World.  He declared this the "messiest project" ever.  I have to say I found watered down glue droplets everywhere, but hey he had fun.

He is about to finish up his current science book.  I didn't think he would like the book on plants as much as he liked the bird book, but he says he liked them both equally.  We have had some discussions on making sure to say focused while reading.  He tends to have trouble recalling the information in the middle of a chapter.

The paintings last week were of sunsets and turned out beautiful.

Then here are 2 last pictures to show the extreme difference in my dc's personalities.  I am so glad that S. is home this year and that she can join us in some of the projects.  N. loves having her do things with us also.

Weekly update for the week of 1/24/2011

 I am a little late getting this done this week.  This week he was studying Greece and therefore everything revolved around Greece. For his Independent History Box he drew and then colored the Parthenon.  This was a huge hit.  This is such a big deal for him.  He should hate sketching and drawing because of how much effort it takes and how his hand cramps, but in the middle of drawing using the instructions from Draw and Write Through History he says "Have I ever told you how much I love this book?". 

For his History project this week he made a Greek Column.  He chose which style to draw and he picked the most complicated one.  His sister had to get into the act so she made one also.

His Science experiment this week was making a Plant Part Meal.  He enjoyed going thru the fridge and picking out the different things that were different parts of plants like carrots for the roots, apples for fruit, etc.

Archimedes and the Door of Science remains a huge hit for our read aloud during story time.  He likes telling his dad things he learned in this book.

One interesting thing I am seeing with him is that last year I remember posting I was worried how he didn't seem to retain some of the history we read.  I was reassured by Carrie and Julie that he was establishing hooks to hang information on in later years.  Well sure enough as we study things this year he will out of the blue bring up something related that he studied last year.  In fact making connections with his reading is something I am seeing him do more and more.

We did make one minor change to the curriculum and that was we stopped doing Genesis Finding our Roots.  N. was struggling some with understanding this book  and he is now going through a class at church which requires homework and that was adding to his day.  Since this was bible study work he had to do, I decided to substitute it in instead of the Genesis book.

Books 6 and 7

I am better at reading them than I am at blogging about them.  Book 6 was Stars Collide by Janice Thompson.
This book is a fun, lighthearted, entertaining book.  The characters are interesting, likable and sometimes quirky.  It was a great book to read just to relax after a crazy day.  It is a Christian Romance book that takes place in Hollywood, which seems like an unlikely premise, but it works.

The 7th book I read was "An Unlikely Blessing" by Judy Baer.  This book was also a very enjoyable read. The book is about a Pastor who takes his first church in a small town in North Dakota.  The characters in this book are ones you want to know more of.  This book reminds me of the Mitford series by Jan Karon.  The book leaves you with many things up in the air so I am hoping that a sequel is in the works because I find myself wanting to know the answer to several unanswered questions.

Weekly update for the week of 1/17/2011

Another good week.  I feel like N. has really found his groove and is really enjoying his days (other than the rare frustration with math).  This week he had lots of drawing and was back with the painting so that made him very happy.

He and S. both did paintings again this week for poetry.

In Science he started reading "Plant Life in Field and Garden".  He did an experimet looking at how plants get nutrients.  He did a good job of doing the experiment by himself.  He put one stalk of celery in sugar water and one in plain water.  Today he tasted the leaves and discovered that the ones in sugar water were sweet, especially the stems of the leaves.

In Storytime we continue to read "Archimedes and the Door of Science".  This book is a big hit.  He enjoyed telling his Dad all about how an Archimedean screw works.

In History he drew a Greek Soldier using the directions in Draw and Write Through History".  Again I was impressed by how careful he was to follow all the step by step directions for drawing.   This is a huge improvement over last year.

For his history project he made a scytale message and then acted out Phidippedes run from Athens to Sparta. He ran a mile and then we told him that he would have to run 150 of those for it to equal the run from Athens to Sparta.

After the thread on the HOD board about oral narrations we worked on capturing the authors voice when he narrates.  He does better if he acts it out.  Written narrations are still very much a work in progress, but he is showing improvement with oral narrations.

5 of 52

My 5th book of this year is Dancing with Max by Emily Colson who happens to be the daughter of Chuck Colson.  It is the story of life with her severely autistic son Max.  It is a beautiful book full of real life pain, hurt , joy and the ever presence of God.  As a physical therapist that treated children with Autism and the parent of a child with special needs I found this book to be a wonderful read.  It challenged me to embrace my child where he is, but also to be willing to be open to where God might take him.  Emily doesn't sugar coat things and she is very honest with the fact that parenting Max mostly as a single parent has been a real challenge, but she also sees the gift that is Max.  Chuck Colson writes the forward and the afterward and gives some good insight also into how God has empowered Emily to be a fantastic mom to Max.  If you have a child with special needs in your life and even if you don't I think you will find this book encouraging.

Weekly update for the week of 1/10/2011

   N. had another good week this week.  He is really coming into his own as far as the independent boxes go.  He even did his science experiment independently this week.  Usually I have to help him just due to the fact that his hand tremor can make things difficult to do, but I see that he really wants to be able to do things on his own so I am trying to sit back and wait and only help if he asks for it.  What's a few spills if it means he feels more independent. 

Science has been the favorite subject around here.  He has become an avid bird watcher thanks to the book "Birds of the Air".  He worked very hard on his bird notebooking page this week and drew a purple finch.

We have several bird feeders right out the window and he loved watching them this week as the birds stocked up before snow fell. He loves cardinals so made sure to tell me every time he saw one so that I could get a good picture.

 For his science experiment he made 2 feathers out of paper and then coated one in shortening.  He was pretty amazed that the one with shortening floated. He was very careful to follow the directions exactly.

He had to memorize a poem and he chose the shortest one called "Dust of Snow".  I don't think he chose it because it was short, I think he picked it because it talked about a bird.  He dressed up as a crow to present it as his dad and proceeded to "fly" across the room and land on his snowy tree (the couch).

He did some mapping work of Greece for his history project and he started a new book called "Ancient Greece"  in his read about history box.  He struggled more with his written narration this week, but I think because it was a new book with a new writing style.  I also realized that I haven't done a very good job of getting across to him that he isn't summarizing as much as he should be retelling what he read.  So we are going to focus on that more and see how it goes.

We also started a new storytime book called "Archimedes and the Door to Science".  I was afraid that he would have trouble paying attention to this book, but it is written in a style that seems to draw him in.

He finished his project for Drawn into the Heart of Reading and made a puppet of Sheriff J.D. Saddlesoap.