Weekly update for week of 3/21/11

   I seem to have this every other week thing now as a habit.  Problem is this week I forgot to take pictures so all of the pics are from last week.
  One of the things I love about HOD is the bible quiet time.  I love how it is teaching N. to make this an important part of each day.  He loves reading from the Illustrated Family Bible.  For my visual learner it sure helps to cement things he reads in his bible. 

He also has been memorizing Philippians 2.  This week was a review week and I loved sitting and listening to him sing the verses as his way of remembering them.

In Science he is now reading Exploring the History of Medicine by John Hudson Tiner.  This has been a somewhat challenging book for him.  He has to answer questions every day after he reads.  This has on occasion brought him to tears.  He still can struggle with his reading comprehension if it is something that is totally unfamiliar to him, which the subject matter in this book is.  I am using it though to have him practice the skills of skimming back through several pages of text to find the answers.  This past Friday he did much better with this and was proud of how few he missed.  His science experiment last week was looking to see how fast bacteria multiplied.

This week he is doing an experiment with germs growing on apples.  Will have to see in a few days how that one turns out.

His history project last week was to make a paper doll dressed in the clothes of a Roman Soldier. He really enjoyed this and worked diligently on getting each piece the way he wanted it.

His attention to detail with projects like this is improving.  This week he made a wheel with the names and information about the 12 apostles.

For storytime we continue to read "Traveling the Way".  I think this may be his favorite book this year.  What I love is after I read he will sit quietly and then say "I am thinking about how David must feel... ".  This is a big step for him to start putting himself in the position of the book character and really trying to make those connections.

For his history reading he is now reading the book of John.  He is enjoying reading John all the way through which is something he has never done before.

Next week I will go to the local homeschool convention and will get to talk to Carrie the author of HOD and her sister Julie.  Last year that was the highlight of the convention for me.  I love the fact that I can ask them specific questions about how to make things work for N. and talk through any concerns I have.  I know we will be using the next guide RTR, but not totally sure how each aspect will work for him.  I look forward to getting their input.

Weekly update for the week of 3/8/2011

Once again it has been 2 weeks since I updated my blog.  Hard to believe we are heading into the homestretch of the year.  Overall this has been a very good year.  I am continuing to learn how to draw the best out of N. as well as how S. prefers to learn. 

The highlight for N. last week was his history project of making different types of catapults.  He worked so long on this I finally had to make him stop so he could finish the rest of his school.  When school was done he went back to designing catapults. (Please overlook the mismatched pj's.  He usually doesn't get dressed until after lunch, that just works best for him).

Last week he and S. worked on painting a night sky.  I didn't get any pictures of him painting, but here is S. working on hers.

We have started a new storytime book called "Travelling the Way" and N. just loves it. The first day we read it he had do to a detailed oral narration.  I was amazed how many details he included.  I was really able to see how this skill is improving.  He is also getting better at making it more like a story verses just summarizing it.
His written narrations the past two weeks have also shown improvement.  He still isn't one to use lots of flowery words during his written narration, but he does blend some of his words and some of the authors.  You also can see the things he thought were important in what he narrates.

The highlight of this week was the Roman feast.  N. was so excited to do this.  He worked hard on making his Roman custard. 

He then used his special safety guard from Pampered Chef that allows even a kid with tremoring hands to cut up vegetables safely and proudly displayed his handiwork.  He didn't have a robe to wear so he wrapped a blanket around his shoulders.

Then he served the meal and washed his sister's hands in between courses.  She would have preferred he use warm water.

I really enjoy seeing my 2 dc having fun together.  This year has been a good one for improving their relationship and letting them see each other in all situations.  This week was a pretty stressful week since our sweet dog Bailey was nearing the end of his battle with bone cancer.  N. handled it by taking good care of him and S. handled it by coming down one day after lunch dressed as "Super Sarah".  N.  laughed all afternoon.  It was good for all of us.

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.