Weekly update for the week of 1/23/12

N. had another good week with RTR.  I asked him this week since we are a little over half way through how he has liked it this year.  He said he has liked it a lot and really enjoys all the books. 

I see him making progress in so many areas.  DH and I were talking about how much his writing is improving and how he is really making connections now in his reading. He also is picking up on things in ways he hasn't before.  He has really enjoyed his study through Philippians. This week he noticed that the verse said "every knew should bow and every tongue confess...".  He came to me and said "I thought it was every knee will bow and every tongue confess..".  This prompted a comparison of different versions, but no that wasn't the issue.  He then told my dh about it and dh spent time researching it and finding out that in the Old Testament God says about Himself that "every knee will bow.." and in Philippians Paul is saying "every knee should bow.." about Jesus.  We then had a very good discussion about why that was.  I was just amazed that N. picked up the difference in wording, just 6 months ago I don't know that he would have done that.

Every week he does a Research postcard about a city that is important to the history study for the week.  He has decided that each week he will write to a dog that is at the animal shelter we volunteer at.  This weeks was a little shorter than most, but usually I am pleased with what he writes.  I was also very pleased with his written narration this week.  You can see on this page the compensations we make for his C.P. and writing challenges.  He types anything of length and I write the labels for his timeline.

The big hit this week was his Science experiment.  He made an edible groundwater contamination model.  It didn't go exactly as planned with the the contamination getting through the containment layer, but then his dad explained to him how real to life that was and how he was presenting such a case to our State EPA this week.  He continues to play around with the notability app. for writing up his experiment sheets.  This week went better.  He still needs practice drawing with the stylus and he is going to play around with it some and see if he can type the labels for his drawings. Of course I missed a capitalization error and also a typo because I was focused on the layout.

He also wrote an imaginative paragraph for a story in his IEW program.  This program continues to be a good fit for him.

His history project was a Spanish Doubloon, but no pictures since it was still drying at the end of the week and he actually still needs to paint it. 

Weekly update 1/16/12

This week started a little rough because N. who had just gotten over his cold came down with a stomach virus.  He did manage to catch up on all his school work though.  He is really enjoying this time period in history.  This week he read about some of the explorers as well as about Martin Luther and his 95 Theses.  His history project was making a salt dough map of the world and then drawing Magellan's voyage. 

He also learned about Pizarro and Cortez and his mapping activity was marking the Aztec and Inca civilizations.  It is tough for him to write small enough on these maps, but I have him do it anyway so the locations get imprinted in his brain.

He finished up his report on Knights in IEW medieval history based writing lessons.  My dh read it last night and was very impressed.  He had a hard time believing that N. did it on his own because it was so much better than anything he has written before.  IEW doesn't fit my learning style at all, but it is perfect for N.  He loves the step by step progression and how it tells him exactly what he needs to add and make sure he has.  I see carry over in his other writing assignments also. 

In Science he did an experiment that showed how salt water from the ocean becomes fresh water when it comes down as rain.  He used his ipad and the Notability app to write up his experiment sheet.  He typed a much longer guess and conclusion than usual which is exactly what I was hoping for.  The drawing is still a little rough.  He used the stylus, but had trouble getting it to write every time. 

In storytime we are reading Mr. Pipes and the Hymns of the Reformation.  He loves it.  He has become quite a fan of hymns so if it talks about one he doesn't know he wants to find it on youtube to listen to it.

Since we are halfway through the year my dh and I sat down and looked at the progress N. has made this year and it is very encouraging to see the gains, especially in expressing his thoughts that he is showing.  Sometimes it is easy to think that gains aren't being made because he does make them slower than a neurotypical kid, but they are definitely there. In fact I see the narration skills he is learning in HOD carrying over to other things.  He is in a constellation class in co-op and last night he gave a presentation to the family about what he is learning. 

Week in review 1/9/12

This was a little bit of a tough week since N. wasn't feeling well for the last part of the week. He managed to get all his school done until day 4.   By Thursday he ended up doing most of his boxes, but skipped Math and DITHOR because I knew his thinking wasn't clear enough for those and those are his most taxing subjects. 

In Art Appreciation we read about the uses of various pigments to achieve the colors.  We looked at Monet's Water-Lily Pond.  He was pretty excited because his assignment for his Discovering Great Artists Co-op class was to bring in a Monet picture and try to paint it.  He said it was much harder to do those little brush strokes than he thought.  His co-op class and the things he is learning in RTR really compliment each other well.

In History reading he read about Leonardo Da Vinci, Michelangelo, and several other painters.  He also read about Niccolo Machiavelli and Cesare Borge.  We had some good conversation about some of the quotes in Machiavelli's The Prince and how they were the exact opposite of what the Bible teaches.  I love how HOD teaches him to look at things and then compare that to what the Bible says.

To go along with his readings his history project was painting like Michelangelo.  He found out this was much harder than he thought. 

In Science he continues reading A Child's Geography of the Earth and learned about Ocean Currents. He did an experiment involving currents and used his Ipad to write up his lab report.  We decided he needs a stylus to be able to draw the pictures the way he wants. 

In Boyhood and Beyond we talked about not being a spectator in life and if you have something you would like to achieve you don't just sit around and think about it.  You should take steps towards doing it.  He said "I want to experiment with tape and string so can I do that?"  I agreed and walked out later to find he had done this after school.

I don't know that this was exactly what the book was talking about, but it made me laugh.  Also discussed if you see something that needs done around the house doing it and not waiting for someone else to do it.  I have seen him put that principle in to action a few times this week.  I love our time with Boyhood and Beyond.

In Rod and Staff he did an oral presentation about a story from his life.  He presented it to his Dad who thought he did a great job.  In CLE math he has been working on calculating how much he would pay for something if it is a certain percent off.  It is not his favorite thing, but I told him it will come in useful the next time he sees Lego's on sale.

Weekly update 1/2/12

After taking a full 2 weeks off it took us about a day to get back into the groove.  My ds and dd went to a Winter Youth Conference with church so they were pretty tired at the beginning of the week.  My ds got quite a surprise for Christmas.  One of the recommendations by the neuropsychologist was an Ipad due to the ability to use dragon dictation and also other apps that could help streamline his work some.  Also since he needs to see things more than once it is beneficial to have the ability to call up videos and multimedia to reinforce what he is learning.  We knew we couldn't get him one, but my dh's family went in together and got him one.  He was very surprised and excited. 

In history he learned about what was going on in Africa during this time period. He enjoyed telling his dad about the different empires. For his history project he made an African mud cloth.  He really took his time with this.  He then made a virtual one of the computer.

In Storytime we are reading Leonardo DaVinci by Diane Stanley.  He knew some of the information from other times we have looked at Leonardo, but this book went into more detail about all the things he invented.  He continues to love Mystery of History 3.  He seems to really grasp this book.  His written narration this week was also on Leonardo and he choose to write on the section about the Mona Lisa.  He continues to show improvement in this area.

In Science he did a simple experiment with Graham Crackers to show how faults develop and how earthquakes occur.  I thought it might be too easy, but it really helped him visualize things and he applied what he learned later in a conversation we were having.  One area I feel he could improve on is his Science Experiment sheets.  I have had him write them and he always writes short answers and doesn't go into as much detail as I would like on his experiment sheet.  I have found an app for the Ipad called Notability that will allow him to type out the question, guess and conclusion and also draw the procedure.  Once he has it done we can convert it to a pdf and print it.  He didn't do an actual sheet yet, but I am anxious to see how it works.

In Grammar he continued to learn more about comma placement and he started working on an oral presentation.  He needed to take brief notes so he dictated it on the Ipad on dragon dictation and it typed it for him.  He loves this even if he does have to edit when it doesn't understand him.

In Boyhood and Beyond we talked about not complaining or whining.  That is a good lesson for all of us.  Talked about being willing to try new things.  My dd listened in and it challenged her also.

I really think if we weren't using HOD I would be completely burned out at this point, but as it is I have as much fun as he does seeing what all each week holds.  

Weekly update for the week of 12/12/11

This past week was a fun, but busy week.  Between N. and S. we had lots of cooking projects going on.  N. is studying the early explorers and therefore his history project was making hard tack.  After tasting it he decided that he understood why the sailors would stage mutinies after so long at sea.

In Science he is studying all the layers of the atmosphere.  To give a visual of this his science experiment was to make a layered model using edible ingredients.  It really allowed him to see the ratios of the different layers.  He was amazed to see how small the troposphere is in relation to say the thermosphere. He then added a few more ingredients to his model to make cookies.

S. is studying Canada for her World Geography course so she made Blueberry Crisp.

Noah also finished up last weeks science experiment which was looking at the effects of acid rain.  He put a penny in each cup and added water, water and salt, vinegar  and vinegar and salt.  He was fascinated with the fact that the salt and vinegar cup grew blue crystals on the outside of the cup.  The vinegar turned the penny quite blue in just a week.

His written narration this week was about Columbus and his four journey's.  It was by far his best written narration.  He did adapt how he did it now that we know he has some memory issues.  He read the paragraph's about his first voyage and then stopped and wrote those sentences and then did the same thing for each voyage.  I am allowing this because he truly would not remember near as well if he waited until the end of the reading to try and write it.  This way he didn't need to look back at the book unless it was for spelling.  It was more than 8-12 sentences, but I allowed that because usually he gets the bare minimum.

In Boyhood and Beyond we had good discussions on what defines a leader.  I really like how this book makes the types of topics very tangible.

The one other exciting thing this week was that we had a friend give N. an older version of the Lego Mindstorms Robotic kit.  The neuropsych had strongly recommended that we explore Robotics for N. because he tested very high in the engineering related areas.  We didn't know how we would afford a kit for him.  Then this friend called, knowing nothing about the doctor's recommendations and offered the kit to N.
It is like new and N. is having a great time learning how to program it.  This will serve as a nice addition to his studies on days that he has some time.

Update for the week of 12/5/11

Once again this is going to be a bi-weekly update.  These past few weeks have just flown by.  We have had Choir Cantata's to go to and co-op performances and this weekend is the kids/teens musical at church in which N. is playing Isaac.  We have managed to still keep up with school though.

N. continues to really enjoy RTR.  The history projects continue to be his favorite part of each week.  Last week he made a banner like the one King Sigismund carried.

This week he made a replica of a Fra Angelico's painting "The Annunciation".  He really took his time coloring it.  I was proud of how hard he worked at it.

He started Mystery of History Volume 3 this week for his history reading and he is enjoying it.  Even on days he doesn't have to narrate he likes to stop and tell me about each person he is reading about.  For Storytime we are reading "Ink on His Fingers" about Johann Gutenberg.  We both have really enjoyed it.

During the good sales around Thanksgiving we broke down and bought a laptop computer.  Both kids end up needing the computer during the day and with N's CP he really does best if he can type things.  He likes being able to do his research for his postcard right there at the table.

In Science he is now reading A Child's Geography of the World.  He seems to like this book and likes that we are back to a predicable Science routine using Carrie's plans.  Right now his written narrations for science are back to sounding more like summaries, but I know this will improve as he goes along.

He is reading "Guns for General Washington" for his DITHOR book.  He seems to really enjoy this although sometimes he seems to get stuck when it comes to filling out his pages for the workbook.  I think he is afraid to give a wrong answer.  I keep encouraging him to just say what comes to his mind. 

We received the results of his neuropsychological evaluation this week.  It clearly showed his strengths and weaknesses.  HOD definitely teaches in a way that will help with his areas of struggle.  His math and visual perceptual scores were very high, which according to the Dr. is unheard of with kid with CP.  We are praising God for his news. 

The other big news in the past 2 weeks was that N. tested for his Interim Black Belt in Karate and got it!!  This has taken a lot of dedication on his part.  His next belt will be a black belt. When he first started Karate in 2nd grade I never believed he would make it this far.  Once again an answer to prayer.

Weekly update for week of 11/14

I am a little behind in writing this.  It will actually be 2 weeks worth of updates.  I went out of town for 3 days the week of 11/7 and my dh took off and schooled the kids.  Without HOD I don't think he would have been able to do that, but the guide makes it very easy for this to happen.  My dh schooled N. for a few subjects last year and was pleased to see the progress he has made, especially in the oral and written narration area.  He also helped him finish the final draft of his Vikings report for IEW and was very impressed with that.
The project for that week was Chinese Egg noodles.  N. really enjoyed making these, but I will say I think we made them too thick and then we didn't cook them long enough so they were a little tough.

His project for the next week was to make a game so he could see how fast the Black Death spread.  This was a great way to bring this home without dwelling on the gory details of the Pestilence.  He also saw how he would get infected much faster if he was traveling by sea instead of by land.  He couldn't quite figure out why this would be so we had a good discussion about how crowded boats and seaports would be.

He was very excited that he was able to finally draw a Greyhound for Draw and Write Through History.  We have a Greyhound so he has been looking forward to that all year.  He also drew a Falcon.

He continues with Rod and Staff Grammar and is doing well with it.  He has had a few lessons on Poetry lately and he likes those.  CLE math continues to go well also.  He is now learning the Distributive Property as a starting point for Algebra.  I like how CLE gently introduces this and then builds on it.

Overall he continues to make steady progress in all areas.  He has really enjoyed this time period in history. In fact he wants Knights and Castles Legos for Christmas.  I hated history in school so I love that he really enjoys it.