Week in Review 10/13-17,2014

Week 9 was finished this week so that means we are 1/4 way through the guide!  I can honestly say I am very pleased with the WG guide and with how N. is progressing each week.  I feel he is being challenged in so many important skills and he is also enjoying what he is learning and applying it to every day life.  Not sure there is anything more I could ask for.

He enjoys his bible time so much that he always does it first.  What a great way to start his day and what a wonderful habit to get in to.  He and his Dad continue to go out on Saturday mornings for their time to discuss "Practical Happiness".  They both really look forward to this time together and my ds is being challenged to grow in his faith and learn to be content in Christ. 

He continues along in Logic and this week as I was telling him about an "argument" 2 friends of ours were having on facebook he was quickly able to point out that one of the points was a generalization fallacy!  He has also picked out fallacies in some of the political ads.  I love that he is learning this skill.  In our world he is going to really need it. 

In Literature he is reading "Treasure Island" and he loves it!  We did watch the Muppets version of Treasure Island before he started reading the book.  This seems to really help him paint a picture in his head as he reads.  He loves to draw comparison's between the movie and the book.  I just love that he is actually enjoying reading literature.

He wrote 2 descriptive paragraphs this week.  One he did describing the steps of a parkour move that he does and the other one describing a Dairy Queen Blizzard.  For several years I have had a goal of getting him to use more mature vocabulary words in his writing.  We have done multiple vocabulary programs, I have tried to get him to increase his vocabulary in every day conversation, and we have talked about it over and over, and yet he has still really struggled with vocabulary in general, but especially in his writing.  Well I don't know what happened, but the light bulb has gone off and suddenly he is motivated to use more complex words in his writing.  It started with his Blizzard description where he talked about it cooling his innards.  That made me laugh out loud. 

His use of vocabulary continued with his written narration.  He sat with his Ipad Thesaurus app and he would type what he wanted to say and then would use the app to find more descriptive replacement words.  He actually enjoyed doing it and couldn't wait to show me his narration.  It was on Iceland.  There are still some grammar and punctuation issues, but I wasn't going to dim his enthusiasm for his narration, by picking it apart too much.  I have learned that will shut him down.  Right now he is pushing himself to do better each time so I am going to just give minimal suggestions each week and see how that goes. 

One of his World Geography projects was a Viking board game.  This was a fun break in the afternoon for both he and I.

I love the blend of the resources in the World Geography boxes.  He started out having difficulty with A Book of Discovery, but as he gets further into the book he is enjoying it more and more.  I love how the other books, which are easier reads, complement A Book of Discovery so well.  He also really enjoys the DVD's.  I have to admit to watching those with him, even though it is an Independent box. They are a great addition to the readings and really give strong visuals to the places he is reading about. 

He is moving right along in dictation and if all goes well  he will finish level 7 around Thanksgiving.
He types his dictations and this works our well for him.

I posted one of these on my facebook page this week and commented how much I love being this young man's teacher.  I never thought I would enjoy teaching him high school, but thanks to HOD we truly are having an enjoyable year.  I love watching him grow and mature into the man God would have him become.  It is such a privilege to spend as much time with him as I do.

Week in review 10/6-10/10, 2014

This week went really well as we finished week 8 in the WG guide.  I see him maturing each week in taking responsibility for his schooling.  A perfect example of this is that on Tuesdays he has his parkour class in the middle of the day.  He gets up early and starts school a 1/2 hour earlier on this day and works straight thru until 12. On other week days he works only until 11 and then eats lunch.  This week he also was going somewhere with our church youth pastor and a few kids later in the afternoon on Tuesday so he knew it was going to be tough to get all his school done.  He looked ahead in the guide and saw that 2 science lessons were scheduled for Tuesday and only 1 on Wednesday so he asked permission to move one of Tuesdays to Wednesday.  I love that he is thinking ahead and planning out how best to accomplish his work.  This is a skill that will be essential in college.

In science he continues to plug away.  He says he likes it, but it is hard.  He tends to miss the questions that require more application or thinking so he is working on improving in that area. He also sometimes just gets careless in finding the answers to the questions so that is another area I would like to see him improve in.
I really like this science curriculum.  I think it is thorough and delivers lots of information in an enjoyable way. 

He continues to really like Spanish.  He does his lesson and then he either does oral practice with me for around 10 minutes or he uses a flash card app on the Ipad to practice his words.  I don't often show his handwriting because I don't want his intelligence judged by the quality of his handwriting. However I think it can also be helpful in showing what dysgraphic handwriting can look like and it makes it very obvious why I allow him to type most of his things.

In World Geography he made a T-O map.  He had to use a compass for this and that is still pretty tough for him to do.  I think he was so focused on that activity that he did draw a permanent line over one that was supposed to get erased. 

He also drew the Arabian Peninsula and  did a review worksheet that contained smaller versions of all the maps he has done before.  He was supposed to do that without looking.  His memory issues made this pretty impossible so I did let him look back at the maps. Here he is concentrating on the video for drawing the Arabian Peninsula. 

In World Religions he has started the book "Sitting at the Feet of Rabbi Jesus".  He is finding it interesting and we have had some good conversations already.  He made a chart that outlines some of the differences between a traditional Jewish viewpoint and a modern Jewish viewpoint.  I found it interesting because I remember many years ago having a conversation with a Jewish friend about some of these same differences.

Week in review 9/29-10/3, 2014

N. finished week 7 in the World Geography guide.  He seems to just be rolling along in most subjects.

He had 2 science projects this week which he did at night with my dh.  This one involved work and power and he looked at those with ramps of different heights.  I like how he has to work some calculations as he does these labs. My dh always has him come to me after he is done and he orally tells me his conclusion and answers any questions I might ask about his explanation.  This way we can see if he really understood the concepts.

Logic is going better now that he doesn't feel as much pressure to get them all right.  When we discuss them I can tell he understands why it's a fallacy, he just might not know exactly which fallacy it is.

He started TT Geometry this week and he loves it.  He is very strong in the area of visual spatial relationships so Geometry should fit him very well.  He has learned about Deductive and Inductive reasoning and is able to tell valid reasoning from invalid.  I think doing Logic at the same time as Geometry will work well for him.

He struggled with his written narration again this week.  So I just continue to work with him and teach him what I expect.  A World of Discovery is just really tough for him to do an oral narration or a written narration from.  I am hoping it gets better as he goes along in the book.  EIW though is going very well.  He wrote a nice persuasive paragraph this week.  

In World Geography and Cultures he drew Italy and The Holy Lands this week.

In World Religions he finished Mimosa and ended up really liking it.  He had questions to answer at the end and did a pretty good job.  Still working on getting longer answers out of him.  He is a guy of few words.  He did these on a template I made so that he could type the answers and then just glue them into the notebook.

This week we were talking about all the HOD guides and I asked him what was his favorite and he answered Preparing Hearts, as he always does, but he then said that this was a good guide also and that it made high school much better than he thought it was going to be.  I loved hearing him say that.  I think he had been dreading high school and had always wondered if he would enjoy it at all.  He knew it was going to be a lot of work and that there would be some subjects he would have to really work at.  I love that he feels like he can accomplish what is required of him.  When you have a dc that has some learning challenges you always fear that at some point they will just get too discouraged and quit trying.  I love that HOD makes it where he feels like he can do this thing called high school. 

Week in review 9/22-9/26,2014

Another week completed in the World Geography guide and N. continues to rise to the challenge of this guide.  I have talked about some of his areas of struggle, but one area I am seeing growth in is in his diligence to task.  A few weeks ago we talked about giving his full effort and I truly feel like in almost every area he is doing that now. 

The big improvement this week was in his written narration.  He spent at least 1 hour and 15 minutes doing this one, but he put some of his personality in it and really tried to use sentences with more varied vocabulary and more descriptive words.  It still isn't perfect but it is a big improvement.

He is now doing paragraph writing in Essentials in Writing and I think that is helping to remind him of what good writing should look like.  He did this expository paragraph this week.

He is back to BJU lit and I will say it is still a struggle.  On certain days he is supposed to write the answers to the end of the story questions instead of just discussing them.  I tried to have him do that this week and he just couldn't.  If I discuss the questions with him and give him some feedback on his answers he can eventually come close to what the guide is looking for or at least he gives an answer that makes sense, but to sit down and write the answers without the feedback at this point is just too hard.  He has always struggled with making a connection with excepts of stories.  He does much better with full length novels where he can develop a relationship with the characters.  This is a skill we will keep working towards.

He was thrilled this week to finish TT Algebra 1 and we have now started TT Geometry.  We will continue to add in some Algebra I review sheets so that he doesn't forget everything he learned.

He was supposed to make a star chart this week for the World Geography.  He did about 1/3rd of it before his hand just wore out so I helped him some. He decided that using the Ipad app was much easier :).

He is finishing up Mimosoa for World Religions and we have had some conversations about the trials she endured.  He is doing bookmark questions for this book and I have enjoyed seeing how his answers are more thoughtful this year than they were last year.

For his PE elective he continues to go to his B.E.A.S.T class.  This has been great for him in so many ways.  Here he is practicing a new trick called a flyaway back flip.  It just amazes me he can do this.

Week in review 9/15-9/19, 2014

This week we finished week 5 of the World Geography guide.  I really like how this guide is put together.  I like the alternating of the lit books with the BJU book.  He finished A Christmas Carol and went back to BJU lit and found that he actually did a better job of answering the questions than he did when we fist started back to school.  I think by reading A Christmas Carol he got tuned in to noticing details that he wasn't noticing before.  I thought he did a good job on his last written narration for A Christmas Carol.

In Science he had 2 labs to do that he did at night with his dad.  The first one was a to scale model of the solar system so he could look at how to calculate large measurements.  They went to the most open place they could find, but still couldn't fit the last 2 planets. Here he is showing Mercury from the Sun

 

 

Here is Jupiter to the Sun which you can see in the distance.

Here is Saturn to the Sun and the Sun is the way far off tree

The other experiment they did involved motion and forces.  It was a much easier set up.

One highlight of the year for N. is the Practical Happiness book.  He reads it on day 4 and annotates it and then he and his dad go somewhere early Saturday morning to discuss it.  They are really enjoying this time together and my dh says N. is really doing a good job discussing it.  I love that they are getting this time to discuss things that matter.

In World Geography N. did a few different activities discussing latitude and longitude and this also gave him practice with a compass and a protractor.

Here he is drawing lines of longitude on an egg so he can see that the center one looks straight until he turns the egg slightly and that same line then curves.  This wasn't the easiest task to do with shaky hands, but he kept his sense of humor about it.

In World Religions and Cultures he is reading "Mimosa", about a woman who heard very little of the gospel message,but managed to still hold on to a belief in an all powerful loving God, despite living in India in a Hindu family. She has tragedy after tragedy occur and yet still believes.  What an example this has been for N.  A few times he has come out and asked me a question to make sure he is understanding it right. It seems so hard to believe all that happened to her and yet she still has faith. Given the events occurring in the world right now this study could not have come at a better time.  He is reading about what it takes to stand firm in your faith when people all around you are trying to get you to change your mind and denounce God.  That kind of faith is becoming very real to him. 

He was struggling with Logic, but now that I know it matters more if he is giving his best effort and if he understands the concepts than if he gets all the questions right I think it will be more enjoyable for him.

He is loving Getting Started with Spanish and was very excited to hear someone speaking Spanish to their son in the store and he was able to understand a few words.

Our days are full and he it is a challenging program, but I see him grow in independence and maturity each week. 

Week in review for Septermber 8-12, 2014

We finished week 4 of the World Geography guide-so hard to believe we have been at school for a month already.  Overall this week was the smoothest yet. 

In science he is enjoying the study, and I think learning quite a bit.  The days with 2 lessons do make for long days though and I am having to challenge him to not slack off when he gets to the last page of questions.  For science labs there is no way he can do them independently due to his hand tremors.  What works best is if he does them that night or the night before with his dad.  He doesn't mind this because, although he has to do work at night, his day ends up shorter.

He is really enjoying the World Religions and Cultures Study.  We have neighbors that are Hindu so he was pretty interested in the reading he did this week about the Hindu religion.  I am very glad that I made notebook page templates for him because then he can type right on the charts and glue them in.

In World Geography he made a cuneiform map.  He made his wedges too big so he was laughing at how few things he could fit on his map. 

He did 2 drawings this week, the Nile River, and Greece.  He likes the drawings.  He doesn't love the video instruction because he says she doesn't get excited enough.  I think years of listening to Diana Waring has spoiled him.

The one bump in the road for him right now is written narrations for history.  He has taken several steps backwards in the quality of his narrations.  I am not sure why.  He is using very few descriptive words and even though they are 3 paragraphs long they are only around 10 sentences.  We had a long talk this week about it and about the difference between trying, trying hard and giving our best effort.  After giving a visual demonstration of this for him he seems to understand and hopefully this week will do better.  The goal is to just see progress in that direction.  I have a feeling this make take a few months to get him back to nicer narrations. 

He is really enjoying A Christmas Carol and his written narration for this was better and did have more description in it.  He has never done a written narration from a literature book so I was pleased with his first effort.

The only other subject he is struggling with is Logic.  I started a notebook of the fallacies for him and now I am encouraging him to continue writing them down as he learns them.  This seemed to help when he did the exercises this week. 

Week in review September 1-5, 2014

We only had a 3 day school week this week and I think N. found even more of his groove this week.  He has established his pretty set order of boxes that seems to work the best for him.  He is schooling from 8-3 on most days with an hour for lunch.  On Tuesdays he has his gymnastics/parkour/American Ninja Warrior class in the middle of the day, but even with taking about 1 1/2 hours out for that he is done at 4 or a little after, of course he starts earlier that day. 

We did the review for BJU lit this week and I was pleased with how much he remembered from what we had talked about as he went through the stories.  It just reinforced to me that right now I do need to teach Literature, but it won't always require as much input from me.  He started reading A Christmas Carol this week.  I wasn't sure how this would go, but we have a family tradition of watching The Muppets Christmas Carol every year.  I realized as I read the book that the Muppets version actually contains a good chunk of the actual wording from the book and this definitely helped him.  When he got done reading his first day he came in and said "I love this! and I didn't want to stop reading."  This is not something I usually hear from him. It convinced me that whenever possible my visual boy needs to see a movie before reading the book. 

He is enjoying the World Religion study and we have had some good conversations.  The notebooking challenges him, but it is a good challenge.  I do label some things for him.

We finished The Sign on the Door from the Living Library.  I was able to tie it into our EIW lessons because the book uses very complex sentences.  I told him that during the EIW lesson and he started laughing when the first sentence I read in the book was very complex. 

In dictation he is really plugging along and is half way through level 7.  He types his dictations using wordpad so there isn't spelling or grammar check. 

He is now getting past the newness of the guide and the challenge of the work and starting to enjoy some of the boxes.  I am so glad that even in high school he can find things he looks forward to in his day.