Weekly Report 8/22

Back in the groove again ...

This was our first week of the year's official homeschooling, and we're easing into it. That said, I'd call it a success, especially considering my trepidations. Overall, attitudes were good and harmony, if not reigned, at least hovered near the throne. As much as I dislike the idea of homeschooling "to check things off our list," it seems like having a list of daily goals does help both Ian and me, even if I'm creating it all myself right now (eventually I'd like him to participate in the goal-setting). Eliza even asked for her own list today, after she'd taken it upon herself to wash the bathroom floor, the kitchen table and chairs, the craft table, etc. I had to chuckle when she wanted me to write "Washing" at the top of the list, just so she could immediately cross it off. Yeah, she's my daughter.

We're trying out a curriculum called Tapestry of Grace this year, which takes a classical approach to history (which we've already done), but includes not only a great book list but also some writing AND hands-on activities -- hopefully perfect for someone craft-planning-challenged like myself. I downloaded the first three weeks of Year Unit 3 for free, and am waiting on my back order of the rest of the unit to arrive in late September. To make it stretch, and to get us used to the pace, we're taking two weeks to do each week at the beginning. So this week, we did part of Week 1.

We had fun! We read some about the Jamestown settlement and the story of Pocahontas -- a lovely illustrated version by the d'Aulaires. For geography, we found a whole list of features (seas, rivers, mountains, etc.) on a map of North America. Ian really likes the You Wouldn't Want To ... history series, so I got him You Wouldn't Want to Be an American Colonist: A Settlement You'd Rather Not Start (You Wouldn't Want to...) Brownie points. :-)

For math, Ian did several pages of the Miquon math red book, reviewing odds and evens at a slightly higher level. Also did a couple cards from a Math-Problem-a-Day deck I picked up at Half Price Books a while back.

For science, we're reading Holling Clancy Holling's Pagoo, a super-detailed look at the life of a hermit crab. We've enjoyed all of Holling's books, this being our most sophisticated yet. We also happened to discuss (with Daddy, of course) the definition of an atom and what micrometers, nanometers, etc. are. I'm looking forward to doing more nature study, but right now it's still too hot to spend much time hiking around outdoors. We did make a start on the 100 Species Challenge, though -- will we actually follow through? We'll see.

For writing, we started brainstorming a fable for Ian to write, although instead of the traditional animal characters he's using an alien named Destructo, who will somehow learn the lesson "Look Before You Leap." Should be interesting when he starts writing. Stay tuned.

In our morning Bible story reading, we're finally in the New Testament! For poetry we're all working on Psalm 23 together, and for a fun read-aloud, we did Meet Kit: An American Girl : 1934 (American Girls Collection) this week (I took them to see the movie last week). They loved it, so we may continue the series.

Of course, there's also all the picture books I read to the girls and Ian's own reading, and our second time through Little House in the Prairie in the car, but those are the highlights for this week.