Weekly Update

I think instead of weekly updates, I should do monthly updates, at least it seems like that is about how often I end up posting. I guess I really don't have as much to say as I originally thought. ;) But anyways, here a bit of what we've been doing -

Math: Jake is FINALLY finished his geometry. Now again, he didn't do ALL of the books in the set, just a few. If he feels later he wants more we'll either get the rest of the set or a different curriculum. But I am pretty sure he'll never, ever want more Geometry.

English/Writing: He's getting a little further into his book and finding the exercises getting a little harder. He is not enjoying "finding such & such clauses" and all that sort of stuff. hehe His writing is still horrible, and I hate trying to read anything. He insists on writing so tiny.. *sigh*

Geography: I am REALLY hoping that by the end of April we will finally be finished with this. It was started forever ago. We did great when first starting, because we were doing this as a group with some others. Then that fizzled out and, well, it just got pushed to the bottom of our pile. Here and there I've tried to get it going again, but it fizzled out every time. But no more, it needs to be finished. So he is almost halfway through it. So if we keep at this pace, then it should be finished by the end of April if not sooner.

History: We've been jumping all over the place here. I was going to start with Ancient History using Susan Wise Bauer's The History of the Ancient World: From the Earliest Accounts to the Fall of Rome. But instead I think we are going to do a US study first using America The Story of Us book & DVD first.That won't take us long. Basically I'll have them (Amanda is doing this as well) read a Chapter sometime M-Th and on Fri we'll watch the DVD chapter and do any lessons from the Teacher's Guide. I think there are like 9 Chapters or so in the book. If they end up reading the chapter early enough in the week, we can go ahead and do 2 per week instead.

Science: We are changing this, yet again. Not sure what I am going to pull of the shelf, but something Biology. And I think we'll do Chemistry at the same time, using The Joy of Chemistry: The Amazing Science of Familiar Things

Amanda's been really into artsy stuff lately; working in her sketchbook, crafts of one sort or another, etc. We've made pom-flowers:

Notebook paper t-shirt:

Crayon art:

And we had a failed attempt at an altered t-shirt, which then become a cleaning rag. LOL So no picture of that one. ;) Oh, and I finally finished my tiles I made the beginning of Feb.

Week in review

We are trying to get into a better routine here. Well, at least I am still *hoping* we can get into a better routine. I am being met with much resistance though from the boy. But this week we've gotten a fair amount of work done. No where near what I had hoped for, but...

Jake's doing pretty decent at getting caught up on his math. He in finally on book 3 of the Key to Geometry. He HATES Geometry. He HATES using the compass. But I wanted him to do a little bit of the work, which is why I didn't order ALL of the Geometry books and just the first 3. If the time comes and he needs or wants (HAHA) more, we can get the rest or find something else. He has no problem with the Algebra, so I shortened his work on that. Basically he just has to do half of the problems on each page. As long as he isn't struggling, we'll continue this way for now. He does make careless mistakes, but when I say "hey fix this answer" he knows exactly what he did wrong as soon as he double checks it.

He is WAY behind on Grammar and his writing. So I need to get him moving there. I know he hates the grammar as well (must be something with G's.. grammar, geometry and geography, he hates 'em all) but seriously it takes 5-10 minutes for each day.

We still haven't started our chemistry. That's my fault though. I still need a few supplies and I've been dragging my feet on getting things in order. We WILL get started on it in Feb. though, I swear! I had expected to do some simple & fun biology work this month. I ordered one of Janice VanCleave's biology books from Paperback swap earlier this month. It, of course, has not shown up yet. I have 1 more day before I can, hopefully, cancel it and order from someone else. I just wanted it to do some simple, quick experiments.

Week in review (a few days late)

Better late than never though, right?

We didn't get a lot done last week. Too much was going on (and not anything fun sadly) and I just let things slide. But some work was completed, so it could have been worse I suppose.

Chemistry is still on hold. I did a group order with some other moms so we could get free shipping from Home Science Tools. (LOVE THAT SITE!!) So the materials will be here Thursday hopefully. Chemistry will then begin next week. :) The getting out of bed thing still needs work.

Here's the list of what was done last week:

Math - He finished up most of his work for his Algebra review. Not so much for Geometry. So he has that to get caught up on this week. It really takes him less than 20 minutes to complete 10 pages. He just hates geometry, so he drags his feet on it.

Writing - He started his lesson for the week, but didn't get it all finished. So he did that all up today.

Grammar - He finished his 5 lessons for this. It really only takes him about 15-20 minutes to do a weeks worth of lessons in this book as well.

Economics - He read chapter 2 and answered the follow-up questions in the guide book.

Art - Last weeks lesson was still just doing some reading. This week we'll be adding in biography History Scribe Artist Biography pages.

He did some more geography work as well. And we didn't get around to adding in any History. Might wait until next week for that.

Week in review

I'm going to try this again. :) Maybe I can at least do a weekly review throughout the year... that shouldn't be too hard right?

We had our first day "back" on Tuesday. We still need to do some work on Jake getting out of bed when I wake him. I find myself going back every 20 minutes or so and he's gone back to sleep! (But yet on a Saturday morning when he goes with his dad to the game store he either wakes up right away or wakes himself up almost 2 hours earlier than he needs to!!) So yeah, we need to work on that. But all in all, it wasn't too bad of a week. Tuesday was the hardest.

He finished most of the week I had planned, Chemistry I put on hold until next week because I needed a few other items. And I had planned to start working through the Movies as Literature book, but since we are packing to move all the DVD's are boxed up. So we'll pick that up once we get moved and unpacked.

So here is what we did accomplish this week:

Math - for the time being, I am having him work through some Key to... books. So the schedule is for 2 pages of Algebra and 2 pages of Geometry each day. He truly hates Geometry. lol But he got through it just fine and finished everything for the week on Thursday.

Writing - Since his goal is to start writing more, I had this book from last year when I was planning on working through Oak Meadow with him. But we changed our minds. I did keep the writing book to use though. It is The Least You Should Know About English: Writing Skills. I have an older copy, the 8th Edition, of Form B. Forms A, B and C are all the same except for the exercises in each book. So no need to buy all 3.

So Jake will be doing a section or 2 each week. Each chapter is broken into sections, which have explanations and exercises. Then there is also a proofreading exercise and sentence writing. The sections are about 10 pages each. They don't take him long to finish, which is why some weeks he'll be doing 2 sections a week (plus there are a few with just 2-3 pages).

Grammar - He is using the Easy Grammar Ultimate Series Grade 11 book. The Ultimate Series books are just like the Daily Grams, but for grades 9+ (they do still have the Jr/Sr book, but recently came out with these.) Just a page a day, takes about 5 minutes. He'll most likely do all 5 pages on one day just to finish it up quickly for the week.

Economics - I had picked up Whatever Happened to Penny Candy (An Uncle Eric book) at the curriculum fair in the Spring to use this year. Not sure how I feel about the rest of the Uncle Eric books, but this one got a decent review (even from secular homeschoolers). Then he'll also be working through the Bluestocking Guide: Economics book.The schedule is 1 chapter and worksheet per week.

Art - I put together a quick and easy art history lesson plan. Using a few Usborne books I have along with the History Scribe Artist Biography pages. So he will read a section/chapter in the book and do any biography pages we have with artists that were in the time period he is reading.

He also still has some Geography work he is finishing up. Next week will add in Chemistry (The Joy of Chemistry) and Social Studies/History (Critical Thinking in US History)

So that's it for the week. Not a ton, but it was enough. LOL