Friday, May 16, 2008

Weekly Report Weeks 3 and 4

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School is humming right along. I'm happy with the amount of work that is getting done. Kate is really predictable with her naps now and it has made such a difference. We've even done several science experiments this week. Granted, they didn't have anything to do with earth science (which is what we're supposed to be studying), but they were fun and very educational.
Mary was sick yesterday with a high fever, but she was actually a lot easier than normal, so we still did school, though it was pretty much just the basics, yesterday. I'm trying to think what else we've been up to that has affected school...I think that's it. Right now I'm working on a list of chores that the kids need to do before they can go out to play. I'm feeling a lot like the family slave lately. That needs to change.
First off, I'm still so pleased with Winston Grammar. Keller already has common and proper nouns, articles, and personal pronouns down pat, and we've only been at it for about 3 weeks. This is a great curriculum for us. He enjoys doing it too, which is totally the point.

Last week math had a few bumps in the road for Keller. This week has been better for him. Ella is using unifix cubes to help cement the idea of larger addition and subtraction problems (sums of up to 20). She's doing pretty well, though I'm not sure how much it really means to her. She loves having her own work to do alongside of Keller though, so I just let her do it and try not to push her to finish if she doesn't want to.

Keller finished his White Star book. He's doing better in reading, skipping less words and being a little more careful, sounding things out instead of just fudging and guessing. Ella's doing great on reading. She's fun to listen to.

Keller has a fit every time he misses a spelling word. I try to calm him down and tell him it's okay to make mistakes, but he just hates to miss any words! Next week, we'll practice a little more. Ella needs work on writing. I've got to find her a writing program. Suggestions?

Science was fun. We put pepsin ( the enzyme in your stomach that digests proteins) onto gelatin and watched it dissolve the gelatin. We also labeled the parts of the digestive system, and we also tested different foods for starch content. Plus Keller had his MacGyver class both weeks. They raced their rocket cars and our car (our real car that we drive) narrowly missed being attacked when one of the cars blew up. It looked like the space shuttle explosion. But, needless to say, the boys loved it.

Um, we pretty much skipped history. Except I let them watch a video on the Celts. We'll work on improving that next week. I need to find a new book for Keller to love, also.

Well, that's it! All in all a good couple of weeks.



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