The Sinister Scribe

This week started off and ended rather relaxed. With Monday’s rain our outdoor activities were canceled so we just relaxed during those times and moved to the next subject as originally scheduled. Even during the rest of the week, if he finished a subject ahead of schedule, he had that as free time until the next subject. (a CM suggestion I read about this week :)) I like doing that better than giving more electronics time. Friday we took the day off and went swimming with friends. Even on an off day though we still do reading and art so a few hours do get logged.

Math… there were ups and downs this week. Tuesday he didn’t meet the 15 minute on task minimum so I had him do another 5 minutes. At the end of that 5 he was in a rather sour mood because he’d lost a “level.” Wednesday was far better. Out of the usual 20 minutes he had 17 minutes on task. Woot! So now BOTH of us know he can do it. The rest of the week was along those lines.

Astronomy… went really well (I know it’s only the second week) but it just felt like it was gelling with him. It may have more to do with the subject than anything. And I think I’m getting the hang of combining subjects… for example, one art assignment this week, we discussed what he knew about Mercury and Venus and how they look. Then I had him get out the water color pencils and draw them. He said he wasn’t happy with it which is fine… but it reminded me that I want to get back to using “Drawing with Children” at some point for more involved art time.

History… The fixation with Alexander the Great continues. I took some ideas from SimplyCharlotteMason.com and had him write interview questions for “Ol’ Al” and write a review for a book he read on him (to be posted at Amazon.com). Next week we’re going to refine the review and have him think about what Ol’ Al might say during the interview. There was also an art assignment to draw a portrait of Alexander the Great. He drew the sword point on and enlarged it because it was coming toward you. Cool, huh?

Vocabulary… also went well. I’m going to try having him create a card set at flashcardfriends.com for just the roots and their origin. Or just have him write the root on the opposite side and use the cards themselves.

Music and Art Appreciation… listened to Wicked Celts (Prophecy and Blessing) all week and I’ve tried to find more along that line but didn’t turn up much until yesterday when I stumbled across footstompin.com’s (AyePodcast). It is a mixture of contemporary and traditional but isn’t tavern song oriented as much as some I’ve found. Gotta keep it “G” afterall. Didn’t get to the actual art appreciation time this week as we took Friday off. So the celtic poetry books we checked out will be used next week. I really can’t wait to read from them. I may use some of those poems for copywork. We haven’t really done that yet but I think his handwriting could use the practice. Hey, I like neat handwriting. *shrug*

Literature/Dictation… reading Beowulf. Jessie sat in on the reading and drew a picture of Grendel for us. I was just happy she was in the room quietly. When she brought the drawing to me (while I was reading :\ ) I was thrilled! Sam did really well on the dictation. I hope to make this a once a week lesson, reading 5-6 chapters each time so that we’re done by the time we finish with our Viking segment.

Writing… We’re doing quite a lot of writing for different things so I haven’t broken it out as a subject. One of the things we’re doing is a Literature unit by Highlights of Homeschooling on Prince Caspian. It has lots of suggestions for activities and worksheets to do. Since this is not a core assignment, I picked one project that wasn’t your average comprehension exersize… Making a Newspaper from Narnia. This week he wrote the editorial and without prompting flipped the question “what do you think about kids who believe in talking animals” to “what do you think about kids who DON’T believe in talking animals?”… because if you live in Narnia, OF COURSE you believe in them. Clever, no?

Latin… still working on chapter one. Spacing things out with the worksheets, words to remember review and activities. So far so good.

Japanese… I’m getting the feeling that his interest waning. I’m kinda sad (shhhh! I was secretly enjoying it too) He says he likes to practice writing hiragana but that’s all. Since this is elective I may just let him do that and see if a break will rekindle his interest. We did run into a young woman who gives Japanese language tutoring. (at Karate class) I put my name on her list. We’ll see if she calls us back and if Sam is interested at that point.

Community Service… Sam has been dying to volunteer with the Humane Society. We finally made it to an orientation last week. Now we just gotta pick a date and show up!

Life Skills… Sewing. Sam’s backpack is now cut out. I had him use the rotary cutter after measuring the fabric. While I was helping him with cutting, I realized just how careful I need to be in wording my instructions. I said “Cut to the end.” I meant “Cut to the end of the ruler.” He cut to the end of the fabric. Not a problem but it was kind of an eye opener for me.

Phys Ed… TKD, swimming, karate. Didn’t get the daily program going this week and didn’t get to the pres fitness assessment this weekend. That link has some great resources for basic abilities and ways to improve them. I hope that seeing how much he can improve over a month’s time will be a great confidence booster.

Pennywhistle… don’t know that I’m doing this right but we’re just practicing scales and a song or two. And I’m trying to get him to look at the music and not my fingers.

Things we didn’t get to: Nature Study, Shakespeare, Librivox, Pres. Phys Fitness test & program.

A good week. I’m feeling more confident now. Wasn’t feeling that way at all when we started this year. I think tying subjects together is helping. I feel like there’s more reinforcement of information AND I’m not rushed to come up with something different for everything. So maybe (just maybe) things are gelling for me too.

This entry was posted on Sunday, August 3rd, 2008 at 6:47 am and is filed under Homeschooling, Weekly Review. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.