Here is my weekly report for the past 2 weeks of school - one before Thanksgiving and one after. We are finally in a good rhythm - and it only took four months to get there! Lol.
Math is plugging along; nothing new to report there. One lesson continues to take an hour but I am getting used to it and it does not bother Thatcher. He chooses to start with Math every single day! I have not been drilling his math facts nor practicing his skip counting since we are already spending so much time just completing the lesson. He can count to 100 by 1's, 2's, 3's, 4's, 5's, 9's and 10's. And he's almost half-way there with the 6's. If I would just count out loud to him every single day once or twice he would get it within a week or so. It seems like such a small thing but all those small things can sure add up!
Language is not happening. I am not sure why since it only takes a few minutes a day but we haven't done it in 3 weeks. It just isn't as fun as history, science or Spanish which are the other subjects we do in the afternoon and it just seems to get put to the side. I am going to try to pick up where we left off this week.
Reading is going very well and tonight I actually found Thatcher reading a Magic Tree House book all by himself. He is capable of reading above that level but because of his ADHD he struggles to focus when he sees that many words on a page. Because of that, for his independent reading I have kept him in longer picture books to minimize his frustrations, and we read all chapter books together.
If your child is in the same boat - somewhere between easy readers/picture books and chapter books - and you need some new ideas for reading here are some of our favorite series so far:
Math is plugging along; nothing new to report there. One lesson continues to take an hour but I am getting used to it and it does not bother Thatcher. He chooses to start with Math every single day! I have not been drilling his math facts nor practicing his skip counting since we are already spending so much time just completing the lesson. He can count to 100 by 1's, 2's, 3's, 4's, 5's, 9's and 10's. And he's almost half-way there with the 6's. If I would just count out loud to him every single day once or twice he would get it within a week or so. It seems like such a small thing but all those small things can sure add up!
Language is not happening. I am not sure why since it only takes a few minutes a day but we haven't done it in 3 weeks. It just isn't as fun as history, science or Spanish which are the other subjects we do in the afternoon and it just seems to get put to the side. I am going to try to pick up where we left off this week.
Reading is going very well and tonight I actually found Thatcher reading a Magic Tree House book all by himself. He is capable of reading above that level but because of his ADHD he struggles to focus when he sees that many words on a page. Because of that, for his independent reading I have kept him in longer picture books to minimize his frustrations, and we read all chapter books together.
If your child is in the same boat - somewhere between easy readers/picture books and chapter books - and you need some new ideas for reading here are some of our favorite series so far:
- Frog and Toad by Arnold Lobel
- Henry and Mudge by Cynthia Rylant
- Poppleton by Cynthia Rylant
- Nate the Great by Marjorie Weinman Sharmat
- Commander Toad by Jane Yolen
- Mr. Putter and Tabby by Cynthia Rylant
If you have any others, please leave a comment. We're always happy for new ideas :)
For our read together time we are enjoying the Tales from the Odyssey series by Mary Pope Osborne. Thatcher loves these books more than any other we have ever read together. I would highly recommend them, especially if you have boys (Cyclops getting gored in the eye with a burning log may upset a few girly-girls!). The story has captivated his imagination and each day he can't wait to hear what adventures Odysseus will find.
Spanish is going great as well. Thatcher loves watching Sra. Cano on United Streaming and he is retaining a lot more than I thought he would. Most importantly he is excited about Spanish and is learning to love the culture which are some of my biggest goals for this year!
History and Science are great! Some days I wish we could spend much more time on these than anywhere else. Thatcher loves these subjects and to be honest, I am learning so much!
The week before Thanksgiving we went on a field trip to a wonderful place called Dewberry Farm. Here are a few of my favorite pictures from that day.
For our read together time we are enjoying the Tales from the Odyssey series by Mary Pope Osborne. Thatcher loves these books more than any other we have ever read together. I would highly recommend them, especially if you have boys (Cyclops getting gored in the eye with a burning log may upset a few girly-girls!). The story has captivated his imagination and each day he can't wait to hear what adventures Odysseus will find.
Spanish is going great as well. Thatcher loves watching Sra. Cano on United Streaming and he is retaining a lot more than I thought he would. Most importantly he is excited about Spanish and is learning to love the culture which are some of my biggest goals for this year!
History and Science are great! Some days I wish we could spend much more time on these than anywhere else. Thatcher loves these subjects and to be honest, I am learning so much!
The week before Thanksgiving we went on a field trip to a wonderful place called Dewberry Farm. Here are a few of my favorite pictures from that day.
How do you like the shirts dh had made for all of us at the start of the year?! We wear them anytime we go on an outing. It makes it a lot easier to keep up with everyone and the boys are so proud to have their own school shirts!
8 comments:
I loved the photos, and I'm a little jealous of your groove. I'm hoping to get in back these next few weeks. November was not a groove month for us! ;)
I'm inspired! Thank you...
Love the shirts! I've been wanting to do something like that, but I don't think my boys would like that!
We were at Dewberry Farms a couple of weeks ago. Did you get lost in the corn maze? :)
It is a great place to go. We went for the first time last year.
Rhonda
Those shirts are great. I need to come up with a good logo for our school.
I'm glad you are getting into a good rhythm. Sure helps the days go by more smoothly, yes? I like all of your book suggestions. I'm looking forward to reading Tales of the Odyssey next year. We love all of the books by Arnold Lobel including Mouse Tales, Owl at Home, and Grasshopper on the Road.
I'll see if I can come up with answers for Eight. Thanks for tagging me. :)
Great shirts on those handsome farm boys!
Lee
That’s so cool! You all have the same t-shirt!
RyLee is enjoying Spanish too.... she loves cooking and crafts related to the culture....
You are in such a groove.... we are not... I lost my groove! Hoping to get it back soon. lol
Lisa~
Hi Jennefer,
I haven't commented here before, but I've been really enjoying your blog. Actually, you were the one who inspired me to start blogging myself!
Anyway, I just wanted to say I love the kids t-shirts! I appreciate your willingness to share the events of your homeschool on this blog. I've just finished our first year of homeschool kindergarten (I live in Australia, where the school year follows the calendar year) and doing a weekly blog report like I first saw you doing has helped me to keep focussed. I'm glad you're still going strong.
- Sharon
So glad that you're in a good groove! I had that going before the baby was born and I loved it. It feels great to be making solid progress and the kids love the structure. Maybe we'll get there again after Christmas!
Yes, Jason loved it when we learned about "Jason and the Argonouts" because of all the beasts and gore! And Mary Pope Osborne is one of my favorites for this young age.
My bil also loves CASE and he is brainwashing Jason against all other tractors already! ;-)
Keep on keeping on!
Andrea
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