Wahoo! One Week Off Coming Up!

Next week will be our week off. We went four weeks this time, and may go four or five (with one week off, etc) until we catch up to Andrew's grade level. I'm so happy about this upcoming week off that I can hardly think of what we did this week.

Andrew finished his 'Bible Storybook' this week. He's going to call my grandmother tonight and let her know (she bought it). The last eight chapters flew by, Andrew read them yesterday and today. Once you get to the betrayal, crucifiction, etc. the story is more compelling. He would've read all eight yesterday, but I made him wait. Now, the question is, what do we read?

For handwriting Andrew copied 'The Months' in cursive. He finished on Wednesday, we had to take Tuesday off because he was sick. We went ahead and skipped handwriting today. The only reason I can think to give is... I was just too lazy.

Andrew is still working on /k/ in Spelling. I ordered Spelling Workout, hopefully that will get us moving again. We'll have it next week (oh, the excitement).

Grammar is trucking right along. We are at lesson 65 in section one of FLL. I'm hopeing we'll be at grade level by September. It's an ambitious goal, but he's picking this stuff up so quick that I have little doubt we'll do it.

Math has thrown another speed bump in our path. We have managed to finish his 2nd grade work. Some how, we've done all of second grade math since we started in December. I'm ordering Saxon Math 3 next week. Between now and the time it comes in I guess we'll just chant the times tables.

Latin is the easiest part of our day. Andrew loves it, I love it. We'll be done with Prima Latina around September too, so Latina Christiana I is now on my list of 'must haves' for 3rd grade.

History was spent on Anansi this week. I wish I could say we delved deeper into Africa, but the truth is, Andrew read all the Anansi stories we could find. He colored Anansi, he drew Anansi, he wondered what Anansi would do if in certain situations. I think he likes Anansi. Thank goodness there are no Anansi toys, play sets, action figures, cartoons, etc. If there is, I don't want to know.

Science, we focused some more on the inner planets. Andrew made a scale drawing of the four inner planets, drew their moons, etc. I'm not sure he's really keeping any of this information, but he's enjoyed learning it.

Karate continues on as Andrew's second favorite part of the day. His 'hero' is an older boy in class that spends hours every day practicing. I can't remember his name for the life of me, but he seems like a decent enough role model for Drew. He's definitely dedicated to what he's doing.

That's it, I think... our week.

I'm off to wash the school marm off and put on a fresh set of idon'thavetodoanything.

Later!

And it just keeps getting better!

Monday was nearly a day off, but then the baby got sick and I couldn't take Mom to the doctors. I have to say, I was glad, if only because I want a regular week and everything's been so out of whack lately. So, Monday was nearly a regular day, until WWIII broke out between Mom, my sibs, my grandma and anyone else that cared to join. Long story short, Mom decided to take Dd with her (she had the day off for Pres. day). Then, Mom was ordered back into the hospital. So, DD is in Richmond watching her gramma get put in a wheelchair and heaved off to the CC unit. Heck broke loose, Monday was not a regular day. Deo Gratias, my sil brought DD to Bowling Green and spared me the trip down 95. Rant off, sorry.

Other than the family drama, this week was okay for us. Once again, I'm blogging on Thursday, only this time it's because I'll be out most of tomorrow.

Reading, Andrew is almost done with his Bible Storybook. My gramma is beaming, so proud that he's read the book, enjoyed it and retained a lot of it. Drew's pretty proud too ;)

Writing, we've been doing our copywork in cursive and using that for handwriting. I'm not sure how everyone else does it, but we've been using the poems Andrew memorizes. For dictation, we have been taking sections out of 'James and the Giant Peach,' since that's what we're reading. Today, our WWE came in, WOOHOO, so next week will be quite a change for us! Oh, and Andrew has been writing once a week to a soldier he 'adopted' online. No responses yet, but it's only been three weeks; let's hope this soldier doesn't mind letters from a little boy.

Math... we eased off of multiplication. He knows how to do it, but the task of memorizing was getting daunting and with everything that's been going on, we decided on a vacation. Instead, we have covered measurements, time and directions. It's all a little review for him, except the explanation of how we (Americans) measure things, versus how the rest of the world does it. Lol, Andrew decided he'll write everything in metric, but try to remember the 'American' measurement, in case someone asks. I halfway wish the country would switch to the metric system, it's so much easier and actually makes sense.

Latin is like a refreshing swim in the middle of the day. We both look forward to it and now that we've reached Lesson 8 the lessons are coming together. I hope this stays so enjoyable for us.

History is zooming along. Since I've been given permission to skimp, in order to catch up, we've started really flying. Granted, there isn't much in depth work, but I was reminded, we'll go over it all again in a few years. I really hope we'll be caught up by the end of the first cycle, LOL.

Science really took a back seat these past two weeks. We're still doing the year of Astronomy and occasionally glimpse the night sky while running from errand to errand. Andrew's still reading some good stuff, but I really need to get back to the way we had been working.

Art... uh, what's art? Except for some pictures drawn for History and Science, Art has been totally dumped.

Karate is the ironic addition to our days. I signed Andrew up when I was still planning on taking classes this semester (it would've covered my Chemistry class). Once I realized I was short a grand or two and dropped my classes, I forgot to take him out. Thankfully, Andrew loves it. He's very serious about it and is learning his upper and lower body basics. I know his sensei, we go way back, and Ron is taking good care of my boy. Now, we practice every day for around an hour. So, while the arts have suffered, PE has made a come back.

Here's to a quiet week with nothing to do, but learn.

*Grades
Grammar: 100% (The Weeks and The Months)
Spelling: 102% (kimono was the bonus, /k/ beginning sounds)
Math: 110% (Measurements and time, money bonus)
Latin: 99% (forgot Mea Culpa)
Science: 95% (Venus)
History: 91% (Chapters 10 & 11)

The Longest Week Ever.

Monday, Mom finds out her surgeon had another oopsie and forgot to let the discharge/nurses know that she needed to be on an antibiotic. So, one week later, with lots of infection, drainage, and her skin on the verge of death; Mom learns that she should've been taking antibiotics all along. In class, we covered another chapter in History, Drew enjoyed Gilgamesh; we turned our sights to Mercury in Science; Grammar, writing and spelling went on in their constant hum-drum; and Reading took a turn for the ... high hopes. Andrew's decided to read three books at once. Normally, we read a long book together and he reads an easier book on his own. This week he couldn't choose between 'Artemis Fowl' and 'James and the Giant Peach,' he decided I should read him both :)

Tuesday, my gramma showed up with an incredible book, 'The Timeline of World History.' It was really incredible, but our day had to be shortened to accomodate her visit. Right before she left, Andrew found our dog, Fred, dead. He was really old (15-16 years) and it appears he was soaking up the sun and just died. I tried to get my assistant, for Cub Scouts, to take the den meeting for me, but couldn't reach her, so we had to wrap Freddie up and leave him in the yard (he's a big dog). I hated to do it, but my hubby said he would be fine. Cub Scouts was.... well. Andrew was voted in as the lead for our Blue and Gold skit (woohoo!) and when we got home we both helped Dad bury Fred. Drew said the Sanctus once we put Fred in the hole. It was sweet.

Wednesday, Gramma came back for her book, but I couldn't go near her. I woke up with a sore/hoarse throat (eye roll). Another short day, because Mom/Magistra was too tired to do much, no History, no Science, again. We did put together and mail our Valentine's cards. My family will be super surprised, because I tend to never mail anything. Karate Wed. night, Drew had a blast, Luke was a pain, and I just wanted to sleep in the car.

Today...... looks slow again. I have to take Jo shopping for her first dance this afternoon and I don't want to do school, I feel like crud. Tomorrow, we're off to my mother-in-law's to use her telescope and work on Astronomy. Saturday there's a b-day party for our neighbor's little girl, oh and Valentine's day. I want to go to bed.

I'm not blogging tomorrow, too much to do, so this is it, my weekly report.

Feb 2-6

We changed up our spelling this week, and it's shown. Andrew missed three words on his test. We used rules, instead of specific words and he just did not apply what he learned. Hopefully, this will go better next week.

We drilled the week away with multiplication. Andrew also started using a workbook for word problems. He hasn't memorized much of his times tables at all, but I think we're going to move forward and just drill multiplication for a few minutes a day. Eventually, he has to remember this stuff, right?

Grammar and writing are doing well. He's finished the cursive alphabet, so now he's doing his copywork in cursive. He's memorized, "Hearts Are Like Doors" in one week!

What else? Oh, we've finished the first section in Latin. He memorized 'The Sanctus' and has really nailed the vocabulary.

Science this week, we covered the sun and stars. He is still enjoying Astronomy and awed by the things we're learning about space.

History and reading have collided! We covered 'The Jewish People' and 'Hammurabi and Babylonia.'

side note: unexpected collect call from a prison... I didn't accept, but there's nothing like an unexpected collect call from a prison to break up the monotony, right?!?

Back to history! Andrew didn't really understand the importance of Hammurabi. We spent some extra time discussing a leader that uses fairness and understanding, versus a military dictatorship. While he found the Code of Hammurabi mostly unfair, he doesn't see death as an appropriate punishment, he did come to understand the signifigance of Hammurabi.

That's our week in a nutshell! Now, let me go reverse number search and find out what prison is holding inmates that have my phone number (oh the excitement!).