Weekly Wrap-Up

Just like previous weeks, we had some ups and downs, but for the most part, it was a productive school week.  The highlight of the week is the progress in reading by both kids.  On Tuesday, I seriously doubted my ability to teach Katie to read.  God knew exactly what I needed and provided it on Wednesday.  Both children were reasonably cooperative, attentive, and reading on their own!!!  Katie was grabbing one book after another, and Emily found a book that is enjoyable for her and doesn't even need us to remind her to spend time reading.  She's just been doing it.  That thrills me to pieces!  And to celebrate, I took them to the zoo on Thursday!

A highlight was getting to pet a 2-year-old alligator!  Alligators grow very slowly, so this little guy is only 18 inches long at age 2.  Although he seemed well behaved, I wouldn't want to take him home!

He is kinda cute...

...and he walks with a leash!

No trip to the zoo is complete without a visit to the gift shop.  So this was our last stop for the day.

It was a great day to visit the zoo with perfect weather.  I'm so glad we took the time to go.

My Father's World - Creation to the Greeks

Emily and I are both enjoying ancient history, learning about the Great Flood, Babylon & how different languages came into existence, and the Ice Age.  Learning about the architecture, pictographs and cuneiform writing, and civilization in that day is fascinating.  So far, we've enjoyed the activities, although we haven't celebrated any of the Jewish feasts yet.  But we finally got our timeline up!

My Father's World - First Grade

Katie isn't as crazy about this as she was in the beginning.  I don't think it's the curriculum.  She just gets frustrated with phonics.  But she loves the book she's making with it and does very well reading & writing the sentences and drawing pictures that appropriately depict the writing.  She has such a strong and vivid imagination!

RightStart Math

This is going very well with both the kids.  We quickly breezed through some of Katie's lessons because they were too easy for her.  Emily is sailing through hers as well.  I'm proud of both of them and am ever so grateful for effortlessly finding this program.  *A note to those just starting RightStart, or considering it: it is different than many math programs and takes some time to adjust.  But once you are through the adjustment period, it's so worth it!  Se keep plugging away!

Spectrum Spelling

Katie is already on page 52!  She loves her grade 1 book!  Emily is struggling a bit with hers this year.  But we're persevering.  There seems to be a big jump from grade 3 to 4.

On the home front, we are decluttering and reorganizing.  Hubs took off work on Friday so that he and his dad could finish the drywall in the garage and clean it out.  It looks much better and is much more functional.  My father-in-law has really great organizational ideas and was very helpful.

I've been working on the basement, trying to clean out the old toys and unnecessary things that have accumulated down there.  I really want to toss the old couch that's down there but I have nothing to replace it with.  Any inexpensive ideas out there?  We live near an Ikea but I'm not looking to spend much, if anything.  Hum...I'll have to think about this. :)

I'm curious.  Does anyone else have any household projects in the works?  And how was your school week?