Weekly Review: Making Strides

Although they are small, we are making strides in reading.  Katie is starting to recall some of what she learned last year and it's translating into her reading.  We backed off on the math for a while so we could focus on reading.  Next week, I plan to return her to a full schedule.

Math remains Emily's strength.  And she is making strides in memorizing the multiplication facts.  RightStart has a great approach to drilling the facts in various ways that are proving successful.  All the while, we continue on in the book.  Love it!  The funny thing is that while I was randomly asking Emily what 6x4 is, Katie shouts out "24."  Of course, she was right!  So I'm hoping that she'll absorb some of this now so that when it's her turn, she'll catch on quickly.

So, last week, I was on the fence about the book Augustus Caesar's World.  This week, we actually enjoyed it.  Even better, the kids asked questions and made comparisons!  Since I stumbled through the reading at times, I searched the web for summaries about the book.  Well, there are none on this specific book.  However, there are plenty of resources on the web about the Caesars and other key people of that time.  Two sites I found most useful are World History for Kids and Ancient Rome for Kids.  They have brief summaries, videos, and even some neat printables that we will include in our notebooks.  I found these summaries very useful in helping me to comprehend it all better, which then made it easier for me to read the book and explain when needed.  This, in no way replaces reading Augustus Caesar's World.  I want to make that clear because there is so much great detail in this book.  And after reading a decent chunk of it, I've learned the writing style and kind of have a feel for it, which makes it easier for me to read aloud.

Katie started back up in her spelling book this week, which was a bit easy for her, but good practice.  And we meant to start Emily's new spelling book this week... but... I lost it!  Seriously!  This book was nowhere to be found!  Checked, double & triple checked all the shelves, under furniture, behind furniture... EVERYWHERE!!!  Well, obviously not everywhere!  Early Wednesday morning, I found it in a chair under some drawings.  And as much as I hate to admit this, I'm pretty sure that I was the one who put it there!  But that doesn't really matter, right?  Anyway, there was no point in starting it since we had a field trip to the Renaissance Festival on Thursday and ended up taking Friday off.  After the fun but exhausting field trip, I needed a day off!  The kids were thrilled.

I started Emily on a comprehensive curriculum workbook this week.  I mainly want her doing more reading for school rather than just for pleasure, and this workbook will accomplish that, and so much more.  She didn't like the looks of it at first, but she'll adjust.

The girls both love their co-op classes.  It was kind of a rough start this year but it's working out well for them.  They talk about it quite a bit so I know they are learning a lot.  The anatomy class reinforces our learning at home and visa versa.

That pretty much wraps up our week.  I would say that I look forward to having four full school days (plus co-op) next week, but I'm thinking of taking a day to visit the zoo.  The weather is supposed to be really nice next week and I want to take advantage of any nice days we get before we're cooped up all winter.  And we love the zoo! :)

 

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