I’m going to try to use Fridays to sum up what’s gone on during the week and reflect on where to go from there. Obviously, it won’t be complete; just what comes to mind and what I actually see them do.
Aidan(7 years old)
I found this Learn to Read site at Starfall. It has a nice format — large letters, not too many distractions, using the “word families” principle. He can do the short a ones. The first few times I walked him through the thinking process but now he can do it generally on his own though I stay near him. It is fun for both of us.
ALso, a cute counting game that both he and Paddy like. They like the animals and I like the way it helps the child to count. I know, it’s silly to count on a computer when there are millions of things to count in real life — and we do count quite a bit during the day. But this makes a nice reinforcement.
Lots of books — both he and Paddy. The basket by the bed is working great, but I am going to have to set a day — like Fridays — to hunt for new choices since they know the old ones practically by heart.
No handwriting this week — that’s on the plans, though. We use Handwriting without Tears.
On the Ambleside site there is a Year 0 list of accomplishments for a child age 6 and he isn’t doing too badly by that measure. He doesn’t know any French songs unless Les Miserables or the Phantom of the Opera count, but he knows some Latin prayers?
He had his monthly physical therapy in town yesterday — and a short speech therapy session where they did a simple puzzle, drew a face (with help) and then named or picked out picture cards. The first two exercises are parts-to-whole and that reminds me, we did a puzzle together several times earlier this week.
I can see this will take a long time if I write it out for each child. Moving on to Kieron, who is 10:
We started Saxon 65 this week and are on Lesson 6. It is going very easily for him. Instead of written arithmetic drill we do computer games and sometimes mental math. I also have various worksheets around the house that I pull out if they fit with the lesson. Most of the early lessons in Saxon 65 are about place value, naming values of digits, and then comparison symbols. The plan is to use Saxon three times a week and cover 2 lessons a day, at least until it gets harder. The other days are for drill and hands-on math or games.
We did synonyms and antonyms using Quia. He did a lot of mad libs.
He is on Chapter 3 of Faith and Life 5. He reads the chapter and then I discuss it with him at a separate time. I gave him Usborne Time Traveller– our version appears to be out of print now but this looks equivalent. He has been reading Usborne Book of World History on his own so I guess this is how we are covering history. My tentative plan is to go into Roman history this year — for several reasons, among them the fact that his dad is into it this year, I am learning Latin and trying to teach it to them, and it’s fun.
Sean, who is 13
He is moving pretty quickly through Key to Algebra book 5, on rational numbers. That’s pretty much it for math, though occasionally he does a few geometry constructions. He whips through the Latin vocabulary. In fact, he impressed me because he finished one of my vocabulary quizzes when I had to do something for Aidan and left it in the middle. He is on chapter 3 of Faith and LIfe 8. He gets his brothers involved in lots of active games and he is involved in the fantasy football league that he and his older brother invented. That’s about it right now.
I’m making almost too much progress on Wheelock’s Latin — up to chapter 20 now, when my goal was 22 chapters by the end of the year. Probably too much time on my hands.
I’m not really mentioning Clare in this summary because she is mostly on her own track with the various subjects. I know she is doing math, Latin, literature, music history, lots of music listening and practicing, and sewing. She just finished sewing a new dress.
