Friday, October 1, 2010

Week 4

Week 4 Announcement: All my curriculum has finally arrived including Literary Lessons from Lord of the Rings!  Oh, happiest of days!  DD15 & DD13 started immediately and plan do lessons on Saturday and Sunday, too.

We probably won't do that every weekend but DD15 has to get 4 permanent teeth pulled next week.  We have a new orthodontist -- his assessment & x-rays reveal a myriad of problems that have been caused by the braces and/or should have been corrected over the course of these past two years.  I'm angry.  But DD15 (to my amazement and motherly pride) is willing to do what it takes to get it right, even if that means two more years in braces.

DD13 has been researching sugars and sweeteners for her nutrition course.  I told her to put all the informations she learns about polysaccharides, glactose, xylitol, etc, etc into an easy to read format so that I can read and understand and join knowledgeably into conversations!

DS10 started The Great Latin Adventure 2!  He did GLA 1 last year and I had planned to review all summer, but alas...  He is reading Chemistry: Getting a Big Reaction this week.  Not a literary tome but I couldn't remember what book I'd picked for him this week!  He does read a lot on his own but all fantasy brought home from the library by his sisters...primarily Dragonlance novels this month.

DS8 has been reading a lot.  I still can not believe that he has only been reading since last summer!  He started Little House in the Big Woods (thank you, Writing with Ease!) and I read him the first few chapters of the original Pinocchio (again, thank you, WWE!).  He then read the next six or so on his own and I read 3 more aloud tonight.  I've never read it before.  Only watched the Disney movie, years and years ago.

DS5 is wrapping up learning the sounds of the letters with OPGTR.  We'll do XYZ tomorrow so we can start reading on Monday.  He is easily making his way through Singapore's Earlybird B...academics are seeming to come naturally for him!  Which means less stress for mom & student. :)

DD9mo is taking more and more little steps...often two at a time.  I'll say she's toddling. Her new favorite game is "roll the ball."  Her 1st top tooth as finally cut through -- and she's slept better the last two nights.  Happy baby! Happy Mommy!

Yesterday it rained and rained and rained some more. DD15 &13 took a long walk. Elves don't mind the rain, you know. DS8 & DS5 played outside for most of the day. They came in to "do school" and have their "computer time" but the rest was spent outside. Several changes of clothing and washings of muddy feet and many worms rescued... DS10 & DD9mo & I stayed inside, though it was neither warm nor dry. Sort of damp and clammy. We've some adjusting to do from moving from the Western Desert to the Eastern Swampland! Including to the size of the insects. The person who told me "the bugs are bigger" was not kidding.

Thus ends the first month of the 2010-2011 school year!

14 comments:

Faith said...

I hate bugs anymore. We are completed plagued by stinkbugs here. Is that photo of a wasp of some kind?

Your week looks good! I always wished my kids would get into unit studies like Literary Lessons. But they just seem to find them so contrived. Sigh. . . I feel I've missed out on one of the joys of homeschooling!

Anonymous said...

Thanks for sharing a bit of your week with us! I love reading this...gives me a little more inspiration to do a little more for us!

Kash said...

What a great picture of the insect! I wouldn't want to meet it that upclose in person, though. :)

Sounds like a good week!

Dawn said...

We just finished Little House in the Big Woods about a month ago. I cannot believe it took me so long to read this. LOL

Robyn said...

We read Pinnochio this year too. Really, the Disney version is not very much like the book. Kind of surprised me. Looks like you had a great week!

TechWife said...

What a busy week. Sorry to hear your daughter had problems with her braces - how wonderful that she has such a great attitude! Great pictures.

Daisy said...

Wow, what kind of bug is THAT?

My kids LOVED the real version of Pinnochio. So many great character lessons in that book. Tons better than the watered down Disney version.

Tonia said...

What is that thing!?! It's making me itchy just looking at it! Looks like you had a good week. I'm looking forward to hearing more about what your kids think of Literary Lessons... it looks like it would be fun!

Homeschooling6 said...

Glad to hear all your curriculum is in. Yikes! Bugs! You'd think with five boys I'd be use to them by now.

Sydni said...

Oooo...what a bug! The research for your dd's nutrition class sounds neat!

Carrie said...

Isn't WWE the best for getting the kiddos to want to read those books?! We love it for that reason!

Mandy in TN said...

Be sure to share the sugar report!

"Elves don't mind the rain, you know."
My oldest is an evil pixie prone to pranks, but he also doesn't mild the rain. He much prefers it to the heat which literally makes him ill.

Anonymous said...

I look forward to hearing about Literary Lessons and how you like it. I am thinking about using that next year too.

Karen said...

I love WWE. It was hard to get into the routine, but it works. I was worried about excerpts instead of real books at first, but it has turned out as a source of great reads.

I did Literary Lessons with my oldest - it was terrific. We especially enjoyed the Beowulf study.

Sounds like a terrific week.