Week in Review: April 7-11

[MelInKansas]

What was YOUR week Like?

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c- A written synopsis
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[LynnH]

Here is our update from MTMM http://graceandfur.blogspot.com/2014/04 ... 72014.html

[lissiejo]

http://bit.ly/1sXUE6N

Preparing: Unit 14

Beyond: Unit 22

Preschool: Waiting for the next guide! (Finished up our reading lessons!!!!!! YAY!!!!!!)

[MelInKansas]

Spring Fever has hit us hard here! The weather was warm all week, though windy a couple of days, and plans and life is starting to get really busy. Activities we are involved in are finishing up and there are many things to do. Why does it seem that April and May are always so very busy? All with good things, but still.

After going to a homeschool conference last week, I was re-energized for my job schooling these precious blessings. And it gave me some things to think about and consider. Along with going to hear several speakers speak, my husband and I always seem to really connect and discuss what is happening in our homeschool, how things are going, what is working well, what can use some more work. My 3rd not being challenged enough was part of that discussion, along with some shopping to find my oldest a good supply of good books. I scoured the HOD website and book list and was able to find some of the titles that we haven't already read, along with some series' that we have liked and things like that. I spent some money, but we had discussed and budgeted it and it was worth it.

School this week went well overall, it just felt a little random to me because it didn't look like usual. My oldest did Unit 11 of Preparing, my 2nd did Unit 20 of Beyond and my 3rd did Unit 28 or so of LHTH. My oldest made a flip book, which was a fun project. She has really enjoyed the projects she has done so far. We read several Bible stories in the Old Testament that came to life for me in new ways and hopefully were also meaningful to her. Elijah and the prophets of Baal was one. She has also been enjoying her Science reading of "The Great Dinsoaur Mystery...." This is a really good book and we had just recently been talking about how some books she reads for fun do talk about the earth being billions of years old (Magic School Bus, etc) and I asked her if she realized that this is not true. She hadn't really made the connection between that and what the Bible says about how the earth was formed and when that happened. We also had a good discussion after reading the story about Naaman, a warrior who had leprosy, and then how he was healed after visiting Elisha and bathing in the Jordan river 7 times. Her question was "How did he get leprosy?" We discussed disease and transmission of disease and she said "I know about that, but how come leprosy happened in the first place?" She was basically asking where did diseases come from. Whoa, how do I answer that one? I talked to her about it a little bit and then asked my husband to share his thoughts about how disease started - basically from sin and the fall and the law of entropy. At least we arrived at an answer that satisfied her curiousity for now, but it is really neat to see her thinking about things like that and asking questions. I have been trying to work on communication with her as I feel that sometimes that is a bit shut down by her personality vs mine, she is a more laid back person and also I feel like I do shut her down sometimes by being so focussed on my own activities and not sensitive enough to her needs. Lately I have seen her opening up more and talking with me more about things which is very encouraging to me.

Beyond was fun and a joy as always. We read some in Boys and Girls of Colonial days about school at those times and what it was like. The crafts also talked about what the kids did and got in school. She is doing great and racing through the Emerging Readers, though we will not finish that when we finish Beyond, and that is OK with me for now. I love the discussion questions written in the guide, and my DD is pretty good at answering them now. We just finished Mystery, which is a genre my kids really love. My 4YO even wanted to sit and listen to the mystery we read every day.

We were having a blast with LHTH and the letter U this week. My DD also started a handwriting book. It is preschool handwriting and I probably should have started her earlier on it, lines up and down, aim and scribble type stuff. I also had forgotten and just started checking her grip on the crayon and found it is not quite right.... well it is one of the "alternative" grips but I am going to try to train the classic grip and see how she does. She DID not like it the first day of course, she had been using her own grip for so long now, but after a couple of days she was doing it without complaint and working through it. I hope I got her directed in that early enough... The Bible stories this week were more of Jesus's parables - the lost sheep was one we had a lot of fun with and my 4YO and 2YO ran around the living room collecting the puff balls I had hidden to represent the lost sheep. One thing I remember appreciating when I went through LHTH the first time was the Bible knowledge they learned, and it is happening again this time and I love it!!!

I read the other updates and it looks like you ladies also had really good weeks. Lynn I am jealous, you are nearing the end of your guide and it sounds like your son is doing really well! I know WG is probably a big jump, but I bet you he will do really well! It seems like he has really grown and learned a lot and is working really hard, no reason why he won't continue to do that. lissiejo, you are brave to take on schooling an extra child. I have considered it in the past and then think there's no way! I am so stressed out by schooling my own children right now! It is totally fun you are just ahead of me in the same guides, I will enjoy looking at your reviews for pictures and tips.