Week in review

It's been a little bumpy getting back in the routine after Christmas. Part of that is the usual just getting back into it. The other part is that I've changed a few things. We actually had things going pretty nicely for awhile, but I wanted to add some things in and alter some others. And we've also had SNOW. Lots of snow.

This is some of what we've changed a bit:

I felt we were too light in history this year, so I've added Tapestry of Grace, Year 2 into our schedule. I am planning on using this fairly loosely. So, it may take us ten weeks to get through unit 1 (the Middle Ages) or it may take longer. Either way it's okay.

Also, I have added in some extra hands on materials--Get a Grip by Tops Science and McRuffeys' Build it cards.

Lastly, once again, I am working on organization. I think this could be a whole separate post.




The snow was very deep. I didn't measure it, but a friend said it was 27 inches. You can see in this picture it's up to K's thighs.







Some of what we've been up to the last couple of weeks:

E:
He's been loving the new hands on items I have added.
Math: We're still at odds over math, however, it's getting more challenging for him so that is good. He is bored with the routine of it, but I think he needs to just keep with it. We started reading Penrose the Mathematical Cat again. We started in the fall, but I stopped because I thought it was way over their heads (and maybe mine.) I'm reading it just with E now and it seems much more within reach now. He's been playing Timez Attack and again and acing it now. We're still working in the math journals, doing whatever strikes our fancy that day that is math related.
Language Arts: Still working through Classical Writing Primer. I really like this book. I would like to have E doing more writing, but since the physical act of writing is still such a burden to him, it hinders his ability to compose. This is why I chose the Primer level for him to start with. I thought the additional copywork would help. However, anything called "copywork" leaves a bad taste in his mouth at this point. When he has writing to do that is not just for the sake of copying, he seems more willing to do it. I am reconsidering Classical Writing for him and may just jump into Intermediate Language Lessons. We also are still working through Grammar Land, which he loves and has been a wonderful introduction to grammar.
Geography: Started Seabird with accompanying map.

K:
Reading: Last week K was still working through McGuffey's. This week he picked up one of the Pathway Readers (Days Go By).
Math: We just got the first Miquon book and are working through bits here and there. Some of it he is way past and some is new to him. With math at this stage I think the more solidly they know the basics the better off they will be down the line. So, some review is a good thing.

Together:
History: Started Tapestry of Grace. K loves the notebooks. E is not loving sharing this subject with K, so I'm not sure how this will sort out. Some of the things I will do separately, but to some extent E needs to get over it and be able to work on this at the same time.
Science: I started reading Jeff Corwin's biography aloud to both of them. This sparked all kinds of rabbit trails--rain forests, snakes, Belize. We're just going to follow these for a bit.
Picture Study: We're continuing our study of Henri Matisse.
Composer Study: I tried something new with this. I made my own notebooking pages for this subject. I wanted the boys to connect more with the music rather than just listening to the music and hearing about the composer's life. The sheets I made up have some room for factual information and then a big space for a picture. I told them to draw whatever the music made them feel or just whatever they felt like while we were listening to the music. We listened to A little Night Music by Mozart. The boys really liked this way of doing composer study. And I'm pretty proud of myself for figuring out how to do those pages.










Read alouds: I usually have a family read aloud going and separate read alouds with each of the boys. Over the last few weeks I finished with E: The Four Story Mistake and Winnie the Pooh. We started Charlotte's Web. I am still reading On the Other Side of the Hill with K. With both of them I finished Paddington Takes the Air and The Family Under the Bridge. We started Mountain Born and A Wild Life (Jeff Corwin's biography).



Rock the math:












Working on mathematical stars, as described in Penrose the Mathematical Cat.