It’s already Friday? How’d that happen?

Kathryn’s school week…
We’re doing Winter Promise’s picture studies, which have been going fine but so far Kathryn is not excited by paintings depicting the American Revolution. I know we’ll have to give this a few more weeks before I can decide if this is working for us or not, but I’m not that excited about it yet either.

We added another project to Kathryn’s composer lapbook. I’ll post more about this soon.

I am really liking our Christian Character Traits for Kids workbook. Each week has several sections: Character Trait (explains what this trait is); American Hero (a historical figure who exemplified this trait); Biblical Truth (she reads a Bible passage and answers a few questions); and Building Your Character (considering how she can implement this character trait in her own life). It’s really a devotional that uses American history to teach Biblical truths. So far, Kathryn and I both give this a “thumbs up.” You can, by the way, order this devotion even if you don’t use the rest of the Winter Promise curriculum. It’s available here.

We are continuing our chronological daily Bible readings, and each week, Kathryn is expected to make at least one page to add to her Bible Portfolio.

Each week Kathryn colors a U.S state map and fills in a notebook page with facts about the state. This is part of WP, but also available separately from Homeschool in the Woods; it’s the Olde World Style United States Maps set, available for download or on CD here. She likes this kind of geography study. This week was Massachusetts.

In math, Kathryn is working on the following skills: multiplication properties, making change, estimating money, place value, division, prime numbers, mystery numbers, and subtracting 5-digit numbers.

Kathryn’s history studies on Early Explorers involved reading about John Cabot, Amerigo Vespucci, Ponce de Leon, Magellan, Cortez, and others. We added those figures to her timeline book, and she made a sea monster pop-up — because in those days many sailors believed in sea monsters!

In learning about the early Americans, she is still reading Naya Nuki, began The Tinker’s Daughter, and we learned about Life in a Pueblo. Of her own accord, Kathryn is re-reading The Diary of Remember Patience Whipple. This is how I often see Kathryn, with her nose behind a book…

Both girls…
Two evenings this week, we all watched Incredible Creatures That Defy Evolution, parts one and two. We loved these videos and highly recommend them! One of the animals featured in part one was the platypus, which went right along with Kathryn’s biology study of mammals, specifically marsupials and monotremes. Then we found a fascinating series of short videos on YouTube about two little joey kangaroos (so cute!), and their development from birth to independence: Kangaroo Joeys.

We realized this week that something BOTH girls need to work on is paying closer attention to written directions, in math problems, or their vocabulary workbooks, for instance.

Lindsey’s week…
I am so thankful that Ken has taken a more active role in our homeschool this year. It’s been absolutely necessary with Lindsey’s schoolwork; he is great at math, and life is much better if he helps Lindsey with her math work (rather than me). This year’s Physical Science is rather math-heavy, too, so while I’m pretty good with Biology and such, Lindsey’s science this year makes my brain spin. I could do it, but Ken’s much better with it, so he has taken that upon himself. He’s such a good dad.

ColorGuard practice has been challenging this week, as the girls are learning new routines, and new moves and footwork to go with the routines they already know. Last Saturday, they had an extra five-hour practice. I’m proud of Lindsey for sticking with it and doing a great job.

Even though she didn’t do as well on a few tests as she would have liked, I think Lindsey is getting more comfortable with her classes at the homeschool academy. There were some school years early on when she missed more school days than you can imagine, but the public school system moved her up to the next grade in spite of all she missed. This created some serious gaps in her education. This academy is definitely a challenging workload for her, but we have a couple of tutors who are helping to fill in the gaps she has from all those turbulent school years. I honestly don’t care what her “grades” are, but I want her to know the material, and I want her to do her very best. She is a smart girl who is capable of so much, and I know that as we help her get caught up, she will really soar.

Jamie

Wife, mom, J-ma. Introvert who enjoys good books, sunshine, and authentic conversation. Often seen with a steaming mug of tea in hand – unless it’s lost yet again in the microwave. Read more »