School in Review: Week 4

The honeymoon is over, meaning we got super busy, super quick.  The lovely three weeks of school being the only thing we needed to do each morning were glorious, but now we have other things vying for our attention and messing with our routine. 

Week 4 brought two such interruptions.  On Wednesday morning we had a homeschool meet-up at the park.  The kids both loved it, so we will be going back most Wednesday mornings.  That means we squeeze in some school before the park and finish the rest after lunch.  It's not ideal, but it works just fine.  We were also interrupted last Thursday by Basia's sleeping until afternoon, as she has a habit of doing at least a couple times a year.  She just couldn't get herself from sleeping to full-on school mode, so we only got math done on Thursday.  Luckily her Friday schedule is fairly light, so we ended up doing a full Thursday schedule plus a couple extra Friday items all on Friday. 

That means we had interruptions, and school was still done.  Maybe we are still in the honeymoon phase after all! 

I don't think there was anything too spectacular in our school week, but here are the updates.  I like to share the progress we make and the struggles we face, even if these are the most boring posts of the week!  Feel free to avoid them at all costs!

Basia:
We had a much better week with math.  She used Singapore and Miquon all week, which are the same programs that Brishen used.  So far, so good.  I also read this week that the straightforward Kumon workbooks can be good for teaching math concepts in the way I think she needs.  I picked some up at Barnes and Noble this afternoon.  I guess I should be embarrassed that I have so many different math programs to choose between, but some were saved from Brishen's days, some were bought used at Coas, and some were bought with Basia in mind.  I'm going to keep trying until I find the best fit, all the while realizing that the best fit this year may be different than the best fit next year (or next week!).

Basia started art class this week at St. Mark's school.  She loved it, and I love that someone else is teaching her.  I still teach her art appreciation and art history, but she can get the hands-on instruction from someone who has some actual art skills.

Reading is still going well.  I feel so fortunate to be able to use such a quality program, thanks to a friend whose daughter is a few levels ahead of Basia.  I sometimes get impatient with the program, wishing it would teach her certain concepts more quickly so she could read more books.  Then I remember what a proven program this is, and I back off and accept that someone knows a lot more about teaching dyslexics than I do.  The spelling portion of the program is tougher on her, especially hearing all the sounds of blends at the end of words.  I try to remember that she is really young to be using this level of this program, and that kids her age without any extra difficulties have the same sorts of issues. We are going to continue to do all the spelling lessons, but I am not going to let the spelling problems hold her back from moving forward in the reading.

Brishen:
Brishen did some Algebra in math this week.  He is also working on some code cracking, which he has always loved even though I never before associated it with math.  I printed out some pages, and he did them for fun at night.  Now I need to print some more.  It sure would be nice if I had some ink or at least a printer that didn't insist that I have Cyan-colored ink even when I only want to print black.

Rosetta Stone gave us fits last week, but we bought a new microphone, so he's all set for this week.  I am really afraid to see how little of the first level he has remaining.  It is an expensive program for how quickly he's going through it!

Brishen started Computer Club this week at St. Mark's school.  They are supposed to get into programming and robotics.  Let's just say the first week did not impress me.  I'm sure it will get better.  It will be so wonderful for him to learn those skills from someone in the know!  (Joe?  Saralyn?  Feel free to give him assignments!)

Brishen continued studying for the Geography Bee and even decided to try the Spelling Bee this year.  I realize how lucky my mom was that my sister and I could quiz each other!  There are only so many words I want to read from a list and hear spelled before I'd like to move on with my life.  It does bring back lots of memories!  I have always wanted him to be in a spelling bee.  I'm not sure he'll do well in it, but I think the experience is great.