Weekly Wrap-up 2-12-09

I don't know if there will be time tomorrow to do any school work. With an appointment at 10 am and errands to run, I planned this week for four days. It's been tough to get even that done with sick children. My oldest was sick yesterday with a fever. Laura has been complaining about a sore throat. Megan, the baby, started running a fever earlier today. Hopefully tomorrow will bring healthier children.
This week I stuck to the lists. Laura checked things off as she did them. This way I know, despite maybe being sidetracked by taking care of sickies or the house, that Laura is working steadily on what we need to accomplish.

BIBLE - In Old Testament Stories this week Laura read about Jonah and began to read about Samuel. In New Testament reading Laura finished Matthew (finally!) and began Mark. Again, we didn't do Prims. We are kind of getting behind on this.

MATH - Laura did four lessons in Abeka Arithmetic. She is learning about English and Metric units of measure.

LANGUAGE ARTS - Laura did a spelling list this week. In Grammar she is working on contractions. This is the second time for us to do contractions, and I think it has helped her to do them twice. The first time she kind of struggled a bit, but this time she is having no problems.

READING - Laura finished School Days by Laura Ingalls Wilder. These books were easier adaptations of the larger Laura Ingalls Wilder books. They were given to her for Christmas. We've read some of the Little House books as read a-louds, and I thought it would be nice for her to read the easier versions on her own. In reading skills, Laura only did one lesson this week. We didn't do any read alouds this week. Sad, but with my cold I just couldn't do it. I would start coughing and or I couldn't breathe through my nose. Hopefully, next week we will be in full swing.

SOCIAL STUDIES - Laura learned about Farming communities this week.

SCIENCE - This week Laura studied Bees. We read several books about bees. I wanted to do some activities, but we were pretty busy. Laura liked telling me all about bees and what she was learning.

WRITING - Laura learned X and Y this week in cursive. She is getting better at taking her time and doing neat work. However, her cursive hasn't really crossed over beyond the practice. For example, she writes in cursive to practice her spelling words, but she prints during the tests. I haven't made a big deal out of it or anything because I want her to focus on spelling the words not writing. I think she just needs more practice.

Next week hasn't been planned out yet. We are due to start studying Holidays for Social Studies and Butterflies for Science. For Reading, Laura is to read The Sword in the Tree. We just received a Lot of books that I purchased off Ebay. In that lot is some really awesome books, and I will have a tough time deciding between them and the ones I had already decided on and listed in a previous post. I may add a couple here and there. For instance, in the lot was the book Greg's Microscope. It is an easy reader that shouldn't take Laura any time at all. I may add it to her reading because it looks educational and entertaining.
Homeschooling is taking a lot less time for us. I know I've tried to simplify things so as not to stress either of us out. Laura is usually done with everything now in four hours at the most. It's interesting to watch her interests forming without the influences of her peers from public school. She is joining 4-H. She has started liking the TV show Bindi, which is a nice break from shows like Hannah Montana and The Suite Life. I look forward to seeing what else interests her.
Hopefully the weather will get warmer and we can start doing more outside. Also, in the next couple weeks I am hoping my husband will have his truck in working order again and I will have a vehicle to take Laura on more field trips and join the Homeschool Group that meets 20 minutes away.