Weekly Wrap-up 1-22-10

This week was full... full of work and full of challenges.  On Tuesday I went to my sister's house for lunch.  Tasha's stuff hadn't come in yet, and Laura only had a couple things left.  I told Laura to take her stuff and "Lets get out of this house."

Well, Laura's 'stuff ' was accidentally left at my sisters.  So, Song of the Brook had to be postponed until next week.  That was alright because we just continued with The Red Rag Riddle. 

Math - Laura is slowly improving on her math skills.  It is still a week by week, slow and steady improvement.

Spelling - Laura did awesome this week on her spelling.  On her pretest she missed one.  On her test she missed two.  Not sure why that happened, but after last week's disaster, it was nice to see her do so well.

Science - Laura finished her study of water.  On Wednesday we began a study of rocks and minerals.  We have an experiment planned for Monday that looks to be fun.

English - Laura worked on making words plural this week, and some of the different rules.  She learned what words that end in Y are changed to ies and which ones just add s.

Social Studies - Laura has been reading about David Brainerd and the missionary work he did with the American Indians in the 1700s.  She learned a little about the times in New England during that time period.    Next week we are going to read a little about the Pilgrims.

Bible - Since one of the books left at my sisters was Laura's Bible storybook, she didn't get much of it read.  However, she did get to read her New Testament reading.  She read Luke 11 and most of Luke 12.

Reading - Laura did read two chapters in Song of the Brook before we left the book at my sisters.  She was supposed to be reading Choosy Cheater, but it was left too.   My plan was to finish up Song of the Brook and then begin The Red Rag Riddle.  Well, we just focused on The Red Rag Riddle and it was wonderful.  Laura really likes the book.  I don't want to have too many books going at the same time.  It's always a balancing act to keep the right number of books going.  Of course, often Laura will read books on her own that I don't even record.  We read a chapter of the first Millie book one night together, and she has been reading ever since.   We are half way through reading  Ramona, age 8 as our read aloud.  A couple days we missed, and a couple days we read more than what was scheduled.  Laura is enjoying Ramona.  I didn't think she would.  Every time I would suggest it she would act like she didn't want to read it.  I doubt Laura will ever read all the Ramona books, but she does like this one.

Tasha got her curriculum for this semester.  She began and worked hard.  So far she says the Trigonometry isn't hard, just a review of what she had in Geometry.  She's also working hard on her English.  She has a major paper due at the end of the semester and she's a little nervous about it.  She would rather do math than English.

This term she is to read the book In His Steps.  She isn't supposed to begin it for a couple weeks.  Right now, I'm reading it.  I have never read it.  It's recommended by so many Christian curriculum providers that I decided it must be good.  So far, a couple chapters into it, I am thoroughly enjoying every word.

This next week Tasha will be doing her work very independently.  She will be staying with my sister in another town while my brother in law is out of town for work.  I don't worry too much about Tasha completing her work.  She works very independently at home.  This will kind of be a test to see if she can take charge of her own work habits and learning.

Of course, that leaves Laura and Megan with me all by ourselves next week for school.  It may be challenging for me as I have come to depend on Tasha's help with Megan in the afternoons so I can work with Laura without constant interruptions.  We'll manage, I'm sure.