Weekly Report ~ Feb 15-19 & 22-26

I keep trying to get a weekly report post done. It just never happens. I would really like to write out how things are going, while they are fresh. But it seems the time always slips away.

We don't produce much paperwork, so a blog is a great way to have a record of what is happening. If I can just get the information on here!

Part of the reason weekly reports have not been getting done is that we weren't doing much. Or at least I didn't feel it was much. We've been hit-and-miss all school year. Some really good weeks, some so-so weeks, and some (too many) where NOTHING* was done. (*Nothing meaning nothing academic. We homeschoolers know learning doesn't really stop.)

This week we completed two full weeks of school! (Yay!) And I feel they were really good weeks! So here's a re-cap & future goals/plans (in my lengthy, unable to summarize style):

MATH: In two weeks, we only got four MEP lessons done. Math is probably Bug's best subject, so I'm not concerned. We've also been doing some Family Math activities. My goal over the next couple weeks is to increase the number of lessons he's doing to 5 lessons a week. Half the time he does more than one lesson a day, so this should be easy to do if we just DO IT every day.

HANDWRITING: Last week he finished HWOT Grade 1. His handwriting has improved quite a bit. We'll be working on copywork the rest of the year, and start HWOT Grade 3 (cursive) next fall.

PHONICS: Our most consistent subject. It's also the one he needs the most practice in. I've seen his reading skills improve a ton over the last few weeks. This week we did OPGTR all 5 days AND all 5 day he read out of Frog and Toad Together. He also checked out a couple of easier reader joke books he's enjoying. The greatest improvement has been his fluency. He's self-correcting a lot of what he's reading as well as reading with inflection!

SCIENCE: We've explored sight & eyes (including Braille and Seeing Eye Dogs), hearing & ears, and started on touch & skin. We didn't do nearly as much hearing as I wanted, but I'm not going to stress. Just keep on moving, right?

HISTORY: We're finally doing history! We started SOTW V. 1. We read the first chapter and found Egypt on the map. We also read a book about some of the gods and goddesses. He gladly checked out many more books from the library on Egypt. Now we just need to get them read!

HEBREW: We've been practicing recognizing the first 3 letters of the aleph-bet in both block and script as well as their sounds.

I hope that wasn't too lengthy. I suppose as I do this more, it'll get a bit more concise? Maybe? Haha.. knowing me, it won't happen!

Difficult Situations

I count myself in the lucky group that has not had a lot of questions and issues from people regarding homeschooling. My closest friends and family are very supportive of our decision to homeschool. The few who aren't keep their opinions to themselves, knowing what they say can't change what we are doing. And because Bug is still young, we get very few questions like "Why aren't you in school?" But I'm sure as time goes on we will have to deal with more questions from strangers and quite possibly friends and family.

A friend over at the Homeschool Share forums posted a link to an article written by another homeschool mom. It is perfect in answering one of the questions homeschoolers get asked - "How can your child handle difficult situations if they aren't exposed to them in school?"

One additional thing I'd like to add (or expound on, since I believe she touched on this) is that when Bug does run into situations, I want to be the one that first walks him through how to handle it. How is he supposed to know how to handle things if someone doesn't show him first? We all know that left up to our own choices, we don't necessarily follow God's way of handling things. I want God to be his first way, not what his mind creates or what a teacher tells him to do.