Wrapping Up Week 9 (2014-15)

Posted on September 13, 2014 by Deanna

“The greatest plans of mice and men sometimes go astray.”

I don’t know how great my plans were for this week, but what we actually did looked nothing like the notes I’d jotted down last Sunday. I was just getting my fourth child through a nasty virus that had attacked all my offspring when I started feeling a sore throat coming on. And with that, our week went down the drain. We took one day off when my fever was raging, but the rest of the week I pushed myself to help get Ian through at least math and his Spelling You See work. Then on Thursday I decided to spend some time focusing on 9/11, but that was it for school this week. Luckily I’ve built some catch up weeks into our schedule, so I don’t think it’s really going to matter much.

Bible

The only Bible time we had this week was our family devotions in Old Story New, in which we talked about John the Baptist’s ministry. I also had Ian do a worksheet on the Beatitudes to keep them fresh in his mind.

Math

I am so proud of Ian and how far he has come using Mathematics Enhancement Programme (Year 2). Last year we struggled through some rough parts and I was afraid this curriculum might be too challenging for him, but the beauty of the spiral approach is becoming evident, for he is developing strong thinking skills. The growth has really been amazing, and I am thankful we stuck it out with MEP.

One night this week Ian was praying about the next day, and he talked to God about having fun with math. His attitude has made our math lessons something to look forward to, because I love watching things “click” in his mind. Twice this week we went through 2 lessons in one day, and he never complained, just zipped through them quickly. It’s really an answer to prayer!

History

Because of my sickness, we took a break from our history cycle, but I did want to spend Thursday focusing on 9/11.

First, I wanted to introduce Ian to the World Trade Center so he would feel a connection to the towers before knowing what happened to them. We watched part of Man on Wire, and then read along with a video of The Man Who Walked Between the Towers by Mordecai Gerstein, about Philippe Petit, a Frenchman who strung a wire between the two towers and walked across it back in 1974. The end of the book mentions, “Now the towers are gone,” which provided a good transition into what happened September 11, 2001.

Then we watched Learn Our History: 9/11 and the War on Terror, and because Ian still had some questions, we also watched some of the news footage from that morning, as well as part of The Day the Towers Fell.

Science

We didn’t read any of our lessons in The World of Animals, but while I was sick we did put on two episodes of Bill Nye the Science Guy: Invertebrates and Spiders just to keep the subject in the front of Ian’s mind.

Extras

This week we began reviewing Middlebury Interactive Languages (Spanish K-2), so we’re setting aside our regular Salsa lessons for a while. We got off to a really good start with this program (“It’s like Reading Eggs for Spanish!” was Ian’s first remark), so I’m looking forward to the next few weeks with it.

This was also the first week of the boys’ music/drama classes. Our Fridays are pretty much taken up with choir, handchimes, drama, and a couple other classes between the older kids. Even Arianna got to be a part of one, and I think these classes are going to be my favorite thing about this year. I watched the boys in their drama class getting up on stage, practicing how to stand with poise, project their voices, make eye contact, etc. and I was just so glad they have this opportunity.