Wrapping Up Week 33 (2015-16)

Posted on April 17, 2016 by Deanna

Change is in the air. Between finishing up with the curriculum we’ve been working through this year, review products we’ve added in, and looking ahead to the coming school year, this week has felt like we’ve entered a transitional period. I’m excited about the direction we’re heading, and I look forward to sharing more about it after we officially close this year.

We kicked off the week with a choir festival, in which Ian got to both sing and and his first performance with handchimes. It was a wonderful experience and fun reward for the last couple years of work he’s put in in our Friday music classes.

Science

We’ve got a few science-related reviews coming up, but this week our main focus was the Book of Astronomy Set from Memoria Press. I was really excited about this product, and so far it’s living up to my expectations. This week we memorized the fifteen brightest stars and began learning about the constellations. One night Ian came in from playing announcing that he’d found Orion’s belt, so we grabbed our book and headed outside to see how our picture of the constellation matched up with the real thing. Another night we were out late and as we walked in from the car, Elijah said, “That looks like something to scoop up soup!” Sure enough, he’d found the Big Dipper.

We’ve haven’t learned about Orion or the Big Dipper yet, so that was as far as our stargazing went those nights, but I’m thrilled to see the boys looking to the sky and recognizing the pictures that have captured man’s attention for thousands of years. When I lived in rural Kenya back before I got married, I was so familiar with the stars in the night sky and always aware of the current phase of the moon, but now being back in busy, light-polluted Southern California I rarely look up or sense the rhythm of the heavenly bodies as the months pass by. I am enjoying learning alongside my children as we “listen” to the heavens declaring the glory God.

Computer Learning

We have grown so dependent on our computers this year, and when I cracked the screen on one of them a couple weeks ago it really disrupted our rhythm. Thankfully, I was able to replace it this week (thank you, YouTube!), and so both boys are able to work at the same time.

Language Arts

Both boys spent quite a bit of time on Read, Write, and Type. I love the extra spelling practice it is giving them. Elijah seems determined to complete all ten levels, and I’m going to have both of them keep working toward that goal. Ian has to work harder on spelling than his brother, and this will be a fun way to practice through the summer. He also got started exploring Essential Skills Advantage.

History

Ian only as two lessons left in his Veritas Press Self-Paced History Course on the Middle Ages, Renaissance, and Reformation! This has been one of our favorite things about this school year. He’s always eager to get his history done, and it’s been a great introduction to the Classical method has he’s memorized the timeline and worked through the lessons.

Math

Ian is just a few lessons away from completing Teaching Textbooks Math 3. I’ll give him the summer off before we continue onto Math 4. For now, he’ll finish up his A+Interactive Math Mini-Course on time, since he’s still struggling to master reading a clock, and then just keep up with facts practice. The boys have had a break from xtramath.org while the extra computer was down. I’m dreading to see their scores next week. For Elijah, summer math will consist of facts practice and completing the A+Interactive Math Mini-Course on money, but he’s still got a few weeks worth of MEP lessons left.

A few final thoughts

This week should see us finishing up most of our year’s curriculum, as well as the final choir performance for all three kids in the music program, but the boys still have several weeks left in their IEW class, plus working on our review products, so while things will be changing, we’re not quite looking at a full break just yet.