Tuesday, March 09, 2010

Birthday Boy and Academic Updates

My baby boy is NINE years old. We went out for dinner and saw Alice in Wonderland and it was perfect. Along with a very cool Nerf gun, B & I got him a huge bag of "supplies". Everything he needs for his claymation, cartooning, & shooter-making are in there. We also got him some acrylic paints, brushes, canvases, and balloon-animal-making balloons (with pump). He was shocked and overwhelmed and it was so adorable. The next day he didn't know what he wanted to do first.

J has another competition this weekend. First time for her duet. Can't wait to see that on the stage. And W's Pinewood Derby race with the Cub Scouts was on Friday. He came in second AGAIN. His car beat more than 15 others but it's always down to that final 2 at the end. Grrrrr. We'll get 'em next year.

So, I want to finally try and keep up with a "What did we do this week" blog post about W's academics. I've tried in the past, but I either forget to do it, or forget what we did, lol. So, I'm trying to write things down daily so I'll have it all together by the weekend. We're trying some new things, getting rid of what isn't working (or enjoyed), experimenting with different ideas, and attempting to stuff all of these ideas into a weekly schedule. It's not as easy as it looks, lol. I've jumped some of the subjects (like language arts, science, and social studies) to a 4th grade level. Math is still TT5 (but I wouldn't really say it's 5th grade, probably more like 4th). The literature readalouds and poetry for copywork are advanced - the narrations and discussions we have are extremely helpful with those (I may start him on written narrations later this year). His decoding skills are just about on 3rd grade level and no matter what we read, his comprehension is excellent (I swear the narrations got him to pay attention better, lol).

J is currently working on algebra, life science, US & world history, writing, and some good literature. She's going at it strongly and I haven't heard any complaints. We do a few things together (like math), but she does most of it on her own. She's getting very excited for high school - she asked to go school shopping already, lol.

No comments: