J's last regional dance competition of the season was this past weekend. She did great - scored a High Gold award, even when she forgot a whole section of the dance. She was annoyed with herself, but that morning was crappy and I don't blame her for not being fully there. Her groups numbers did phenomenally well, with great placements (8th, 5th, & 2nd in the top 10 of all teen groups - competing against dozens and dozens of teen group numbers from other studios). Now all that's left is the recital and then either a Nationals or something similar in July. Still not sure what we're doing yet.
Tuesday evening was the big recital rehearsal. The kids worked on the opening number, ran through the mainstream numbers, and ran some company numbers. J's group of babies were adorable. They are dancing to Beauty and the Beast and J gets to be on stage with them dressed as a princess. She's thrilled.
J got an A on her English essay. The assignment was to write your own creation myth. I remember when she told me about this assignment. She worried about it having to be 3 pages. I thought she felt it was too much, but her next sentence was, "I don't think I could write less than 4 or 5." Again, this is coming from a kid who did her own thing as an unschooler for 6 years. That kind of freedom allowed her to build up a level of maturity and independence where now that she's in high school, she so enjoys putting 110% to everything. It's pretty cool to watch.
W had his last Sunday School (CCD) class. His report card was great and the teacher said he is a wonderful student and did great on classwork and tests. I got a bit teary-eyed with that, because he got a 35% on his last test. He was upset with himself and felt very stupid. He'd never told his teacher he was dyslexic. So, the next week he mentioned it and said that it takes him a little longer to read and needs a little more time to take a test. W has no issues with it and is comfortable talking about it. The teacher allowed him to re-take the test the following week. The first time it was open-book. The 2nd time it wasn't, but W still got a 70%. He was over the moon with joy and so proud of himself. I was too.
He has recently told me that he likes writing. That was my cue to try a written narration. He hasn't done much writing except for copywork and maybe some spelling and dictation exercises, but I knew he was ready. We started with his independent reading book. He read his 2 pages and wrote 2 sentences of a summary in his notebook. It had proper flow and correct punctuation. I was impressed at his style. We'll do these once a week - more if he wants to.
Nothing else really new with academics this week. It's pretty much the same books and we're almost finished with those. He did his copywork, poetry, narrations, etc. In math he's doing 3-digit x 3-digit multiplication now. We still use only the textbook for TT5 and he now zips through a lesson in about 20 minutes. I'm glad we already have TT7 - I wouldn't want to buy a whole new program if he's only using the book.
We've had a really great year so far. I'm looking forward all the activities coming up in June!
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