Weekly Update - 4/8/11

In my life this week...I'm grateful for my husband.  He provides for us and encourages us.

In our homeschool this week...We've finished week 24 in our folders.  I love being able to close a folder and know we've accomplished part of our homeschooling goals.  It's always nice to check off lists.

Places we're going and people we're seeing...We have been in theater rehearsals all week.  It really disrupts our routines.  Dinner has been a disaster all week and since we don't like to eat out often, my body is begging for mercy.  I definitely feel it when we eat out too much.  

Today we participated in a Homeschool Day in Historic Isle of Wight, VA.  The area is not far from us and though things historical are typically boring for the boys, they sort of enjoyed today.  :o)

We toured St. Luke's Church (circa 1632) and its beautiful gothic architecture, visited the IOW Museum, became enthralled with Boykin's Tavern and got our energy out at Fort Boykin's Historical Park (Fort).  

I really love it when a) the docents understand and accept that they have willingly invited children into an historic place and b) invests time in them.  At the Boykins Tavern we first encountered the docent that scolded and ranted about not touching and then towards the end, we met a woman who not only knew that boys would want to see the innards of the seven-day grandfather clock but who then sat down on the benches, invited them over and filled them with images of life during the time period of the tavern.  I have never seen my boys more attentive and filled with questions.  She really made them think.  She was a special lady and I made sure she knew it.  The other one, eh, not so much.

My favorite thing this week was...the few precious moments we've been home.  And the fact that Pete actually said, " I love this math."  Gasp!  We finished our units on decimals and fractions and I really felt like he needed some good review since I'll be skipping him into 7th grade math next year.  We found Math Minutes (5th gr) at Barnes and Noble and it is excellent for our purposes.

What's working/not working for us...RePete's math.  We've used a combo of Math Mammoth (1st) and MUS Alpha and he's not crazy about either method.  So I've been printing free worksheets off the internet to continue covering skills I know he needs to master this year.

Homeschool questions/thoughts I have...I can't believe I am saying this, but after investing time and dollars in...drum roll please...Saxon, Right Start Math, Singapore, Math U See, and Math Mammoth, we are coming back full circle to Saxon.  It just covers the materials best for my kids.  They both prefer me teaching over watching videos and feel like they don't comprehend it enough to read it themselves and self-teach, and Saxon fits this style the best.  So there we go.  I've eaten all the words I said about Saxon and will be purchasing next year's materials soon.  I'll also be skipping Pete ahead to 7th grade math since 6th and 7th are basically the same, we want him in Algebra by 8th grade and he can handle it.

~R