- This six weeks has been pretty smooth. Our routines are solidly in place to carry us through our days. Kids have gotten acquainted with each subject and how it works this year. One thing that has been really helpful this six weeks is that I try to sit down at the table for an hour or two in the morning so that I am ready to help any child who needs me during their individual work. When I'm up and doing other things it takes time to track me down, get my attention, have my help, and then to move on. When I am at the table for an hour or two in the morning kids can sit in a chair near me when they need help. They know where to find me. I am ready to help.
Is it hard to do? Yes. Some days I simply can't put off all the things I need to be doing to sit at the table and wait for someone to need me. But individual work goes much more smoothly when I commit to this simple habit. And when nobody needs me I'm reading or writing or playing with my younger (non-school age) children at or beside the table.
Books We've Read as Individuals or Together
This list does not include the many picture books read to my younger three boys. I don't keep track of that because there are too many. Also: Please remember that not all books are for all ages or families. And on my list are even a couple books that were just my own reading. Pre-read books to be sure they fit your family's reading guidelines for a child. An example from my list: We are cautiously allowing some of our children to read the Magnus Chase series, depending on maturity. There are some issues we discuss along the way, including a character who, due to their godly parent Loki, is gender-fluid. This means at different points in the books they are more female or male. I feel like the issue has been tastefully handled. One thing I have appreciated is that the entire series lacks the 'bedroom romance that shouldn't be in a teen book' for the characters. Yes, there has been an occasional kiss (maybe 2 per book). That's it. So, as always, preview books before handing them to your kids!
- Who's Your Hero? Volume 2
- Across Five Aprils
- Kids on Strike
- Benjamin West and His Cat Grimalkin
- If You Lived in Colonial Times
- If You Sailed on the Mayflower in 1620
- How Do Birds Find Their Way?
- A Nest Full of Eggs
- Flash, Crash, Rumble, and Roll
- What Will the Weather Be?
- The Cloud Book
- Follow the Water from Brook to Ocean
- Awesome Autumn
- Goodbye Summer, Hello Autumn
- The Pumpkin Book
- Pumpkin Circle
- Pumpkin Cat
- Why Do Leaves Change Color?
- Max and Ruby Collection
- Cobblestone Magazine (several issues on history related topics)
- Rocks
- Let's Go Rock Collecting
- Dave's Down-to-Earth Rock Shop
- Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard: The Sword of Summer
- Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard: The Hammer of Thor
- Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard: The Ship of the Dead
- Slayers
- Slayers: Friends and Traitors
- Slayers: Playing with Fire
- Mary Poppins
- Mary Poppins Comes Back
- Mary Poppins Opens the Door
- Mary Poppins in the Park
- Mary Poppins in Cherry Tree Lane
- Gregor the Overlander
- Gregor and the Prophesy of Bane
- Gregor and the Curse of the Warmbloods
- Gregor and the Marks of Secret
- Gregor and the Code of Claw
- A Meeting with the Principle: An Education to Usher in the Millennium
- Five Kingdoms
- How to Train Your Dragon series (several books)
- Mathemagic
- Fablehaven
We did not get through as many books in history as I thought we might this six weeks. I'm okay with that. Everyone enjoyed the books they had, they just wanted to keep choosing books without moving on to new events in the time period. We will pick up where we left off for the next six weeks. There will always be more good books to read than we have time for, so the task is deciding when to linger and read just one more, and when to move on.
One thing we simply did not do, that I had planned to begin this six weeks, was our Shakespeare study of A Midsummer Night's Dream. We had many different things going on and it just never fit in. I suspect this will happen during our slower winter days instead. I'm fine with getting to it when we get to it.
Other things we did:
- Consistent progress in math by all children. Even in Algebra 2, hallelujah.
- Consistent writing or handwriting practice depending on age.
- Art! We did a big painted paper project, have done some drawing, and various kids have started projects filling up notebooks with their art. One child worked on stop motion animation as well.
- Beginning reading progress by all 3 beginning readers. They still each love All About Reading and so do I!
- Latin. We are keeping a slow but steady pace. I was surprised to hear Makayla tell someone the other day that her favorite subject this year is Latin.
- Chemistry is still going well. It has been a balance of independent work and working with me when there are concepts she doesn't quite understand.
That covers our second six weeks of the school year. We have been on break this week and looking forward to the next six weeks. I'm off to gather books for that!
Read about our first six weeks here.
Read about our first six weeks here.
I love looking back and seeing how we are doing. It sounds like all is going smooth in your world. I love the long list of books.
ReplyDeleteBlessings, Dawn
I sometimes found it good to write down everything we had done. Made me feel better about the things we hadn't got to - although there doesn't seem to be a lot of that in your case. Hooray for progress in Algebra 2. I think it wins the award for "Class Miss 16 has been most pleased to be finished with".
ReplyDeleteI can't keep up with previewing the many, many, many books my children read. But I have tried to teach them to self-correct, so many books get started and then returned to the library unfinished. Sometimes they read books I'd prefer they didn't, but at least we can talk about that. And we pass around books we like. It turns out that Belle has a gift for finding reading treasures. :)
ReplyDeleteHappy schooling!!!