I’m so happy to have such a great report for our second week of school! This school year is going really well so far (And I’m loving THAT of course!) Even with lots of running around to do — sorting the organic co-op produce on Tuesday morning, visiting my grandma and aunt on Wednesday, some seriously needed grocery shopping on Friday morning, canning on Saturday,… we still managed to get our school work done and have fun learning, too.
We started the week off with a “Back to School” party (We were supposed to have a first day of school party that kind of didn’t work out, so I made up for that on Monday.) The kids got back to school outfits, I made a special breakfast and I made another attempt at taking some back to school pictures. I got a few decent pictures but I’m getting really tired of messing with my dying camera. I need a new camera!!
Just as much as we enjoyed last year’s Apologia Astronomy, we’re really enjoying this year’s Apologia Anatomy & Physiology. What’s a mitochondria? I really had no idea – did we learn that in school?? I know now! And so does my 5 year old. My FIVE year old. Yes, he’s the science nut.. but the fact that he understands and picks up a lot of this with his two older sisters makes me smile. Two science highlights of the week.. first was making our edible jello cell. The second was when we were reviewing and I asked the kids to name parts of the cell. Princess said “the nucleus” and Little Prince added, “the nucleolus! The little one inside it!” That’s right.. the NUCLEOLUS.. something we talked about on ONE of the four lessons. Man that kid has a memory.
Speaking of that kid… he’s really become all fired up for reading. I’ve been patient, not pushing. He’s had all of the tools and knowledge he needed to begin learning to read, but he hasn’t had any interest. A month ago or so he told me he wanted to start learning how to read and we’ve begun working on that. He amazes me at how quickly he’s picking it up now that he’s ready. I’m so proud! As for the other two, I have noticed a HUGE improvement in Drama Queen’s handwriting since only a few months ago and her spelling is really taking off, too. Princess still despises math and it’s still a lot of work for her, but I’ve noticed some increase in skill and speed there as well. Here’s hoping that all three of those continue to progress smoothly!
Another thing I’ve been working on this year: papers and grades and records, oh my! I’m not required to keep any certain amount of records or grades or papers, but I do want to keep some. And I’ll need to keep records for a high school transcript when we get there. So I’m trying to hammer out a good system. So far I have a weekly folder, a 6-week folder and some places to record grades, but I’m really working on the “how to” aspect of getting it all done and staying on top of it. I don’t want to make it too complicated but I want to do it justice. I’ll keep working on that.
We capped off our school week with a sewing project for Princess and a “date night” with the boy as the girls left early for separate sleepovers. It was a nice week. =)
