Just an Update

Well, the girls are still doing well with school. C is still not doing as well as normal with her math, although when made to redo any problems she misses, she gets them all correct, so it's still a laziness factor. She will be doing Lesson 65 today.

She is taking an English test today for her 4th unit. This unit was on "Writing a Persuasive Editorial." As it was an editorial, and therefore she could write on anything she wanted to give an opinion on, she, of course, chose to write about animals. To be precise, she wrote about why people should buy pets from animal shelters, as opposed to pet stores. She worked very hard at it, and even looked up numbers for the local shelters in our area, called them herself, stated her reason for calling (My name is-----. I am a sixth grade student writing an English paper, and I would like to ask a few questions, if I could have a few minutes of your time...."), and did brief phone interviews to get solid facts and quotes for her paper.Her final paper was very well-written, although she got her first B (a 91%) on anything she has written in over 2 years. The reason for the B was not her writing, it was the technical stuff, such as not capitalizing her title, leaving out a few commas, and....for the first time I can recall....a spelling error. (She spelled neutered wrong.)

C and I are muddling through HOD's studies. Go figure...a literature based program has (you guessed it!) tons of reading. *I* actually enjoy it. C tolerates it. We read excerpts from several different sources, research further online, and she follows the instructions to complete the entries in her student notebook. The other day she said something to me that sums this program up: "Mom, I thought all these books would be fun because I like reading. But they're boring, and the only time i like them is when YOU read them out loud to me and explain them. Then they're fun." Well, I'm flattered that I am able to make them FUN for her, but the point is that SHE should be reading most of the things independently, and not only understanding the material, but retaining what she reads. I'm reserving judgment until we finish out the year, but I doubt I use a lit-based program for C again. I think, in the future, I'll go back to a strictly textbook based program for history and related subjects.

Both girls are still LOVING Anatomy and Physiology. We finished our 3rd unit on the Skeletal System. E loves sitting in class, listening, answering questions, while C does the accompanying notebook work. Last week, I began to teach that days section, and C just began RAMBLING off the names of EVERY bone in our body. EVERY SINGLE BONE. I noticed the previous night she had spent about 3 hours with the science book and a piece of paper, and she had been looking them all up and listing them in order. On her own she memorized all 206 bones. Now...while I was not only flabbergasted that C had taken this initiative, and thrilled that the skeletal system interested her so much, little E was not quite so happy. With each bone C said, E's eyes began filling with tears, and soon she was just sobbing. E was upset because she didn't know all these bones. I told C, "Stop for right now.." C kept going. I said, "Honey, E doesn't know these, and she feels bad." C kept going. I said, "C! PLEASE stop for a minute. I am VERY impressed you know all this, and you may tell me later, but for right now please just stop." C kept going. She would NOT stop until she proved to me she knew all the bones. E cried harder. I felt so bad for her, because E loves being able to answer questions, and yet there was no way she could have read or pronounced all these scientific names on her own. Finally C finished. I tried to comfort E. I began asking about 20 questions in a row that I knew E could answer, glaring at C all the while. E slowly calmed down. C got mad that I was letting E answer all the questions. Ahhh......the joy of homeschooling. LOL

E has finished the printing section in her handwriting book. We will soon be starting cursive writing. For the next few weeks, though, the girls and I are doing "light" school work, so cursive will have to wait about a month.

E and I are both still loving R&S phonics and spelling. Well, ok, we both love Phonics. We haven't started the actual spelling book, because the phonics books are so wonderful that she is learning the spelling rules just from doing phonics. E is SO proud that she gets A+'s every lesson, and can remember when to use which spelling for words, and I am just proud of her period, for working so hard this year. : )

E's abilities in math never cease to amaze me. Every time we start on a new concept that *I* think will be difficult to teach, and difficult for E to grasp, she catches on after only one example by me, and she continues to Ace every lesson, every assignment, every test. She is currently on lesson 54. Horizons Math does NOT go lightly on the assignments. Each lesson takes E about an hour to complete, yet she never complains, never asks to skip a problem, and she figures each and every one out on her own.

E's reading is becoming more fluent, although I would like her to be able to be reading chapter books on her own to herself, and she isn't quite there yet. I don't know what's normal for a child of 7; I merely go by my own reading abilities, and her sister's. She has EXCELLENT comprehension skills, though, and I think one of these days she will take off reading on her own very soon.

In social studies, E has cemented her 7 continents, and is working on the 4 oceans. She, occasionally, still thinks Alaska is a continent, but now she giggles as soon as she says it, so I think she just says Alaska to get a rise out of me. LOL She and I have also been studying farming. (Oh, how utterly exciting....no offense to any farmers reading this. LOL) We are talking about the differences in farming today vs. farming in the Colonial days. E was completely awestruck that I have actually been to a real farm. I think I need a farmer friend to let us visit one of these days, so E can experience the thrill of a real, live farm for herself.

Well, this is long enough for today's update. There's so much more I wanted to write about too. Maybe if I tried to be more consistent in my blog-writing, I'd get it all said. Till next time....