Weekly Wrap Up

I thought I would give this topic a try. Put into words all the things we have accomplished this week. Living overseas I am not following any state guidelines and England doesn't have any requirements for home schoolers (for now). I keep my own records but they are just notes to myself that I write down in a spiral notebook. I also keep an accordion file for each child with copies of the their work for each month (we school year round). I have been looking into various planners but haven't given them a try yet. I have a general idea of what I what the kids to learn and the topics I wish to cover, but it is all in my head. Not the greatest of organization but it is working for us for now. I know as the children get older and when I return to the states I will need to do lesson plans, goals and the such but for now I am enjoying the relax approach.

So what have we accomplished this week for my kids Princess age 8 and Little Man age 6:

1. We have started All About Spelling book one and have completed a lesson every day. This book is really too easy for them but I want to start at the beginning. It takes about 15 minutes to complete. We could probably do more but I don't want to move to fast. I am hoping to be on Book 2 in a month's time.

2. Powerspeak (http://www.powerspeak.com)- computer Spanish class done daily both kids love this program and it is a good beginner program that they can do independently. At least once a week I review the vocabulary words using flash cards. We review any words they need help with. So far I am happy with this program and since I can't find a Latin Spanish teacher here it is the best I have for now.

3. Reading 1001 Arabian nights to my daughter. We read 2 chapters a day. I read one chapter to her and she reads a chapter to me. For my son, he is reading Disney read along stories, a book we checked out from the library. He is reading one chapter to me every day. I will ned to pick out a harder book for him next week this one he breezed thru with no trouble.

4. Piano lessons we are using PHONICS 4 PIANO and we love it. Both children are learning to play real songs, we are still on book 1 but I am so impressed. This is something they can review on their own and only needs assistance when learning a new song or note. As I am not a piano player I am learning along with the kids and it is simple for me to follow.

5. Math - 1 worksheet per child. My daughter is working on multiplication and division facts. My son is working on adding and subtraction numbers up to 20

6. Unit studies - My daughter is working on a unit study of Mystical Creatures. I found a Notebook unit study about Dragons from home school highlights that we completed. One lesson per day. My daughter on her own is reading the Dragon Rider by Cornelia Funke. Next week we will begin the lap book from hands of a child that I purchased.

My son wanted to learn more about trains and I downloaded a free Train theme book from www.schoolexpress.com for free. I needed to break it down so we did a little every day. We also watched you tube videos of different types of trains, played with his train set and read the story of John Henry and watched the Disney movie on John Henry. I think this was a little advanced for him so I had to do a lot of modification in order to make it work. However he was able to recall some information and tell his Dad about it over the phone so I think it worked. Next week we are going to do a lap book "all about me" that I downloaded for free on www.liveandlearnpress.com

7. Both children are working on Embroidery projects.. I found them at a local craft store and they are very simple 4 by 4 squares with easy designs. I found my kids do better with art projects that are more crafty in nature. They work on it for about 15 minutes every day. This project will continue into next week.

8. Horse riding lessons was the only outside activity this week. Both children are learning to ride.

Wow, writing it all down makes me realize we accomplished quite a bit. Our school day begins between 9:30 and 10 and ends around 2:30 or 3. I work individually with each child as needed. Some days I feel like a ping pong ball going between the kids but we somehow make it work. This was the first time I had the children do their own unit studies and it work better than I imagined so we may continue that for awhile. So that was our week in review.