The end of summer...

In the past few weeks, millions of school children across the state have gone back to school. Instead we remodeled our bathroom and took a few weeks off..... I originally thought that we could continue school through the process but I really just didn't realize how loud and dusty it was going to be. This week we will finish up our plans for summer AND I'm remembering why I don't like to take long breaks. 3 weeks is too long....the first day back was frustrating.....the routine was off.....I felt disorganized and Sam was in a foul mood. Today was much better!

I think I found it! All-About-Spelling has answered our needs. Sam likes manipulating letters and I don't like trying to keep track of cards. All About Spelling has these great little tiles ( get the magnets!) and we can keep the letters on our new magnetic board. I just put the whole board away and voila no mess. I use the tiles for Spelling practice ( yes, following AAS book 1- how un-CM of me) and reading practice. Sam loves it! So do I.

These tiles have been an a fabulous addition to our CM-reading lessons. I can write a sentence on the magnetic board and he can use the tiles to practice each word. I erase a word and he fits a new one in. Reading practice has become so much more fun for him and less of a chore for me. I am still alternating between 100 EZ lessons ( currently on lesson 46) and my own lessons. I am finding it much easier to devise my own lesson with the magnetic board/ tiles and no longer feel confined to using just one specific book. I just choose a sentence of interest from a different subject and start teaching from it. I think the constant variation is a plus for Sam and helps keep his interest.

We need to work on narrations. I knew going into this year that this would be the hardest part and would require the most patience from me. Some days he gets it and some days he just doesn't. I have found asking him to act it out works better than just telling it back. He can remember more details with his body then with just his speech. I don't know if this is residue from his speech issue....maybe he is afraid to speak and use the wrong words or have me correct his speech?? Hmmmm something for me to think about. He is far more visual than I originally thought. He gives the best narrations with picture study and with any subject that he can see. If he only hears it he doesn't remember a lot of details. I think tomorrow I'm going to have him close his eyes to remove the visual stimulation and see if he remembers more details. Hmmm something else to think about. Overall his narrations are fair to good depending on what he is narrating.

His vocabulary has exploded! This has been a absolute pleasure for us. He has had such a limited speaking vocabulary it is nice to see him surpass his peers in the area.

Math-u-see continues to work great. We are working our way through lesson 8 this week.

Artistic Pursuits is a new favorite and we will continue it doing a lesson a week.

We'll start Spanish next week....