Tuesday, June 2, 2009

Spring Quarter Update 2009

My feeble attempt of a weekly report failed after week 1!

We made quite a few changes this quarter. In March I evaluated our resources and thought I made a decision to stick with them but a month later I made a complete switch-a-roo!

Sam-

Reading/Language Arts- still coming along nicely. We are working with MFW 1 for phonics drill. I like that his writing is directly related to his reading and it is great reinforcement. We have dropped FLL/WWE. He is getting enough writing with MFW 1. MFW 1 is a resource that I wished I had found last year! Currently on day 23 with MFW 1.

Math- completed MUS alpha!

History- We are still reading SOTW 1. Currently on Chapter 22.

Geography- We started Seabird. We look up unfamiliar terms in Geography A-Z.

Science/Natural History-We continue a weekly nature study but I still haven't restarted the nature study blog. We are using MFW 1s science book/experiments with extra books from the library. Did I mention that MFW 1 is a great resource?? Love, love, love the science book list! We started CLNR book 2 this quarter and I really like the list of questions after each section.

Poetry- Random House Book of Poetry for Children is a huge hit around here. We read a couple a day and discuss which is our favorite and why. I finally purchased IEW's poetry book and will use it for an ongoing poetry memorization. We will start this in the summer quarter.

Literature/American History- Leif Erickson was a big hit! We read parts of Lang's Blue Fairy book. Sam says, "Fairy tales are lame- I prefer stories about real people!"

Art- Co-op fell apart and I've been trying to use MFW 1 suggestion of Drawing with Children with little success. I will restart Artistic Pursuits in the summer quarter.

Speech Therapy- Done? We will see our Speech Therapist in 3 months to see if he is doing well enough on his own or would benefit from a bit more intervention.

Charlotte is loving HOD's Little Hands to Heaven program. We will continue doing this program with her this year. LHTH + AO year 1 read aloud + our ongoing painting/wedgits/pattern block time = Happy Charlotte. Everyone likes a Happy Charlotte!

I plan to start our Summer Quarter June 15. We will continue MFW 1 for reading/writing/science/Music appreciation/handicrafts, start MUS beta and our weekly reading list. I will continue using HOD'S LHTH program with AO reading and our usual projects with Charlotte.

We will start working through IEW's Linguistic Development through Poetry Memorization with a goal of completing level 1 in the next year. This is the resource I want to help him continue with his speech development after ST is complete.

No major changes! I promise!