Weekly Report: Week 12

This was a shorter than usual school week.  We only did 3 days of actual school.  I've been feeling unwell all and that combined with Halloween and my brother-in-law's wedding reception, it just didn't happen as much as I'd like.  Halloween was great, though.  Lydia and Eleanor did very well.  This time last year, there was no way that I would have thought Lydia would be able to go trick-or-treating.  But she did!  I was so proud of her.  She was very nervous and done with the experience after about 10 houses, but she still did it.  At the end, when she said, "You want to go home and go to bed...but no shower!" I decided that we could call it quits.  Eleanor kept going with Daddy for a little while longer, though.

 

Math: 

Lydia did pages 15-24 of Essential Math B.  She seems to be catching on, but I'm sort of getting the feeling that we are going too fast for her right now.  She has a long attention span for math, but I think the concepts are moving quicker than she is capable of.  So I think starting this week I'm going to back off EM for a little while and work primarily with Miquon, which has been sitting more on the back burner for a little while.  Considering the fact that she has already finished Essential Math A, which was my goal for the whole year, I feel very comfortable with this decision.  More than anything I want her to get a strong foundation and I just need to keep telling myself that there is no hurry.

Reading:

Lydia's attention span for reading is improving.  Where before, it was all I could do to get her to read 2 pages of my homemade readers (approximately 2 sentences per page), now she's reading 4-5 pages per sitting.  It helps that she's getting faster and starting to recognize words.  She finished lessons 41-44 and we'll start on lesson 45 tomorrow.  I've found a good motivator for her.  She likes for me to tickle her whenever she gets at the end of a sentence.

Memorization:

Lyddie loves memorization time.  She always tells me, "Don't forget memorization!"  So we do this more often than normal school.  Lydia started "At the Seaside" by Robert Louis Stevenson.  She is reacting more to this poem than most.  She recognized Robert Louis Stevenson from a previous poem she memorized, but I think she likes that it is about a beach and digging with a shovel.

I'll be figuring out and starting Handwriting Without Tears once I feel better.  I've skimmed the manual and I'm excited to start some of the activities with Lydia.

Weekly Report: Week 11

This week was a bit unusual.  On Sunday, all three girls were a little sick, so we stayed home from church.  On Monday, they seemed better, but on Tuesday afternoon, the younger two had fevers and Lydia had a horrible sounding cough, so every day since we've stayed home.  Lydia only went to one day of therapy and missed dance class.  We also watched way to much tv.  And by "we," I mean the girls.  I don't mind letting them when they are sick, though.

On Sunday afternoon, the girls were well enough to "help" us make a jack-o-lantern.  They were very excited to pick out the pumpkin on Saturday.  Lydia and Eleanor seemed very nervous about touching the pumpkin "guts" and got bored watching Dad after about 5 minutes, but they were very excited with the end result when we put it on our front porch.  Afterwards, we watched the "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown," which they loved and have watched several times since.  This is the first time we've ever really attempted Halloween with them.  Lydia has come such a long way in the last year that we are actually contemplating taking her trick-or-treating, something that we would never have thought possible last year.  Next week, I'll post pictures of the girls in their costumes.  Lydia is going to be Winnie the Pooh and Ellie is going to be a frog.

School continues to go on like it should.  Every day during lunch, we work on calendar, memorization, and mapwork.  Then after lunch and when Ellie is down for a nap, I ask Lydia is she would rather go down for a nap now, or do math.  She always wants to do math, then reading.  We usually spend an hour or so combined doing them and then she goes down for her required hour-long nap.  This system is working really well for us right now.

I did decide to add a subject to our day.  Lydia's fine motor skills are coming along nicely and I think she's ready to start some early handwriting practice.  I decided on the program Handwriting Without Tears for her because it was designed by an occupational therapist and honestly, it looks like it was designed for her.  I don't love the font, but I only plan to use it until her skills are good enough, and then we'll probably switch to another program.  That probably won't be until 1st or 2nd grade, though, so we'll see.  I've ordered my materials and they should get here in the next week or two.  I'll write more about it then.

Math:
Lydia did pages 9-14 of Essential Math A.  I think she has officially figured out the concept of less/more.  It has been a long few weeks, but I feel proud that I was finally able to explain it to her in a way that she would understand.  I realized that it wasn't an issue of comparing (so which is more, 7 or 9) but that she honestly didn't even know what the words "less" and "more" meant in relation to each other.  So we spent and entire math lesson just taking the little people manipulatives I have and putting more in a group and less in that group.  We did this back and forth and back and forth.  After that, she seemed to catch on pretty quickly and today she did a less/more page in EMa and got them all correct!  We worked on a greater than/lesser than Miquon sheet all week, but I think we'll probably repeat it now that she seems to be understanding better.


Reading:
Lydia's reading is coming along.  This week she read her first 5-letter word, "bells."  We're almost done with Lesson 41 in OPGTR, but she's now 20% done with Reading Bears and still a bit ahead in it than her OPGTR lessons.  Her reading is getting quicker and she's starting to recognize a few common words without having to sound them out.

I went to a consignment sale this week and found this set of Nora Gaydos readers for $3 in like new condition.  They are perfect for where Lydia is right now, so we'll be using them as extra practice.  It was a nice score.

Memorization:
We've been working on solidifying her part for the Primary Program which is this Sunday.  I'm a little bit nervous because she's been gone from church for two weeks and hasn't been able to practice at all.  Tomorrow they are having a special practice, so I hope that will be enough for her.  It will have to do, I guess!