In My Life This Week- We made it! Despite the fact that I got sick with a weird stomach virus in the beginning of the week we still managed to have a very productive week. I was unable to attend our Cub Scout pack's Blue and Gold Banquet but Jeremy and Zach had an enjoyable time. Our weekend was a relaxing one. Saturday started with Zachary's Upward basketball game. His ESPN worthy, spin move, with lay-up resulted in a basket and was the talk of the game. Jeremy and I are in awe of his improvement over last year's season. He enjoys playing on a team with 5 of his friends. The day ended with having friends over for dinner and a little work being done on our Pinewood Derby cars.
In Our Homeschool This Week-
We are currently studying Kenya. This has been a very personal country for us as we have sponsored a child there for the past 5 years. It was fantastic to learn more about where Gilbert lives, read over the letters he has sent us, and write back to him. Utilizing Google images we were able to see pictures of the slums where Gilbert and his family live. That was an eye opening experience for Zach, to say the least. We are able to send small, flat, and inexpensive gifts so Zachary made Gilbert a paper airplane, which we included in our most recent letter. This also was a great opportunity for Zachary to learn more about the Compassion International organization in general. We learned how they get mail to Gilbert, how it is translated, and how long the whole process takes.
We are well into our new science curriculum since we finished Botany in December. We are studying all creatures that fly. The first part of the textbook is all about birds. We learned about how they fly, the parts of their wings, and how they are useful, and different types of feathers. Zachary is REALLY enjoying this subject and I am having fun as well. The notebook he is creating to record what he is learning is awesome!
It is hard to believe that we are one week away from finishing our grammar and cursive curriculum. It gives us both such a great sense of accomplishment to have followed these both all the way through. The time that this will now free up in our schedule will work out very well as we will really dive back into creative writing. This is Zachary's most frustrating subject so your prayers would be appreciated. : )
Places We Are Going and People We Are Seeing This Week-
This week, like I wrote earlier, was our cub scout pack's annual Blue & Gold Banquet. This is something all cub scout packs celebrate sometime in the month of February. It recognizes the anniversary of scouting, kind of like a big birthday party. We had about 70 people attend, which was a great turn-out. Jeremy and Zach both had a lot of fun.
What's Working/Not Working For Us-
We did a little re-arranging of the schoolroom. Anyone that knows me this should come at no surprise. : ) I moved Zach's work table to the middle of the room. Zachary and I are able to both work on each side of it, across from each other. This change has been helpful in keeping Zachary on task and allows me to easily help him on his schoolwork. Eventually I would like to add another table the same size to double our workspace.
Homeschool Questions/Thoughts I Have-
February seems to be the month when everyone starts thinking about curriculum choices for next year. Due to a fantastic Groupon offer I was able to get Zachary's history curriculum at a fabulous price. Zachary thumbed through it when it arrived and he is ecstatic to begin. It might have something to do with the fact that it includes chapters on Greek Mythology. We will be studying the time period considered ancient times: the earliest nomads to the last roman emperor. I have chosen the rest of our curriculum however, I am still undecided on our math. Although, I do have it narrowed down to three.
A Photo To Share-
Here are a couple....Zach playing basketball and an experiment we did to reinforce what we learned about air pressure in regards to flight. Please excuse the blurry pictures as they were taken with my cell phone.
