Weekly Report~ February 27, 2009

The past two weeks have been a mixture of school, vacation days, snow days and sick days. We've lost our routine and the flow of the day that I worked so hard to achieve prior to the holidays. My goal for the month of March is to ease back into that routine so the remainder of the school year has a sense of structure to it. Although it feels like we haven't been accomplishing much lately, D continues to improve his reading, writing and math skills. We're about 1/2 way through Unit 4 in his new math book, solidifying his addition facts (1-10) and currently working on subtraction. D finished the first two lessons in his new ETC Level 3 book and is demonstrating a firm grasp on the concept of words ending with "silent e". He has discovered that learning to read opens whole new worlds for him to explore, from leveled readers to LEGO catalogs.

Our learning about the continents has stalled during the past month. We spent a week on Mexico, reading a few books and coloring the map and flag, but haven't moved on from there. I intend to spend two more weeks on Mexico and South America before moving on to our next country. I'd still like to fit in Russia, the Middle East, Canada, and America before the end of June.

We read about the solar system a lot over this past month, but haven't been doing any experiments to go along with it. Last Friday we spent the afternoon at the Children's Museum, and at the end of the day the boys got to pick out a little pouch and four polished rocks to go in it. I figured this was a great way to introduce them to our next unit on rocks (geology).

The most rewarding accomplishment this past week was reading the Great Illustrated Classics edition of The Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum. Although the story is adapted from the original, it works well as a family read-aloud due to the amount of illustrations included. It is a great stepping stone from reading picture books to reading more advanced books without losing his interest in the process. An additional bonus is that B loves to sit with us and it keeps his attention throughout.

One reason our routine has failed us lately is due to attending gym class every Tuesday and Thursday mornings. It truly takes up most of the day. By the time we get home, it's already into the afternoon. D has made a few friends there, including his new girl-friend Catherine. I am pleased as punch with this new friendship, considering that just a few weeks ago he wouldn't speak to, sit near, play with, or look at a girl. NO GIRLS ALLOWED seemed to be his motto. Luckily, that phase didn't last long and now he has a sweet new friend to show for it. It doesn't hurt that C's mommy is incredibly easy to get along with either. It's hard to find like-minded moms even among homeschooling crowds, and it's been nice to have someone to chat with and get to know while sitting through 3 hours of gym class every week! D has also been taking ice-skating lessons on the weekends, and it is a love/hate relationship. One second he's cold, his feet hurt, and he never wants to skate again. Then in the blink of an eye he's skating around the ice with a huge smile on his face. Personally, I'm looking forward to the lessons coming to an end. It's been a challenge, to say the least.

Housebound

I'm not meant to have a social life. It's written in the stars. Every time I have something planned, somebody gets sick, there is a nor'easter dumping 2 feet of snow on us, or some other unpredictable act of God descends upon us. Seriously, this happens nearly *every* time I make plans.

When DH and I got married, New England was hit by the remnants of Hurricane Lily, leaving our hotel water logged and our cruise to Bermuda delayed by one day. When I turned 30 years old, my mom and I drove through a blizzard to get to New York City for our planned weekend away. Last year, we were supposed to go to our friend's house (who we had not spent time with in waaayyyy too long) for a football game, and B and I both ended up with the stomach flu. You get the idea.

This week it's a bit more simplistic---B is sick with a head cold---but the result is the same. We're housebound. No "socialization" for D due to a missed playdate, no physical exercise due to missing gym class, and another day of playing board games and doing arts and crafts. It's a good thing I'm a total hermit and love to be home, because I'd be out of my mind otherwise. Having said that, even a homebody like myself can only go so long staring at the same four walls. I think this situation calls for a nice, long nap with my sick little guy.

Weekly Report~ February 6, 2009

Another week has flown by in the blink of an eye. I have no new photos to share and nothing very exciting to report~ yup, it's definitely February. D did unit 2 in his new math book, and seems to be enjoying it so far. He especially likes the exercises that have you figure out a problem and then spell out a secret code. He completed his ETC book 2 and will be starting book 3 next Monday (or possibly today, we'll see how it goes). We're reading about Mexico but didn't get to it as much as I would've liked to. I'm hoping to catch up a bit over the weekend. His handwriting is improving.....slowly..... as long as he concentrates while writing his letters.

As for the rest of the family, DH enjoyed his trip to Florida with his father and came home with fun goodies for everyone. He gave D a real, working pirate pocket watch that thrilled D to pieces. It's also been useful in teaching D more about telling time. B has been flourishing lately in so many ways, especially with his wanting to "write" in his notebook all day long and scribble pictures. He loves using his scissors and markers (Daddy even had to make a special trip to the store just to buy him more since his wore out), and continues to love play-doh. As for me?? Well, LOST has started again, I finally dug out my scrapbook supplies and photos (first time since before the holidays), and I sold my first item ever on Ebay. Nothing too exciting, but like I said, it's February in New England.