Educational Report: July 2015

Another monthly report. :) Let's see if I can remember what we've done... My pregnancy has made sleeping very difficult + my anemia has worsened so we have been getting a very late start to our days & made me have to slow down my pace during the day. I'm thrilled if we start lessons by 10! That has never been a thing around here but we're just making do. We can do more later after this baby arrives... if God so chooses. :) I've learned that my plans & expectations often need adjusting (I over plan) & that's okay! Less memory time & working longer in the afternoon with my older three is the new norm till this little man comes.

Memory Time: our Pastor has encouraged us to all memorize Ephesians 1-2 (he began preaching through the book- amazing stuff! you can listen here), so this has been the focus of our memory time.

Reading Aloud: this is one area we've been solid in- yippee! Probably because it's convenient to do as I lay on the couch. ;) Or in bed, as I've been reading through The Secret Garden to the younger girls at night. We've hit My Side of the Mountain a bit at dinner but not much- Eric has been conducting family worship then instead of after to help with evening schedules. I've especially been consistent with having Elizabeth & Jonathan read to me, alternating which book they choose. :) Elizabeth finished the McGuffey Second Eclectic Reader & we've made it about half way through Little House on the Prairie, which is her favorite. Jonathan's still working on the Second Reader & we are about half way through Little House in the Big Woods. He finished reading aloud his independent history book too (see below).

Abigail & Emily: some days it happens, others it doesn't, especially if it's way past 10 and we haven't officially started our day. (Just being real here.) I'm looking forward to meeting with them more consistently. Of course, they are around for our group gatherings (memory time, reading aloud, science, history, family worship & just plain living.)

History: we've only listened to two more lectures for Gileskirk American culture studies, which both focused on the Uncivil War. I especially enjoyed how he approached his lectures by contrasting one man from the north with one man from the south, filling in the battles & dates. This made it so much more interesting vs. just rattling off various dates. It also helped us to get a better understanding of what these men believed & why. Patricia and Benjamin have finished memorizing #6 of the Bill of Rights and continue to read independently. Benjamin says he is enjoying Moby Dick and Patricia needs to pick a new one, having finished The Leaves of Grass.

The younger set finally finished assembling together their George Washington diorama. I got a few pictures of it's assembly but I still need to snap one of the final product:

Our focus has been on reading books for their history. Elizabeth finished reading Guns of Providence and The Secret Message, which she throughly enjoyed because it's about a young girl during the revolution! :) Matthias finished Johnny Tremain. Jonathan finished reading aloud to me The Swamp Fox of the Revolution. We both enjoyed it & look forward to visiting Cowpens national battlefield (just one of many battles mentioned in the book) this fall (we've been to King's Mountain national park several times already). :)

Language Arts: the older three continue to work through Fix-It & I've been quizzing them on their Shurley Grammar Jingles. Patricia & Benjamin have completed one chapter per week of Our Mother Tongue, as well as a chapter per week of their Vocabulary from Classical Roots books. For SICC-A from IEW, the boys (just Benjamin & Matthias) have wrote two stories as sequences to picture books we read. They've added in smilies to their paragraphs- we had great fun brainstorming them with Jonathan one afternoon. :) Jonathan & Elizabeth have worked on several key word outlines for IEW and wrote a few paragraphs as I continue to use Bible Heroes as the jumping off point for them. (I do not use it inclusively nor do I use it exactly as it's laid out.) Spelling for the bottom 3, cursive copywork of the Shorter Catechism for Matthias, and Proverbs & Psalm copywork for the older 3 round out their studies. Sometimes Jonathan & Elizabeth work on Explode the Code but that's only when they want to- I've come to find it busy work that isn't necessary.

Latin: Patricia completed chapter 8-10 of Latin Alive Book 2 & the boys (and me!) finished chapters 3-4 of Latin Alive book 1. :)

Logic: Patricia & Benjamin have completed 12 chapters of The Argument Builder. I'd like to report more on what they are doing but I honestly do not know- they have been working exclusively with Eric (you'll find me reading aloud to the girls just before bed while they are discussing logic). It's a beautiful thing!

Math: we've done well in this area. :) Matthias even finished his book A & moved into book B. Abigail is very close to being done with hers also!

Science: hmm... not much completed, though Patricia & Benjamin started module 3.

An iPhone picture of me this morning- I'm on the couch grading & teaching: