The Homeschool Mother's Journal - 8, March, 14, 2011

I hope you have all had a great week!  Please check out the journals of other homeschooling moms at Sue's blog hop!

In my life this week:  It was a more "normal" week, but there are still some emotional ups and downs with the transitions that my hubby is making in his profession.  We are still waiting on a couple of things before he officially decides when he is making this change and what will happen to his business in the future.  I have been feeling pretty optimistic and peaceful about it, until someone from the community comes up to me and begs me to change his mind and tells me that they can't live without him being their doctor!  That is the whole problem.  Too many people expecting too much from one person!  Hopefully, more details will be worked out soon. 

In our homeschool this week: We broke up J's math test over 3 days, but he completed all of it, including the long multiplication equations!  He is also plugging away through English and our Barton Reading and Spelling System.  B did well with her math, spelling, and English this week.  We all felt a sense of accomplishment today when we realized that we have finished reading aloud Part I of The Children's Homer (it looks like about half of the book).  J said he really likes the adventures, but that part was getting a little boring!  I also attempted to "catch up" in our science experiments from the last couple of weeks.  We checked for our pulses at the wrist and then used a small ball of clay, with a toothpick in it, to "see" our pulses!  We also made the model lung from a 2 liter bottle.  Both were fun experiments from Genesis for Kids.  I was also able to do both experiments when Dr. Daddy was at home and that was helpful!  He showed the kids an animated video about the circulatory system that he has on some software he has.

Daddy shows us his pulse

J and our soda pop bottle "lung" model

Places we're going and people we're seeing:   We went on a field trip with our local homeschool association to a nearby post office!  It was fun to hear how a piece of mail journeys from our town to Indianapolis and back - within 12 hours!  In our five years of homeschooling we have not been to the post office, so that was fun and educational, then we visited with other families from the group, let the kids play, and had a snack together!

J, B, and other homeschool friends at the Post Office

Touring the mail room with the Post Master

My favorite thing this week:  
My sweet kiddos told me that they have the best parents in the WORLD! ( I know that all of you are the best parents in the world, too!)

 
What's working/not working for us: I gave the kids a "mid-year assessment" from Handwriting Without Tears in their cursive handwriting on Monday and Tuesday.  It was a free download from their website after I signed into my account.  It was very helpful because it showed me a few things that B needs to review and it showed me that J cannot remember most of the cursive letters without looking at a model.   I got really frustrated in trying to review some handwriting with J on Wednesday because he would not form the letters as I was showing him, but I think we got it worked out and we are going back to a really good review of cursive for him instead of copying Bible verses.  He still needs the direct instruction in cursive that Handwriting Without Tears provides. 


Homeschool Questions/Thoughts I Have:   
Moms of children with dyslexia or dysgraphia:  Have any of you done testing 2-3 years after your initial testing to check for academic progress?


Math U See users:  Gamma has taken us a long time.  Do you think Delta went faster?  When do you expect your students to do Algebra? 8th or 9th grade?


A photo to share:  
B worked on this project for a few weeks with our art teacher and homeschooling friend.  She did this in pastels.  I am excited to see how it will do in the contest!

B and her 2011 Jr. Duckstamp entry