Our Homeschool Journal - October 1, 2011

In my life this week…
We have had some exciting things going on this week!  We had the opportunity to attend a fantastic concert - see below - and our local Oktoberfest is this weekend!  We look forward to this fun weekend and all of the food and festivities!  The guys are off to a college football game today and tomorrow we have a 65th birthday for my mother-in-law. What a weekend!

I also wrote a post about the field trip we took to the one-room schoolhouse last month.

In our homeschool this week…
We have been working on Classical Conversations Week 5.  We skipped ahead in history from the Pilgrims to the Boston Tea Party.  I did not have time to do as much reading aloud for history this week, so I was glad to already have some books from the library, a coloring sheet, and our audio version of Story of the World, Volume 3.  That was plenty.  Maybe less is more?

What’s working/not working for us…
As we worked on our IEW writing assignment this week, it was a needed break to just work on a rough draft to turn in to the tutor next Monday.  Last week, we were on poem writing overload.  This week, the keyword outline almost seemed easier!  I requested that both children type their rough draft, so the editing and revising can be done in the same document and it doesn't have to be completely re-written.  My son always does this already, but my daughter wasn't sure about it.  I think she was pleased with the results!  I am also allowing her to use the Word Q software program that is an accomodation for her brother.  Since she is still working on typing skills, this assists her in the actual typing of the words, while it helps him to spell well.  It is designed as a word and speech recognition software.  We still have not used the speaking function, but the word function works well to assist with spelling.

My favorite thing this week was…
The Steven Curtis Chapman concert!  It was "awesome" according to my 10 year old!  I was thrilled to hear SCC play live along with Andrew Peterson and Josh Wilson.  I have been listening to his music for 20 whole years now and so Steven's music is like a good, old friend that has journeyed through life with me.  His new album has several re-made songs that are done in a more accoustic style.  He is such a talent! His family's story over the last few years breaks my heart, but he openly shared about it and how God is redeeming his loss.

Andrew Peterson, Steven Curtis Chapman, & Josh Wilson rock the house!

Questions/thoughts I have…
I found some catchy melodies for the English grammar portion of our Essentials memory work on the C3 file sharing website.  We listened to them while looking at our charts and singing along this week before tackling the copywork and it worked much better this way!  It helped my son, who struggles with handwriting, to use his visual and auditory learning styles before having to write anything down.  Once again, using multi-sensory methods with my son's more natural learning modes first, before conquering a more difficult learning mode is always a better approach!


I am inspired by…
My devotion book, Jesus Calling, written by Sarah Young.  My sister-in-law gave this to me as a birthday gift and I am encouraged each time I open the cover!  It is written as if God were speaking to us first person.  Here is a portion of my devotion from yesterday, "I am perpetually with you, taking care of you.  That is the most important fact of your existence.  I am not limited by time or space; My Presence with you is a forever-promise.  You need not fear the future, for I am already there."

A photo  to share…
 We visited our former home church in Indianapolis to attend the concert there and I got to meet up with my  friend Theresa. We used to attend church and Sunday School together, and we lived in the same neighborhood so we went on walks and even did some Bible study together.  It's wonderful to see each other, even if for a short time!

T & me

 Please join me and other homeschooling moms at The Homeschool Mother's Journal and the Hip Homeschool Hop this week and see what's going on!