Homeschool Discoveries

1.  Weekly library outing.  The book that Miss M and Mr. E are looking at was one of our favorites this week!

2.  We made it to the geometry/drawing tools lessons in RightStart Level C this week.  While I have read many reports of frustration and tears surrounding these lessons, the first two lessons using the drawing tools were met with joy by Miss M and only a few mild frustrations.  I was so pleased that we were able to complete 5 lessons this week (that doesn’t happen to us very often — we usually only get 3 or 4 done).  Miss M actually told me she hopes the drawing tools lessons are harder next week!

3. It was book report week at our homeschool co-op for Miss M.  She chose the Boxcar Children book entitled “Treehouse Mystery” for her report.  She started out writing the report by hand, but quickly got frustrated with spelling issues and her struggles to write neatly on the small lines in the notebook she chose to write in.  Since time of was of the essence (aka, we actually had a deadline!), I allowed her to dictate to me and I typed the report for her.  This reminded me, however, that it had been my intention of finding a new writing curriculum to start in January.  I guess I didn’t quite meet that goal.  I think Miss M definitely needs more instruction and practice in the writing department.

4.  Gotta love a game of War first thing in the morning…while still in jammies!

5. Cute baby J picture, taken by Miss M…just for fun!

6. The boys working on mazes in a new workbook I bought a few months ago…and just re-discovered while moving the contents of our office to make way for Miss M’s new room.  Miss M is working at the desk in the background…and the play/school room is a mess, as usual!

7. Mr. E has been begging me to work on reading again with him.  He was showing more interest in reading “real books” rather than working on lessons from Phonics Pathways.  So, I pulled out our “Now I’m Reading” books by Nora Gaydos, as well as a series of phonics-based readers I printed out (and bound with book rings) when I took advantage of a free trial of readingatoz.com a few years ago.  Mr. E read 4 small books with me this week. Yeah!

8. I bought subscriptions to readingeggs.com for both Miss M and Mr. E through two different deals last fall.  Mr. E is working on basic phonics/reading lessons, while Miss M is working on spelling and reading comprehension.  It’s a great website that uses a lot of fun little games to teach language skills.  I would not probably pay the full price they typically charge, but over the years (starting when Miss M was about the age Mr. E is now!), we have had various free and discounted subscriptions that have proven to be fun and worthwhile.  The kids hadn’t gotten to do reading eggs since before Christmas, and since I paid for those subscriptions, I thought we should get back in the habit of using them!

And last Saturday, we did get Miss M moved into her very own room. We’re all very pleased with the results and Miss M “celebrated” by having a friend over for a playdate on both Monday and Friday!

I’m linking us this week to Collage Friday @ Homegrown Learners and the Weekly Wrap-Up @ Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers!