Week 4

Another lovely week of homeschooling!  Sometimes it is baffling why anyone would want to send their children off for the whole day rather than spend such quality time learning with them.  That being said, I really love sending Henry to his preschool....so that Truman and I can have one-on-one time.  Henry is a high-maintenance little person who will not take no for an answer, and will not be distracted with "special toys that are only for schooltime."  So he has to participate. 
Lessons that Henry participates in during the week-
Artist Study-loves to be quizzed on paintings that we are studying.
Piano-he has to sit quietly and listen while Truman practices with mom, then Truman has to listen while Henry practices with Mom.  Henry is all about reciprocity and his interpretation of the Golden Rule (if they did something to you-you have to do it to them...)
Spanish- This is easily done with Henry, and he seems to have an ear for it.  Truman has lessons, Henry listens while crawling all over me, then they both get to watch a Spanish cartoon.  However, Henry and Truman have taken "No comprendo" too far lately, saying it after every request I make.
Poetry-Henry will patiently listen to the poem, listen to Truman read the poems, and even ask questions.
Nature Study-He will happily draw whatever we are drawing, although Henry gets frustrated pretty easily.  He has his own nature journal, although his dandelions look suspicously like race cars, as do his trees, flowers, birds.
Composer-It is also easy to integrate a small person into composer studies, because the music (Beethoven this term) is always on.  Henry can identify instruments, and Truman enjoys quizzing him using the same questions mommy asks Truman.
Handicrafts-Henry hovers over Truman while he works on his leather projects, and Truman tolerates it like a champ.
Folk Songs- Still working on The Golden Vanity. Just another song for Henry to sing, more appropriate than the songs he has learned from Dr. Horrible's-Sing-Along-Blog, anyway.

I know that Henry will be an awesome child to school when the time comes, as he enjoys his minimal lessons immensly.  Right now, however, he is a roadblock to smooth, peaceful mornings curled up on the couch with books.

Early Morning Pipe Cleaner Forest animals

The things that Henry cannot participate in, (Chemistry, Math, Spelling and Grammar, many of the readings and associated work) we do when Henry is in his Preschool on M,W, F afternoons.  It is almost shocking how much we can do in such a short amount of time without Henry around.

This week, besides the activites mentioned above, Truman and I studied the following:
Chemistry-Oxygen and Sulfur, the labs involved eggs and H2O2, lots of stinky and bubbly fun.
History/Geography-The Gupta Dynasty and the Medieval Indian Empire ( I truly love Story of the World and their maps)
Pilgrims' Progress-This book is driving me nuts, but to Truman, it is just another story.
Understood Betsy-LOVE IT!  Chapter 3
Tree in the Trail-I decided that the maps we were using were not adequate, and finally broke down and ordered the 5 dollar map from Beautiful Feet. From what I have read, this Beautiful feet map will change our lives.

The Little Duke-second half of Chapter 2, and our character list. Also developing into a great story.
Burgess Animals, Chapters 7 and 8, plus our diagram.  It was funny to see that others in the year 2 group think that we are flying through this book....I think so, too.  At least it is enjoyable.  Truman reads this to himself, with prereading done by me so that I can follow his narration.  This week was more than I ever wanted to know about Squirrels...which I think are too rodent-like to be considered cute.
Sequential Spelling- I cannot say enough about this program.  In two short months I have watched Truman grow into a competent speller.  Not ready for the National Spelling Bee, but I could almost imagine that in his future!
We work on Wordly Wise daily (which I am not crazy about- I think he gets enough Vocabulary through our literature, but is gives the district a box to check off).
Math-Right Start lesson 24, Groundworks, Mad Minutes. I am having a bit of trouble understanding Truman's abilities right now, and have been scouring the internet for answers.  He exerts little effort and really enjoys the prealgebra Groundworks, and cannot get enough logic puzzles...yet he still reverses his numbers, and REALLY struggles with Mental Math, even though he knows these answers.  The alarm went off when he added something in his head, and instead of saying 164 as the answer, he gave me 461.  Truman did reverse a lot of his letters, and would write in mirror images for a few years, but after reading about dyslexia I chalked it up to immaturity, and it has gone away for the most part.   The number reversal is not going away, however, and it turn out that there is such a thing as discalculia! I spent several cups of coffee reading about this new topic, and implemented some strategies immediately.  We wrote the numbers that he has trouble with 5, 2, 6, 4 with dry erase marker on the glass doors, very large, and very deliberate.  Apparently there is a difference between writing on a paper on the desk in front of you, and writing with your head up on a transparent surface.  I would quote that source, but now I can't find it.  We will see how this works.  Truman thought is was a hoot, anyway. 
The other issues, such as struggling with answering simple math problems orally, I cannot attribute to any real difficulty with math concepts right now.  I think that Truman more has trouble filtering out the noise in his head to focus on what was asked of him.  I found a strangely appropriate book called The Gift of Learning, Proven New Methods for correcting ADD, Math and Handwriting Problems by R. Davis.  I am still reading it, though.  Truman's Dad would love to medicate him and even brought home the Conner's rating scales for ADD from the hospital, which Truman flunked (but then so did Will AND I.) Will has been rapidly Westernized by hanging out in the Medical field, mommy still wants to try alternative methods.  This is kind of a new issue for me, still processing information and really-have no clear plan right now other than to read more and try to find some people who are knowledgeable about this.

A note about a lovely, high tech rabbit trail we took Friday afternoon.  Truman and I were reading a description of Nuremburg, Germany in a biography of our artist, Albrecht Durer, and decided we needed to see this place for ourselves.  We flew there through Google Earth, where we were amazed to find pictures of almost every street corner, every statue we read about...it was like a mini-vacation to Nuremburg.  Then we flew to Rome to visit Aunt Amy and the Coleseum, then NYC because Truman doesn't remember visiting, then our house in Silverdale, then we went to Orange Beach and stood on Gran's pier.  Two hours of siteseeing, and we didn't leave the couch.  It is pretty amazing that this technology exisits, and now my 7 year old is on a mission to document Silverdale and posts pictures on Google Earth, because our poor little town was sadly under-represented with photos.

Yep, these boys can read.

Week 3

Oops-I forgot to publish this last week, although it was all written on Monday. Good thing I do not have anyone depending upon me to blog.

Here is it Monday morning at 5:30, and I am on my second cup of coffee. I spent half and hour Saturday morning organizing the week ahead, making copies, and rearranging our homeschool bookshelf, this morning all I had to do was put the work into our hanging folder, which took all of 1 minute, then spent the rest of my time reading everyone else's homeschool blogs.

Our week is going to be a little bit unusual, since we are taking Thursday off to go hiking with my visiting friend. She will actually be here Wednesday until Friday morning, but only affects out homeschool for one day. (It ended affecting school for two days, because I had to clean and organize the playroom/guestroom Wednesday morning, and Truman had to help. We didn't go hiking, either, because it was pouring-we went to the Bainbridge Island Children's Museum instead.)

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Week 3 and we are mostly into the hang of full-time schooling again.  Our work for the week-
Sequential Spelling-4 days a week, test every day given by mom, no other memorization otherwise
Poetry of Walter de la Mare-4 days a week, 3-4 poems per day (they're short) read by both mom and T
Right Start Math-4 days a week, always with Mom
Piano-6 days a week, but 4 of those days Mommy sits down and works on theory with Truman.
Copywork-4 days a week.  Right now he is working on Cursive, writing out all of the people we are
       studying.
Spanish-DVD once a week, easy Spanish vocabulary twice a week, Spanish cartoon 1x/week
R.E.A.L. Science Chemistry-Twice per week, experiment once a week. With Mom!
Story of the World-Chapter 3 and 4 this week-Medieval monasteries, Justinian, Byzantine empire.    
       Truman will be thrilled that there is advanced map work.
The Little Duke-Chapter 2 and work on our character list. 
Cultural Study-Meet Jesus storybook
Tree in the Trail-chapter 4, read by Truman, out loud to Mom and Henry
Burgess Animal Book, chapters 5 and 6, and add the new animals to our huge diagram
Understood Betsy-Chapter 2.  Mommy LOVES this story, and has already read way ahead.
Pilgrim's Progress/Dangerous Journey+Character sketch
Among the Forest People-A Story about Hedgehogs

Nature Study-neighborhood Maple Trees

Composer Study-Truman finished his Beethoven Book and listen to every single piece on the CD, now is    

       dictating a synopsis to me.

Handicrafts-made a dog leash holder at Lowe's, plus worked on his Leather crafting projects....Christmas 

       gifts for relatives....
Artist Study-we abandoned Albrecht Durer this week and just reviewed our artists from previous years, ie.
       Cassatt, Monet, Sargent, Van Gogh.
Folk Song-Golden Vanity continued.  Truman says the idea gives him nightmares about drowning. :(

Recipe-Toast and Partially cooked eggs in an egg cup for dipping. Truman thinks this is very **fancy**

Week 2

This week I am breaking the work into time increments, because there are some folks in my group who are wondering about scheduling and how it can all possibly fit into a day.  At the beginning of the week it always seems like fitting in all this reading will be difficult, but after it is broken up into daily work, the amount is easily handled.  Monday was an odd day, because Daddy was home for the holiday...he always throws us off our game somehow. We can handle it though...we are flexible!

MONDAY 

History/Geography

• I read Our Island Story, the Coming of Hengist and Horsa, and asked for narration-which Truman did while building a tower out of erasers.  (Time-10 minutes) 
• We read the first section of Story of the World-Ch 2 The Celts of Britain-Truman drew a map of their route. (6 minutes)
• Tree in the Trail-Truman read out loud, chapter 3 (4 min) no narration

Literature

• Truman and I read the first Chapter of Understood Betsy, and so far-we can tell we will love it! (15 minutes)
• We also read the second half of the first chapter of Dangerous Journey (Pilgrim's Progress) (10 minutes) Made a character list.
• Peter Pan -read by mom while boys watercolor (15 minutes)
• The Whipping Boy-Truman took this to bed and read for who knows how long....

Science

• Truman read Burgess Animals to himself-Ch. III, and colored the Peterson's reference. I asked about the new rabbits he read about (I read the chapter earlier while I was setting up the day), and he tried to stump me with a question from the chapter (20 min)

Math

• One Mad minute (addition skills) (1 minute...ha) (but at least 2 minutes prep. Find your pencil.....find your pencil...turn the light off in the bathroom...sit down.. )
• Truman continued his graph on temperature, did a whole page on snake pre-algebra (from our district curricula) (4 minutes)
• Played Ticket to Ride with Dad, and kept the entire score (40 minutes total)

Other

• Truman read his Wordly Wise definitions, and did the first exercise. (10 minutes)
• Sequential Spelling Test 19 (20 minutes)

TUESDAY

History/Geography

• Story of the World Ch 2. Barbarians come to Britain, Beowulf .  Colored a picture of Beowulf (10 min)
• Our Island Story-Hengist's Treachery (5 minutes) narrated by Truman.
• Usborne Internet Linked World History (5 minutes)

Literature

• Peter Pan (15 minutes)
• Poetry of Walter de la Mare (2 poems-5 minutes)

Math

• One Mad Minute (1 min) Pre-Algebra sheet (2 min)
• Right Start Lesson 13 Roman Numerals-wrote numerals to 34 (15 minutes)

Other

• Cursive copywork (2 minutes)
• Sequential Spelling (15 minutes)
• What Do You Stand For? Character connection. (5 min)
• Composer study-The Chiming Tower Bells-Truman read to himself, listened to "Anger over a lost Penny" (20 minutes)
• Leathercraft-Truman stamped a pattern and a T into a keychain. (30 min)
• Swimming (70 minutes of fun!)
• Piano (15 min)

WEDNESDAY

History/Geography

• The Little Duke, 2nd half of Chapter 1, plus Truman wrote a character list (20 minutes)
• OIS, ch 11 and 12  The Story of how the Giants Dance was brought to Britain. (The story of Stonehenge) This was narrated with a very elaborate skit directed by Truman, involving stuffed animals, lego men, and a shark hat. (20 minutes)

Literature

• Peter Pan (15 Minutes)

Science

• Chemistry experiment-The slime that ate Slovenia (15 very messy minutes)

Math

• One Mad minute (1)
• Right Start Lesson 14, Multiples and Roman Numerals to 499 (15 minutes)
• Continued graphing temperature...which is sadly getting lower each day...(1)

Other

• Piano (20 min)
• Cursive copywork from Peter Pan (4 min)
• Truman read the 1st chapter in his Wolf Book (10 min)
• Sequential Spelling (20 minutes)
• Peaceful Piggy Meditation-read by Truman to Mom....then practiced by both (10 minutes)
• Fingerpainting

THURSDAY

History/Geography

• Our Island Story, The Coming of Arthur, and The Founding of the Round Table (20 minutes) Narrated by skit with Lego Men (Truman is still on a production high from yesterday)
• Truman read Ch 3 Tree in the Trail out loud to Mom and Henry (who fell asleep) (10 minutes)

Literature

• Walter de la Mare 2 poems (5 minutes) read by Truman
• Peter Pan (15 minutes)
• Understood Betsy-2nd half of Chapter 1 (10 minutes)

Science

• Made notebook pages for Group 14, Silicon and Carbon, read, colored, glued (15 min)
• Truman read Burgess Chapter 4, colored in the new mammals, Mommy read up on phylogenetics so that the chart we start tomorrow is *accurate* (25 minutes)

Math

• Temperature graph, Mad Minute (3 minutes)
• Multiples of 5 and 10, Roman Numerals (Truman LOVES writing out long numbers in Roman numerals, asked for more.) (20 minutes)
• Prealgebra groundwork (5 minutes-kind of a harder graph to interpret...about Trees)

Other

• Kitsap Art in Olde Town Silverdale-Level 2 Homeschool class (90 minutes-1x per week)
• Character connection-more talk about How we show that we care about folks.
• Piano (10 minutes)
• Beethoven story, we have reached the part where he becomes deaf :( Listened to a few compositions) (10 minutes in a puddle of sunshine with the laptop)
• Truman read a Moby Dick pop-up book to Henry. Henry made a bookmark for the story shaped like an anchor.

FRIDAY

History/Geography

• Gregory and all the pretty children-OIS story (5 min) Oral narration
• Childs' History of the World-Camel Driver and Arabian Days (Arabian Days is all that is required of Ambleside Online for this week.  This is why we have supplemented with Story of the World-Truman LOVES history, and AO just isn't quite enough) (10 minutes)
• Found everything studied this week on a map, and on the timelime. (10 minutes)

Literature

• Peter Pan (10 minutes)
• 3 poems Walter de la Mare (5)

Science

• Started our poster size phylogentic tree of the animals in Burgess. I penciled the tree, Truman wrote the animals names, added the stickers from the Peterson's guide of animals we have already read about. (15 min)
• Marshmallow Carbon experiment. yuck (15 min)

Math

• Mad minutes, temp graph. (2 min)
• Lesson on Later Roman numerals and multiples of 5 and 2.  Right Start (15 minutes)

Other

• Visual Link Spanish DVD-Lesson 4.  Truman manipulates this all by himself (20 minutes while mommy vacuumed upstairs) Then I quizzed him.
• Beethoven-Chiming tower Bells, tracks 11 to 15. (8)
• Character connection-Caring (5 minutes) ***We also got to hand out our first lunch made for homeless people today on our way to the hardware store.***
• Sequential Spelling Day 22 Test (12 minutes) We are getting so fast at this, Truman never makes mistakes.  This is an amazing program!
• Read about our Artist, Albrecht Durer, looked at one woodcarving (5 minutes)
• Piano-Theory book and C5 and V7 chords, practiced all of our other songs.  Lessons with Dr. Bowling start next Monday! (30 minutes, Truman and Mommy)
• Surveyed the trees in our neighborhood to pick which one we might want to study and draw all year. (5 minutes)
• Discussed what Truman might want to write a story about.  Our district wants to see handwriting and composition examples occasionally.  I am hoping this will not be torture....but it always has been in the past. (3)
• Truman picked a recipe he wants to make, and wrote out the grocery list.  Sushi. (5 minutes while mommy unloaded dishwasher.)

Mondays' work took about two hours, not including including game time with Dad.
Tuesday 2 hours and 25 minutes, plus 70 minutes of swimming
Wednesday About 2 hours and 30 minutes
Thursday- About 2 hours 25 minutes of work, plus 90 minutes of drawing lessons.
Friday -almost three hours, which just so happens to be the length of time that Henry is at preschool.

What I didn't write about or time is the reading that we do first thing in the morning when the boys wake up and snuggle on the couch, usually one book per kid.  At night before bed we read longer books in mom's bed after they are bathed and jammied.  We read for a loooooong time, usually books from our library.  We JUST this week finished 20,000 Leagues under the Sea by Jules Verne-this is a big deal-we have been reading it for months!  Truman will write a book report on it next week. Currently we are reading the AO free read- Little house on the Prairie, and also the Buddhist Bedtime stories, alternated with a bible story from my kid bible.
Each day doesn't take only 2 hours and 25 minutes to do school work...I wish it did, but it generally takes about 4 hours, usually starting about 9, ending after lunch.  We take breaks to have a snack, run around outside if he is getting antsy, play Legos with Henry.  Plus... I swear Truman has to go to the bathroom every ten minutes....Thursday our work was all done after lunch because Art took up the whole morning. I expect Friday will be a bit mixed up as well, since we are taking a looong break at lunch to eat at the hospital with on-call Daddy.  Friday is the day they have to wear their camouflage...my favorite day to visit. :)
Saturday the boys will go to Lowes and build their craft of the Day.  This counts as handcrafting!

Meet the Students

Truman Arthur, age 7, grade 3, AO year 2.  Words that come to mind when I think of Truman; sensitive, compassionate, night owl, enthusiastic reader, unenthusiastic writer, very social, fabulous big brother, game player, excessively tall, kind of whiney mamma's boy.  Truman has been my sweet, boney, cuddly boy his entire life, but has been transitioning to his dad's little clone for the past year.  Everything that Dad does is amazing, exciting, better than mommy!  I would say that one of Truman's very favorite activities is playing games-especially strategy games (Cataan, Risk) at game night with the other male doctors from daddy's hospital.  He plays a game every single night before bed with his Dad-when he is home. T also loves playing with his friends in the culdesac, building spaceships with Lego's, reading in bed with mom and Henry.  He is crazy about history, likes reading about other cultures, loves getting mail, loves maps and travel, loves Orange Beach, Alabama, loves swimming, babies, loves cooking. LOVES to go to Dad's hospital, especially if lunch is involved. Loves his little brother and does manage to get along with him most of the time.  Does not like chores (too bad), does NOT like going to bed, doesn't like reaching the end of a book, does not like bossy girls (but tolerates bossy boys) does not like mushrooms.  He still cries when his feelings are hurt, gets very angry when he thinks he is unjustly punished, cries his little eyes out after his grandparents leave. Still keeping quiet about girls, still takes an occasional bubble bath with mom or dad, still carries around a teddy bear when it occurs to him, dabbling in fibbing, but not very good at it. Recently has been checking out his muscles in the mirror, and suddenly developed an interest in his haircut.  A very smart, kind boy that any mother would be proud of.

Henry, Age 4, is starting preschool at a local church, and being homeschooled by default because he sits in on most of our readings.  Henry is such a different boy than his brother.  He is very rambunctious, very in tune with his surroundings, very conscientous.  He gets frantic if he thinks he has littered, and goes to great lengths to pick up trash.  Henry loves bedtime with mom, loves playing with his buddy Anthony, loves the teenage girls in the neighborhood, loves Legos, Tinkertoys, trains, dinosaurs.  He has quite an imagination, and is not afraid to use it.  He is a story teller, and already an extremely clever, kind of manipulative little bugger.  Henry loves breakfast and eats it several times a day, he loves morning snuggling, loves his big brother, loves Kipper the dog cartoon, loves to have schooltime, loves babies and coddles anyone smaller than himself, loves playgrounds.  He has real difficulty with vegetables, he has a memory like an elephant ( I swear he remembers everything that has happened since he was about 9 months old)  Henry is also a smart cookie, and will be reading very soon-not because I am pushing him to read, just because he is read to so very much, he is picking it up quickly like his brother.   Henry is very physical-he started walking at 9 months, running and kicking a soccer ball at 10 months, broken arm at 12 months.... I love his fat little arms wrapped around my neck, and he loves to put them there.  He is still such a cuddly sweet boy, but I can see that dwindling as he tries hard to grow faster than mommy wants him to. Henry will be easier to homeschool-because he thrives on routine and loves checking off his accomplishments. And he is such an early riser than we will be able to finish all of his schoolwork by 7am...good thing I get up early as well.

Me-almost 35, still a student in my own Master's of Nutrition program (but within a year of finishing!)  I am learning so much about history that I didn't know and in a much more logical format.  I was publicly schooled-hated it, and can honestly say that I didn't learn much, but I did graduate.  I feel like I didn't get a very good education in college, either, but I did graduate with good grades and the knowledge of what a good education isn't.  I have since been educating myself with my husband's never-ending help.

Week 1

Week 1 of our school year was delightful!  Truman and Henry woke up Monday morning to see everything arranged in an exciting way-with the present on top, of course.  Truman had been itching for weeks to get his hands on the new books, but to see all of his work for the day ready for him, plus a present (Pac Man), plus  a candle to light...he was in pig heaven.  This photo was taken while he was still groggy from sleep but trying

hard to wrap his brain around all the new stuff that he hadn't seen accumulating (pencils, games.)  At the last minute (2 days before) I bought the red hanging file you can see, and I stick all of his work in the openings-in no real order.  I put sticky tabs and sticky arrows on the work he is to do alone, or with Mom, and when the file is empty, he is done.  He stacks his finished work under the bookshelf, at the end of the day I put it back on the shelf or in the pile for tomorrow.  Suprisingly, I didn't think through the actual operational system, but this seems to work just fine, and is already habit...and keeps the school area nice and neat.

HISTORY/GEOGRAPHY Our first two days involved a bit of review of Ancient Egypt the division of the Roman Empire with our old Story of the World.  Truman colored a couple of maps of the area to refresh his memory, and we read the first chapter in the shiny new SOTW book 2, about the Fall of Rome.  I am thrilled that some dear soul on the yahoo groups had already assimilated AO and SOTW, so I have a nice neat map laid out for us.  Our history tale is the Little Duke, a biography of Richard, the Duke of Normandy. We read half of the first chapter, and then I had to hide the book because Truman wanted to sneak off with it and read more.  It was hard for me at first to understand the value of reading a book slowly over time to allow it to sink in, but I am definitely a convert now.  Excitment is already building about what will happen to the little boy in the castle...

READ ALOUD Truman's books to read outloud include Tree in the Trail, of which he read the first chapter, and The Little House on the Prairie-which he isn't thrilled about quite yet. 

SCIENCE We read the first two chapters of the Burgess Animal book, then  identified and carefully colored several different rabbit species using the Peterson's Field guide.  In chemistry we are reading about magnesium and we did an experiment with Epsom salt and crystal structure, inadvertantly learning a whole lot about evaporation because our solution was kept covered for too long...no biggie, though.

LITERATURE We read Shakespeare for Children, The Two Gentlemen of Verona.  I have to admit-this is not fun for me, but Truman really enjoys it.  We usually have paper dolls to help us act out the plays, but our paper doll Elizabeth, who has 16 different Shakespearian costumes, apparently cannot play the role of a man, and so this play is not included in our paper doll book.  We started Dangerous Journey, a highly illustrated version of the Pilgrim's Progress, and got such a kick out of Christian being bedaubed with mud in the Slough of Despond....Truman had to use the phrase multiple times that day because it was so novel.  I am supposed to be reading the original version of Pilgrim's Progress following my adult plan for the classical education you never had...and I did read some of the book-but fairy tales like this cause me more grief than they are worth.

COMPOSER/ARTIST Our Composer this term is Beethoven, and our book The Chiming Tower Bells is moving along, read silently by Truman ( I have read this before and so ask for narration).  We are in Beethoven's teen years now, and today is the day I start playing the music for him, now that we have the background to appreciate it more. Our Poet is Walter de la Mare, and so far, so good.  Poetry is another subject that Truman enjoys far more than Mommy, although I am very good at reading it out loud these days.  We read and listened to a folk song, The Golden Vanity, and it scares and dazzles Truman that someone could be allowed to drown.  It never ceases to amaze me what people put on YouTube, but there are many different artists performing this song, many quite good.  I am not following the AO folk song rotations, but I have no good reason why not.  Perhaps because it was easier to just spend 16 dollars on a Folk Song book plus CD.
 
HANDCRAFTS At our local homeschool conference Truman watched a leather stamping presentation, and just knew that he would be a fabulous leather-crafter, so we bought the kit.  Truman actually sat through the entire excruciatingly boring 50 minute DVD where a very old man gave a long-winded explanation of the whole process.  I decided to leave this entire area completly up to Truman.  I had to consciously hold back my hands and shut my mouth when he was decorating his little project, although I did have to insist on Truman taking the dye outside.  This is not a great craft for Mommies who deal badly with a lot of pounding and noise....like me.

Truman is still working on Cursive, he writes his and his brother's names beautifully.  He took 4 spelling tests this week (Sequential Spelling-never any memorization, just teaching the rules and writing the words.) This is a fabulous resource, and I can see that he is truly learning to spell difficult words.  His printing is all of the sudden very nice, too!

MATH This week our work is review, Adding 8's and 9's, with multiple card games.  I can tell that our Right Start curricula is ramping up for multiplication.

Truman is working on his Piano Theory, and is progressing just fine, which daily practice and carefully selected pieces that appeal to him, ie; Roller Skate Rock over Lavendar's Blue...

Our service project for the week was to pack paper bag lunches for homeless folks to keep in our car.  We see a lot of homeless people on the corners in town during the week.  Truman always wants to give them money or take them home, and we have, but too many times I was short on cash because I gave it away, so this is my solution.  The boys loved shopping for non-perishable food and assembling the lunch bags, Truman being very considerate to remember Wet Wipes so they can have clean hands to eat.  In the end, their desire to eat the chocolate pudding cups overwhelmed their desire to help more unfortunate people, and they tried to convince me that homeless people really don't like chocolate.

The last bit I will include is our NOT Back to School celebration.  On Wednesday all the neighbors had to go back to public school, and to celebrate being homeschooled, we sat on the porch and waved at all the neighbors walking to school with their moms.  Then we went to the empty skateboard park giggling.
It was pretty satysfying to be skating while all the big yellow school buses rolled past.  You could see the bused kids eyeballs staring at Truman and Henry.

                                                                                

After the skatepark, we had a Not Back to School IceCream Lunch, Mint with Gummy Bears for Truman, Cotton Candy with Cookies for Henry. Espresso for Mommy.