The Week of Enlightenment

The first week back after our holiday break went surprisingly well.  It was quirky, interesting, frustrating and wonderful.  Here are some of the highlights...




Robbie read about Christopher Columbus and he begged for extra chapters from our read-aloud (which surprised me, considering the archaic vocabulary).  He was disrespectful to his basketball coach, so he had to write 50 sentences.  We are switching grammar programs.  I'll write more about that later.  Cursive is going slowly, but well.

Books, sentences and cursive practice.

I am checking out a few grammar programs, but suggestions are welcome.  Until I find something new, I am simply going over parts of speech and giving him copywork.


Books we enjoyed this week:

  

Math is always a challenge.  He doesn't find the concepts difficult, he'd just rather be doing anything else.  After one day of dawdling-induced "homework", he managed to finish his Saxon lessons in the allotted time.  Life of Fred is still a breeze (and something he enjoys).  We've changed up our Fridays.... they're much more fun (and include tons of math).

Math Lessons, Life of Fred and Games

He seems to "see" numbers in a non-traditional way.  He grasps concepts easily, but making him do things any way but the one he prefers isn't easy.  Sometimes, I have to give him examples of things he will do in years to come to make him understand how cumbersome his methods would become with extremely large numbers.





History was a blast.  I wish I'd taken more photos.

Mapwork and a Mosaic Drawing

We studied the Byzantine empire and read about Justinian and Theodora.  I didn't have anything to use as mosaic tiles, so I handed him some 1cm graph paper (usually for cuisenaire rods) and let him color his own mosaic.  He loved it!! (Dig the "birth control" glasses!)

We didn't have any reading for this chapter outside of the Story of the World text.

Notebooking, Maps and Books

Next, we studied about the Gupta rule in India.  Robbie loved the book about Buddha (and so did his Grandma, who is staying with us for a while).


Supplemental reading:

  

Science was fun and Robbie finally used one of my Free Lab Report printables.

Reading and Experiment for Plate Tectonics

The plate tectonics experiment was less of an "experiment" and more of a hands-on demonstration.  It was simply foam continental "plates" floating on a small amount of water in a pan.  It was a hit, though!

Billy Nye Video, Lab Sheet, Observations

We did manage to make the rock cycle less boring than I had feared.  He watched a Bill Nye video (Rocks and Soil) on YouTube, examined his rocks and sorted them by type, and observed as coffee grounds (sediment) settled to the bottom of a glass.

Supplemental reading:

Seriously... there's not much to say about learning ancient Greek, is there?  We're still reviewing letter formation and sounds.

Greek N Stuff

We should be doing vocabulary soon.  I don't know that it will make for more interesting posts, but it will certainly be more interesting for us.





I wish I had taken more photos.  He is Manga crazy!!  He has written and illustrated several over the past few months.

Oh... he's also decided that he wants an electric guitar.

Manga, Guitar and Art Lesson

We had a huge gap in our art lessons due, in part, to his obsessive artistic leanings, but we're getting back on track.

Our new rule is:  If Robbie completes his schoolwork and chores with a good attitude Monday through Thursday, then Friday becomes "Fun Friday".  The tin of fun cards (math games and such) is technically only used for the first hour, but last Friday was so much fun.

Fun Friday: Games and Art

Yep.. he drew a card that had him playing math bingo with (clean) undies on his head.


Well, that was a peek at our first week of 2015.  How was yours??

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