Not the kids, me.
This week has just not gone the way I wanted it to! We are behind! We started out behind and we finished, still behind. We have a couple of chapters of history still to catch up on next week. The boys DID get their spelling tests done today, but WOW what a chore that was. It’s not as if we had a ton of extra commitments this week… it’s just been… one of those weeks.
I think I know what the trouble is: It’s me. I have spent too much time on the computer/iTouch and not enough time working WITH the boys. Yep, it’s me. I have a lot I am working on personally (post coming out tomorrow!) and school took a back seat this week. We didn’t get done with school before 1:30pm any day this week. I will do better next week!
One thing that I did realize this week, and adjusted accordingly, is that I decided to drop Famous Men of Greece entirely from our lesson plans. My sons just really don’t enjoy the myths! Funny that children wouldn’t like fairy tale type stories, but both of the boys tend to enjoy books they can picture themselves in, such as historical fiction or straight histories. We are really enjoying The Children’s Plutarch: Tales of the Greeks. Rather than just dropping the one book, I will replace it with The Spartan Twins. I think they will enjoy that one.
I am considering not going totally with An Old Fashioned Education next school year. Yes, we love most of the books, but next year we will be covering my very favorite time period, and I want to use some of my very favorite books! Since we’ll be hitting the Middle Ages, and The Door in the Wall by Marguerite D’Angeli is a must read for this period. Of course, since it isn’t a public domain book, it won’t be on the list. We will read it, though! I haven’t made any decisions yet, but I will probably modify my book list.
Oh! One exciting thing that did happen this week is that I finally bought the newest edition of All Through The Ages by Christine Miller! I had the original first edition of this book for years. We used it over and over again, and when she re-published a new edition, I wanted to buy it so badly but never did. You KNOW you’re a bibliophile when you covet a book of book lists!! And now she has come out with a newer edition of the book, and she is offering it in ebook form. NOW we’re talking my language! =) I bought it and downloaded it, and I am looking forward to printing it and using it very soon. Maybe when planning next year’s curriculum! *grin*
The week wasn’t a total loss. D1 got 83% on his math test and 80% on his spelling test. D2 got 85% on his math and 85% on his spelling test. We did get most of our history reading done, along with the grocery shopping, 3 Speech/OT/PT appointments, 2 barber cuts, 2 swimming lessons, 1 CPR recertification training for me (and a partridge in a pear tree….)
Next week I will focus on keeping motivated and involved in our schoolwork. We also need to get back to using our Century Book!
Hope your week was a bit more productive than mine!
Related posts:
I’ve been reading several Weekly Wrap-Ups and it seems many of us had off weeks, for various reasons!
By all means, drop a dud, as Momma Knows says. Besides, Greek mythology has a tendency to pop up in later years, so don’t worry about it. It may be more interesting to your dc then! Also, we loved, loved, LOVED _The Door in the Wall_. It is a must-read. We (basically) follow Ambleside Online, and it was on the list for Yr 2.
Ellen´s last blog ..Weekly Wrap-Up
That is one of the great things about homeschooling — sometimes we have one of THOSE weeks and need to back down a little bit, and that is perfectly normal! My daughter has shown an interest in Greek mythology and I think we will be adding it to our studies in our last trimester.
Sherry
sherry´s last blog ..Weekly Wrap Up: February 1-5th Time and Space
It’s great that you are willing to drop books that aren’t working. My first couple of years, I was very reluctant to do that, but I learned that it was torture to continue with something that just didn’t work!
Sarah at SmallWorld´s last blog ..Weekly Wrap-Up
I know! I remember doing that too. I’ve been at this long enough (and I don’t think the value in Greek mythology is that big, IMO, for grammar aged children) that I have no problem dropping a dud.