Week 20's Recap

For once, I'm right on top of this.  Turns out, we got our work done today by 10:30, so it's no hurry trying to get the blog updated before gym class.

For the next 8 weeks, our schedule goes:
F: Homeschool
S: Homeschool (video call with Hammie!)
Su: Homeschool
M: Preschool, Science experiment
Tu: Homeschool, Gym
W: Preschool, Weekend
Th: Weekend

We're busy, which is good, but it's a bit of a stretch trying to get our four days of school in.  Monkey has a hard time focusing if more people than just the two of us are around, so Wednesday and Thursday are out, as Skeeve is home.  After preschool, it seems mean to put homeschool on top of it, so we skip Monday as well.  As a result, we're working on four day weeks, and I'm trying really hard to make sure we keep our four day weeks - and not falling back to three day ones.

I've also realized that I'm not really actually teaching much yet. For now, I'm still just finding the bottom end of what Monkey already knows and essentially getting ready for next year.  I suppose that's all JK is anyhow, getting ready for the following year, but it seems really weird to be proposing a JK curriculum that "studies" grade 2 reading, kindergarten math, grade 1 history, logic, French, and some kind of weird K-2 science. I suppose that's the beauty of homeschooling, though.

Anyhow!  The update.

Reading: We've adapted Trash Words for our use here.  Monkey loves it.  I've taken the review words from unit 3, and he reads them to me.  He is better at the beginning of the game than at the end, but that's pretty normal for him, so I'm not worried.  He also LOVES playing, so it's even better.  More often than not, he has a great handle on what is being asked of him, but the problem is that too much review makes him twitchy. So, Trash Words has been working well, and we'll watch Unit 3 a few more times, and then we'll move right on to level 2, and I can toss his sight words in as well, which will help, too.

Math: We've had a bunch of issues with math recently, it's become a struggle to get math done on a daily basis.  However, I have no real way of knowing whether it's because of too much review, or too fast a pace - either way I get the same result - Monkey refuses to do the work. So today, we had a nice chat about how I really need him to answer the questions if he knows the answers so I can move on - otherwise I don't know he knows, and we keep working on the same things.  This resulted in three rapid-fire answers, and so we moved on.  In the last two days, we covered four lessons and skipped several others (all review!), so we're certainly moving right along.  And it keeps Monkey happier, so I'm glad to do it.

French: Really unsurprisingly, French is difficult for us.  I have a hard time trying to get Monkey to understand that it's a real thing, and that people in other countries, and in other parts of Canada, speak this way instead of how we do.  I'm doing what I can, but I have plenty of time. He needs two years of French between now and grade nine, so I think we'll be okay.

Logic: This is still fabulously easy for him. Aside from some confusion over the instructions (he was trying to physically fit items into the starting box, instead of matching their use), it was really easy for him, and he was looking to do some more right away.  I really need to get the next few books of logic so we don't run out quickly.

History: This is still a bit of a struggle.  I'm not too worried, as we'll likely hit on Egypt and Akkadia again eventually, and he is enjoying the mapwork, so it's not a total loss.

Science: This is no end of fun.  Monkey is adoring his unit on the Human Body, and is branching out every which way he can around The Magic School Bus.  It's really neat, watching how quickly he picks things up out of thin air.  I'm really proud of him.