School This Week

School is going pretty well. We are really enjoying the history reading for Tapestry of Grace. This week it was the three books, Gilgamesh the King, The Revenge of Ishtar, and The Last Quest of Gilgamesh, all by Ludmila Zelman. Jason was fascinated by the story, and the illustrations are gorgeous. Although Jason is 9, I am still reading most of his books aloud. Occasionally, we read together, with him reading one page, me reading the next, and so on. His reading skills are progressing, but just not at the speed that allow him to read independently at the level that his other learning is taking place. That's okay. Eventually, it will all catch up. We did maps this week that show where the descendents of Noah settled, and also the main cities in ancient Mesopotamia. We use blank outline maps and color and label them with colored pencils or markers. I bought clear return address labels, and write on them with fine line Sharpie for Jason to use to label his maps ~ the point is for him to learn the geography, not agonize over printing neatly or small enough to fit the map. I am still having Jason work on the Time4Learning site every day. I was going to cancel the subscription at the end of the summer, but I think it is helping provide some needed skill practice in his weak areas right now, and he really likes it, so I'll keep it a while longer.

We haven't had time to do any hands-on projects this week. Volleyball practices/games take up afternoon time, and Jason goes to a friend's house 2 afternoons a week for an hour of science and another hour of play time! And today we are having other friends over for lunch, because they are moving to another state in just a few days. Time with them takes precedence over school work, which will still be here when they leave.

So school with Jason is fun this year, Amanda is doing really well keeping up with all her work. I am still struggling with the almost-18-yr-old on managing his time and setting priorities. He has been asking me to help edit papers an hour before class ( for an outside literature class) and is not keeping up with the work that is for me, as opposed to his outside classes. And talking to his friends on the phone is apparently a higher priority than catching up on that work. You can add that to your prayer list, if you think of it. Can you tell I'm frustrated?

Anyway, the weather has shifted dramatically to nice, comfortable FALL temps this past week. What a relief, after the extreme heat we were having just a short time ago. Time to go buy a couple of pumpkins for the front steps!