Weekly Report

This week was our first week back at school since before Christmas. We were not terribly consistent before then, so now that the baby is a little older, I'm hoping to get back into a more regular routine.

This week, we started our My Father's World 1st grade curriculum. This involves phonics for Abbie, along with Bible, science and art. Up to now, we've been reading a chapter from Genesis and Proverbs each day, which we will continue - the Bible in MFW is history, and projects.

We also started using Professor B math this week. I purchased it last year when I was struggling to teach Emma with MFW 1 math, and then completely forgot about it. I pulled it out and set the girls to work on the computer CD. We're starting from the very beginning so that we understand the methodology, but I expect to push through the first parts rather quickly. We're also going to add in Singapore Math 1B, but I have to order that still. We were using Rod & Staff 1st grade math, but the girls really didn't care for it. I've been meaning to make the switch for a while. The new year seemed as good a time as any.

We did our second week of WriteShop Primary, as we are a test family and we've only completed 1 week to date. This week, the topic was "I Am Special." We made sentences talking about things we like to do, wear, and eat using our pocket chart, and discussed how the sentences formed complete thoughts (as well as how they didn't, before we added the object nouns). We also read Keep the Lights Burning, Abbie for our non-fiction book about a famous person. (Okay, perhaps not the world's most famous person, but it's what I had in the house. I was not up for a trip to the library with all 3 children this week.)

We completed four lessons in First Language Lessons for the Well-Trained Mind this week, and learned about proper names for aunts, uncles and cousins. That was fun as the girls enjoy talking about family. We used our relatives' names for our copywork.

We've also been reading Farmer Boy, by Laura Ingalls Wilder. It's the third in the Little House series, and the girlies are enjoying the books tremendously. Emma got the The Little House Cookbook for Christmas, and has asked to make exciting things like fresh tomatoes with sugar and cream. Sounds interesting, doesn't it?

We were supposed to start Drawing with Children, but I must confess that I have been unable to locate the book. I will execute a search this weekend and start it on Monday. I purchased some sketch books on sale at A.C. Moore this week to use in our nature walks, which we will begin now that we're officially starting science with MFW. I'm hoping the girls will enjoy seeing their art skills improve and be able to utilize them in their sketch books.

For his part, Isaac showed us he can turn over from his tummy to his back, and discovered his toes. He also seems to be rebelling against sleeping, which is a bummer for Mommy. He had his 4 month checkup this week, and weighed in at 18 lbs 9 oz., measured 27 inches long and has a head circumference of 45 cm - 95th percentile all the way! We don't make them small around here, that's for sure.

That's about all the excitement for this week. I'm going to try to add some pictures in later.