Good Things!

Today, when the kids were finishing up a few things so we could be ready to go to co-op this afternoon,  Ian said "This week went by quickly".  I thought that was a good assessment of the week. It was a quick week and things seemed to go quite smoothly.  Here is a short list of what I think went well and why.

One on one school time with each child - I don't know why I have tried to do it any other way. We do pledge, prayer, scripture, songs, memory work and then with Molly down for a nap each child gets my undivided attention for their Math and writing. Ian usually is first since he grabs his books quickly and sets to work. Sophie always has her nose in a book and Henry has to be prodded to get his work out. But instead of trying to get everyone on task at the same time. I sat down with Ian and just watched him do his Explode the Code and Math. It was only 20 min or so but he was thrilled to finally have me all to himself and not have me try to help him and Henry at the same time.
Henry then got my attention and Ian got to run off to play, read or whatever for a bit. Henry was able to stay on task a lot better if I was sitting there for him to read his work to me. Then when he was done it was Sophie's turn.

Sophie's new writing program - I finally broke down and bought Writing with Ease. I actually bought the first three workbooks to see where I thought Sophie should start and decided to start easy with the 2nd workbook and build up to the harder work. I don't want her to hate writing and since I haven't done anything formal with her I thought this best. This week has gone well. I like having the almost scripted assignment each day. They are short and easy for now.
I am going to start Ian on level 1 when he finishes this last book of Explode the Code. He is almost done with 4 1/2 and I think it has run it's course. Explode the code was great for teaching him how to read but I think a change to writing will be good for him.

Life of Fred - Sophie finished her Singapore 4B book a week ago and we are now doing Life of Fred Fractions every day.  Sophie loves it. I have the decimals book also so I think we may go through that one as well before going back to Singapore. It may be hard to go back to Singapore after the fun of Life of Fred. The assignments are short and so far are pretty easy. I like that Sophie is getting to review some of the things she has already learned but in a fun way. She has never been a fan of review but she doesn't complain about Fred.

Valentines Day gifts -  Each of the kids got a Webkinz bird and book for Valentines day. Sophie got a bright red cardinal and the new American girl book. Henry got his The Way We Work (He has been asking for this book ever since we borrowed it from the library and had to return it. He loves his Human Body books!) and a green Budgie bird.  Ian got a Robin and an easy piano book. He is learning to play the Star Wars and Indiana Jones themes now.

I didn't make any treats or have any candy for them. I thought gifts would be better. They spent the day reading their new books, or playing with their new birds. No candy was missed.

We also did make some nice Valentines to give to Grandmas. They went along with our study of the Victorian time period for History and they kept the kids busy cutting out flowers for a long time.

Nice long Naps - Molly has spent the week a little more cranky and a little more clingy due to a cold. But at least she also slept for 3 hours or so each day. That makes for lots of "school time". We did a lot of history reading and activities as well as read aloud the entire Ozma of Oz in just three days, during these Molly free afternoons.

Rain - We have been praying for rain. This week we have gotten a few good days of rain. It is nice to have Winter make an appearance again. I was starting to think Spring was going to come too early this year. There are so many of the spring flowers already popping out.

We are all finally starting to feel like the sickness is passing. The coughs are a lot less frequent and I think I am the only one who is still blowing my nose all the time. If I could just hear out of my left ear I would say I was doing quite well.  Hopefully it will resolve itself soon. I haven't been to the YMCA in 2 weeks due to sickness. I miss my exercise each day. But perhaps that also has something to do with the ease of doing our school work. Something to think about?! Maybe it is disruptive to our day?

Oh... well... At least we had a good week and are looking at a long weekend :).