Our 2010-2011 school year (our second homeschool year, for those of you who are newly on board the Starship McLernins) started smashingly!
This week, Captain Science mostly reviewed things and freshened up his memory a bit. He had a wonderful positive attitude, once again affirming our decision to homeschool. Even in his good year at public school, he was never happy like this. It’s like have my son back again, the happy and curious child who wants to learn!
Captain Science completed the fourth and fifth tries of the final bridge of Life of Fred: Decimals and Percents. He also did a page of math problems Officer Daddyman wrote up for him, so he could practice a few key concepts he hadn’t remembered as well. He’s ready to start Life of Fred: Beginning Algebra if the darn thing ever shows up! Come on, Mister Postman!
We began ancient China in history. Captain Science read two two-page spreads and one one-page spread in History: The Definitive Visual Guide, covering the Bronze Age, unification of China, and the first empire. He also read part of Eyewitness: Ancient China on the same topics. I’m looking for a good documentary on this era of China, so if you have any recommendations, let me know!
For language arts, Captain Science did eight sentences in Practice Town to make sure he remembered his grammar and usage. He completed chapters 16, 17, and 18 in Caesar’s English I (we only got about halfway through it las year) and today, started making flash cards of the stems and vocabulary words for later review. It was his first flash card experience, and while the tedium of filling out the note cards was frustrating, he seemed to agree that it made sense that the cards would help with memory. I don’t know if they’re making note cards flimsier these days, if I’m remembering them incorrectly, of if we just bought cheap cards, but these note cards we’re using are so flimsy. I might have to go get some nicer ones. He also did the final lesson in Building Poems again as a means of reviewing concepts.
He also did some logic work and read Where the Red Fern Grows, which he completed in just two and a half days (and cried off and on for the second half of the third day). Next book is A Secret Garden as his request, since it has a happy ending and a mystery!
We weren’t about to start science or computer programming this week, as we didn’t get internet access back at the house until Wednesday night. We’re having some issues with the PLATO science program. It won’t load on my computer! Hopefully we’ll get that ironed out for Monday.
Tank’s first week of preschool went well in most respects. He’s an eager learner…too eager, in fact! He has surprised me by expressing a fierce love for workbooks, which Captain Science never had, and I am woefully understocked on workbooks. Luckily, Nana brought two giant books over today, so I’ll have something for him to work on. He’s also worked on multiple pages from this free worksheet site. Every day, we have “block and trampoline time,” where he goes down to the playroom to build something and jump on the minitramp for a while. This gets him out of the room so I can focus on Captain Science for a while and keeps him from getting restless and bored. All in all, I’m glad to have him home. I just hope I can keep up with his expensive workbook habit. 
Babypie is…fierce. Fierce and fiercely busy. I thought Tank might make homeschooling Captain S a little harder this year, but no; it’s Babypie. She’s up the cabinets. She’s up the piano. She’s up the gate. She’s upon Daddyman’s desk, hopping her butt up and down on his keyboard shrieking, because Tank is trying to play a Pencil Pals preschool game and she doesn’t want him to. In between schooling, she’s a joy, but oh man oh man. She adds an extra element of excitement to education! She’s also parroting everything we say, from “click” to “peaches,” perfectly. Time to start her with a list of vocabulary, right? Say “vexation,” Babypie! Say “disambiguation!”
I can’t complain about this week at all. THIS is the way all weeks should go! Slap-happy and snappy.
