Well, piffle. I’m way behind on Weekly Reviewins again! Life keeps getting away from me. I need a break! *yawn*
We’ve made it through 120 days, and 60 days remaining looks like a whole lotta nothing from this side of things.
Tank has been making tremendous strides in his math. He’s doing double digit subtraction using the abacus and white board, and often comes up with the answers without having to use the abacus! Today, he did 11-8=3 without having to refer to his abacus. He has also memorized the I and O verses of his vowel poem. I would like to be doing more, but his ability to sit still is still quite limited. He’s much more active than Captain Science ever way, and while he loves memory work, he could give or take the other activities we’re doing (making words on the magnet board, guessing which vowel is in a word). We’ve continued with reading poetry to him, though I made the horrible mistake of reading The Giving Tree to him, which sent him into a spiral of sadness that resulted in him standing on the top of the stairs at 10 o’clock one night, sobbing, “I don’t understand, Mama! Why did the tree give away all her things just to be wasteful!” Oops! MomFAIL. He also has continued working on mazes, which I think are great for both his hand-eye coordination and his problem solving skills.
Captain Science hasn’t been any less busy. Over the previous two weeks, he has:
- Attended two more STARBASE days, where he’s done flight simulation, worked on safety systems to keep an egg from smashing during a rocket launch, did tests using various materials under different conditions, and learned about air and space travel. He also left an apple core in his lunch box for a week, resulting in an impromptu science experiment for Smrt Mama. Imagine my joy.
- Completed lessons 56-60 in Life of Fred: Beginning Algebra/Fred’s Home Companion and attended a Math Olympiad meeting. The other was canceled on event of inclement weather, which is different from increment weather in that it gets nasty suddenly, rather than progressively.
- Finished chapter 7 in Essay Voyage, wrote an essay on the Crimean War (two drafts) with quotes/citation, and started Chapter 8 (“Conclusion”).
- Read the section on sonnets in World of Poetry and written a beautiful sonnet.
- Read and took notes on sections in History: The Definitive Visual Guide covering exploration of the New World.
- Read a biography of Christopher Columbus, prompting the remark, “Now I understand why people think he was such a bad guy!”
- Completed chapter 15 in Caesar’s English II and all the activities therein.
- Worked on a few sentences in Practice Voyage, just to keep things fresh.
- Wrapped up PLATO Earth & Space Science by finished in the final unit, “Space: Stars, Galaxies, and the Universe.”
- Completed two chapters of Kid Coder [thank you, Officer Daddyman, for reminding me!]
- [Argh! Remembered one more thing!] Started Type to Learn 4. We’re doing the 30 day trial right now, but I think we’ll end up purchasing it.
I always feel like I’ve forgotten something [and I had, but Daddyman reminded me]. He probably did a lot of additional reading in there, but it’s hard to track that, since he reads so much and so often. Mostly, unless I’ve assigned it, I don’t even try to keep track!
Babypie continues to use the potty (with a few accidents here or there), has expanded her vocabulary yet again, and is telling stories and knock knock jokes. “Knock knock. Who dere? Beepst*! Beepst who? Beepst inna water!” Yes, she not only made that up herself, she tells it herself, with no need for an audience.
Everybody send positive thoughts for Officer Daddyman, who is sitting before the FTO board next week to find out if he’s being activated as a Field Training Officer. Not only would this be a raise for him, but it would be incredibly fulfilling for him to be able to train the next crop of officers coming out of academy. I don’t think it’ll be a problem, as he has been recommended with glowing praise, but still, every well-wish helps, right?
I am about to embark on a new venture: providing childcare for one of Daddyman’s co-workers. More on that later, though!
*Beepst means Beast, her imaginary friend. Sometimes Babypie is the Beast. Sometimes the Beast is outside, playing in the street or the trees. Sometimes he does naughty things, like teetee in Babypie’s panties or knock things over.
