Weekly Schedule 08/09

This is a rough idea of our weekly schedule, which is extremely fluid, including the curriculum we use, which is fairly fluid. To answer the, “but what do you do all day . . .”

Math: Saxon 3. Started mid-August 2009. The one program I swore I would never use. You know how that goes. It turns out it seems to be perfect (so far) for James. He needs an area of math to be introduced, turned over in his mind, dropped for a bit, and picked up again before he learns it. It took me a while to realize this.

We’re skipping parts. Despite technically being a “3rd grade” program, it’s below where he is in math. This is not because he is so brilliant, but because math programs are inconsistent. We’ve started more or less at the beginning, because some is review and some he needs and getting used to a new program it doesn’t hurt to feel successful.

Much to my amazement and pleasure, he loves the timed tests. Shock me out of my socks. Even when he didn’t quite succeed but was close.

He doesn’t love Saxon (I hope I’m not giving that impression) but there are no tears or complaints. So, call us satisfied.

We’re still working our way through  site on learning addition/subtraction facts as well. He uses his fingers almost not at all anymore, so I would highly recommend it. Subtraction is still weaker, but I’m happy with the results.

Reading: Geronimo Stilton. Soon, he’ll have finished the series. I’m not sure where he’ll go from there, but the love is firmly there.

Handwriting:  I’ve been using the Getty Dubay Italic series. I don’t know that it’s any better than anything else out there or that James was finally ready, but it is working for him. His numbers are still mostly backwards. Other than that, his main problem is a desire to speed through writing.

Junior English 1 (aka Language Arts) Love it. It’s been great for him, he flies through it. There’s little he doesn’t really know, but in terms of presenting it, pulling it together, expressing it, it’s perfect, except for a few odd (for us) British things (spelling, words that don’t rhyme for us, etc.).

Also, a Spectrum spelling 2nd grade and Grammar Daily Skill Builders 3 & 4th. Spelling is a week point and spectrum starts off slow and is fairly gentle. The grammar is basic and fast, a five minute daily exercise.

Writing: Once a week, Bravewriter style exercise, sometimes simply lists, sometimes stories, highly varied assignments often correlated with science, history, reading, or just his general interests.

Read Aloud: I don’t have a specific list, although there are a couple classics I would like to read to him this year (The Hobbit, Christmas Carol, and Treasure Island). Most of the books are joint decisions or chosen because they correspond to a unit we are going to cover (since we’ve switched to more of a unit study approach for history and science). I read Deconstructing Penguins and made a simple form (more for me than for James) to follow for book discussions when appropriate. Of course, we already discuss the books as we read them, but the help lead James more to the themes without me spelling it out for him. We’ll see how it goes.

History/Science: We have migrated to more of a unit study approach, with James picking most of the topics as I discussed in this post . So far, we have nearly completed the spy unit. Up next will be Hawaii (Yosemite having to wait, as our trip is having to wait. And no, we won’t be visiting Hawaii for our unit. Damn.).

Art:  I’ve devised my own curriculum, picking projects from various websites, printing them out, gathering the supplies. Like his handwriting, James has a tendency to rush, but he enjoys them, so o.k. I try not to get frustrated that I spend as much time putting together as he does doing.

And, finally P.E.: James stopped gymnastics, bowing the the pressure of being the only boy. Basketball, not a team, but a class, starts in late September. And, once school in back in session, I’ll be taking him to the Y once a week for open swim.