So Far, So Good...

T doing math with his reader close at hand:



We're starting our fourth week of homeschooling tomorrow, and so far, it's going extremely well. Class Day starts this week, so I'll be teaching 25-30 students, plus E, T, J, and B will be taking classes as well. It's a huge addition to our schedule in both time and effort, but it will be good to be back after a five-year hiatus.

B is still working on basic reading skills. T also was a late reader (didn't read well until late 3rd grade) and is now reading college-level textbooks in his areas of interest, so I'm not too worried about B; he'll read when he's ready. Otherwise, B is doing extremely well in his other courses: he loves handwriting and is speeding through his math text. Even his phonics workbooks are fun, even though I need to read the directions and exercises to him. He's looking forward (with a bit of trepidation) to his Class Day courses in art, PE, and "Gross Science."

T and J adore their new physical science materials as well as World History and World Literature; they are constantly begging for more. Their readers have been a challenge, but one that they're up for. They're enjoying learning Latin, and they are liking math more, especially as they're responsible for checking their own work (which helps them see their mistakes and saves me mucho time). J and T are also doing language arts and spelling together which means fewer workbooks and more teaching time for me. The boys are continuing with their piano lessons and they are doing a little composing as well as playing. On Thursday they'll be back at Class Day for the first time in five years; J is taking art, PE, and cooking while T takes Art I, volleyball, and chess club.

E is finding that the old adage about studying Latin holds true:

Latin's a dead language
It's clearly plain to see --
It killed off all the Romans
And now it's killing me.

Latin is a lot of work, but she's still doing well with it. Johanna is tutoring her in Algebra II this year -- math is E's bugaboo. She is enjoying her biology, World History, and World Literature, in the latter of which she just finished a poetry unit. She's entering her third week of a six-week online literature analysis course through BraveWriter.com which gives her a chance to discuss literature in a class with peers via a forum; they're reading, discussing, and will be writing an analysis paper on Great Expectations. At Class Day, E will be spending two periods in biology lab and will also be taking a self-defense course for her PE requirement.

And as tonight is Sunday night, I need to plan this week's lessons instead of just blogging about how well this year is going. We're having a great school year thus far, and I pray that we all continue to stay motivated and willing to learn.