This week we are working on our All American studies. The kids made pieces of eight and doubloons today. They also made a treasure chest to put them in. We are finishing our exploration theme. They have studied all the great explorers that had anything to do with American history. Now we are finishing up with the pirates. They are having a blast! Tomorrow they will dress a pirate and then Wednesday we will play a game. Then we will finish up the week with an "Exploration Celebration."

Now, if I could just get my older son to pay attention to the rest of our studies, I would have it made. He is so excited about history. But, when it comes to other areas that aren't as "fun", he knows how to do the work but can't seem to focus enough to do it well. He had a math quiz today and only scored a 77% and, yet, I knew he knew the material. When I marked the ones that were wrong and asked him to look over it again, he got them all right. I have considered not doing quizes or tests at all but, I feel like it is important for them to have the feel of doing it later on when they do their SAT and ACT's and such. Also for college. I have also considered testing but just for the experience and not recording grades. But, a part of me thinks that they should be accountable at least to some degree. I'm not sure. Anyone that has opinions on this, feel free to throw them out there.

My little guy is doing great. He has some problems with reading because of his eye problems but, even with that going on, he does well. Today he was all excited as he was doing his math work because he noticed all by himself that there were "twin" math problems on the page.

Since we are using a new curriculum this year, I am still trying to adjust. It seems very hard to fit everything in at this point. We are having fun but, I don't like the fact that it is taking so long to get everything done. Then on the days we add science, I am really drained. I'm hopeful that everything will work itself out soon and we will develop a flow to our days. We are beginning our 6th week so, we have a ways to go.

I hope everyone else is doing well as the school year is starting back up. We are trying schooling year round so, I'm excited to see how that works out.