By wisdom a house is built, and by understanding it is established; and by knowledge
the rooms are filled with all precious and pleasant riches. ~Proverbs 24:3-4
• Sep. 13, 2008 - Week 4 in review
We finished week 4 this week. We are still working out the kinks in our schedule and adjusting to things.
On Tuesday, we had a planning session for our homeschool association's enrichment. I will be helping out in Mei's class. They will be studying Endangered Animals. Mark will be taking a Shakespeare class where they will be performing scenes from A Midsummer Night's Dream.
On Wednesday we finally did some of our American History activities. I had felt too rushed trying to get to them in the previous weeks. We are still studying the Civil War.
On Thursday, I attended a teacher's open house on an art exhibit. We will be visiting it as part of a field trip at the end of this month. I loved the art and look forward to showing the kids real paintings. The regular exhibit at the museum also has some pieces that fit into the art we have already studied.
On Friday afternoon, Mei's Girl Scout troop worked on the Olympics badge. They had a great time. I manned the table on Chinese food. We made them eat rice and chicken with chopsticks. We also took some of Mei's books from China, including our travel album. There is another girl adopted from China in her troop. I am hoping she will make a lot friends by participating in this.
About 2 weeks ago, I set Mei up with her own email account. She is now sending and receiving emails on her own. I am pleased.
Observations:
- The meeting on Tuesday was a good reminder of what our Tuesdays will soon be like. The good news is that Enrichment is only twice a month.
- Mark gave me some attitude in algebra this week. After I explained his choices for how we do algebra, he quickly changed his tune.
- Still having a hard time finding time to clean the house, but did get the key things done this week.
- I love teaching the art class, but it is taking lots of my time to prepare. I love all that I am learning about the artists! I know the extra research is more for me, than because I need to do it!
- I did not exercise this week. I woke up stiff on Friday.
- I stayed up late several times this week. I was awake in the middle of the night several times this week.
- We got some of our extras done this week. I moved timelines and mapping to Wednesday.
- Mark did more writing this week.
- Mei wrote a sentence for each spelling word.
- We did the spelling test this week. We also did last week's, which we had skipped.
- I ordered Explode the Code 6 1/2 so that Mei would have more worksheets to do.
- My friend Jill is also feeling overwhelmed. We may do Art/Music every other week instead of every week.
- Paul was stressed out over several things, including his college application process.
Changes:
- Go exercise - regardless of the time it takes away from homeschooling. My body needs it. Pray that they will start an early morning class so I can not interrupt our school day twice a week.
- Continue to have Mark write daily.
- Continue to have Mei write sentences with her spelling words.
- Work more with Mark on spelling - specifically the syllables and the letters that make up each.
- If we do art/music every other week, then the alternate week can be typing /computer skills.
- Create a college application schedule for Paul.
- Give up some of my time online so I can clean the house.
Pictures!!! What happens to a brother when his sister loves her animals, especially Puppy (spotted one), 10 Webkinz, and a few others. They attend school too. They are model students, although their narration skills are weak!
Mei writing with her homemade ink from crushed berries. Oh, the fish were hanging out as illustrations of the various body types of fish.
Mark working on his Civil War map. I had him color code the battles and because of bad attitude, he also marked all the battles on Mei's map too.
Mei isn't in this picture, but here are some of the other girls learning to use chopsticks!
What happens to a brother when his sister loves her animals, especially Puppy (spotted one), 10 Webkinz, and a few others. They attend school too. They are model students, although their narration skills are weak!
Mei writing with her homemade ink from crushed berries. Oh, the fish were hanging out as illustrations of the various body types of fish.
Mark working on his Civil War map. I had him color code the battles and because of bad attitude, he also marked all the battles on Mei's map too.
Mei isn't in this picture, but here are some of the other girls learning to use chopsticks! 
