Yesterday started off on a bad note. Nathan often decides that he's going to rebel against school when daddy's home. Well, daddy was home yesterday so getting through his morning assignments was like pulling teeth. I can't quite figure out why having daddy home is such a hinderance. He is a bit more lax when it comes to discipline, but we stick together when it comes to punishment. Today I will bribe him a bit with Karate practice if he finishes his work on time.

The rest of the day went really well. We are almost done learning about birds. Today is our last day covering the topic and then it'll be on to reptiles. Nathan did a few worksheets on birds, their life cycle, and the different uses of beaks and feet. Since Nate's also in a science class at our co-op, we did some work for that too. They are studying the human body for this semester. Nathan has to learn 17 bones of the body, so we took a dry erase marker and wrote the bones on his body. It was fun to write all over him and I think he liked it too, although maybe a bit embarrassed when his dad saw him. I then quizzed him throughout the day on the bones.

We started two new books for history. I'm reading Johnny Tremain, and Nathan's reading The Skippack School. We decided to stop reading The Witch of Blackbird Pond halfway through the book because it was a bit over Nathan's head and he wasn't liking it at all. The writing of Johnny Tremain seems a little difficult for him, but I think having a younger male as a lead character may help him enjoy the book. I haven't read The Skippack School but after flipping through a few pages, the writing may be one of the more difficult for Nathan as a reader. He picked it up to read last night before heading to bed, so I haven't had a chance to ask him about it yet.

We then started a documentary on Benjamin Franklin. It's a total of 3.5 hours so we'll be watching it all week. It may be a bit over his head in some areas, but we are also working on some of the cutting and mindless work needed to start his Ben Franklin lapbook while watching the movie. I don't care if he understands all of it because we have about 4 books on Ben Franklin that we are also reading. Actually, Nathan has already read 2 of the books on his own. I think allowing him the opportunity to choose the lapbooks and pick out books from the library helps immensely with his willingness to do the work.

Our Hands and Hearts history kits showed up yesterday. We ordered Ancient Egypt and Ancient Greece and Rome to use next year during our study from Creation to Christ. I'll also be ordering Ancient Far East. We also ordered the Early American History kit for this year. These look like the best kits ever! Everyone I know who has used them raves about them. This is what we get to do from our Early American History kit:

~Dip candles

~Make and study from a hornbook

~Craft an apple pomander

~Make and play the Bowl Game

~Prepare and drink black brick tea

~Create a talking feather

~Stitch a lavender sachet

~String a bone cross necklace

~Decorate and play a bamboo flute

~Learn about the importance of beads in early American history

~Create a wonderful keepsake notebook

~Learn timeless language lessons

~Study the geography of early America

~Hide God's Word in his heart

These kits are found at www.handsandhearts.com. If you want to add more hands on activities, you can't beat these kits.

So I finally feel that we are back on track with school. Not that we weren't doing the work. We just weren't enjoying it very much. Finding a balance between Nathan's hands-on learning style and my teaching style has been difficult for us, as I'm sure other parents can attest to. Everything's starting to come together now. Of course once we find a balance, everything's sure to change once again and we'll be searching for our new comfort zone. Well...I'll enjoy it while it lasts.