The weeks up until the week of Thanksgiving, Joshua and I did a good bit of work.  We finished up strong in all the areas.  Now that the break is over, we should be picking back up.  (We basically took the entire week off from Thanksgiving--I had planned to do some work on Monday and Tuesday, but Steve was off (school teacher) and whenever he is off it is VERY hard to do any schoolwork here at the house!)  Well yesterday Steve and I had an appointment in Dallas and so nothing was scheduled yesterday, and today Joshua is playing so constructively in the playroom and I'm beat (mostly from the "stresses" of the holiday week last week) so we'll see about starting back up tomorrow.

    But you know, I feel very good and confident about our school year so far.  Joshua is right on track--maybe a little ahead in some areas.  If we do anything this month it might be focusing mostly on the Pathway Readers and our Math-U-See curriculum.  What I also should think about throwing in the mix is a writing assignment--maybe a simple story on the spirit of Christmas.  Hmmm.  Maybe there's a way to "Row" (for all you 5-in-a-Rowers out there) a couple of Christmas/Giving type books and then have him finish it off with a simple story that he composes and writes on his own.  Well, I'm not even sure how to go about doing that.  And it sounds like I'd be compounding my responsibilities these last three weeks instead of alleviating them.  So we'll see.  Maybe I can google some ideas.

    But back to Joshua's progress.  He has come leaps and bounds in his handwriting.  I was able to order the next workbook "Printing Power" from Handwriting Without Tears.  I think we'll start that up in January.  He was also moving right along in his piano material.  I FINALLY managed to get his Level C book and maybe we'll take a peek at that this week.

    The only thing I feel I might try to add 2nd semester would be a spelling curriculum--possibly a grammar one too.  The Draw, Write Now was going well, once I decided it wasn't for his handwriting practice, but instead, an opportunity to learn a little bit about drawing and also to exercise his creativity in writing.  So I might move that curriculum from one lesson every single week to maybe twice a month or even once a month.  This will move in some more time for additional curriculums. 

    And here again, what I don't get done in the "regular" school year (which I have slated until the first week in June), can get caught up during the summer months.  I'm not overly worried nor do I feel pressured to get everything done before summer.

    Might I just add, that this evening is a Ladies' Night Out with women from church and I am SO looking forward to a relaxing evening eating some good food, chatting and "getting away" for a couple of hours.  Steve is a wonderful husband and father to let me do these sorts of things every once in awhile.