Wow.. time flys

Gee... since September 10th since I posted... a lot has gone on!



My youngest has been amazing me with his eagerness to work.. until this week! That is probably more my problem than his though. If I get over there and sit with him while he does his work, he is getting everything done by 11. But I haven't been doing as well the last week. He is staying right on track on everything but spelling, but the last time I gave him a test it was a bit overwhelming to him, so I am just letting him work on spelling out the words and getting them correct for the next time I give him a test. He is doing amazing in his math. He needs to do a bit more reading on his own though. His handwriting is so pretty. He has been doing cursive handwriting and is about to start capitals. He is a very good imitator. He is making progress on his reading with Explode the Code. I can see the leaps and bounds improvements he has made from last year to this year already. He is growing up on me. We finally made it to activity day with Ryan this past week. It was the same day as homecoming so I was a bit concerned if he would rather go to activity day or stay here and get candy from the parade.. that was a tough decision,but in the end I think he was quite happy he picked activity day.



Kelsey is working hard at her science , even though she claims it as her worst subject. She is doing really well with the note booking approach with Science. She puts a lot of time into it and is gaining a lot from it. She is amazing in her spelling skills... I didn't realize how much so until this year to be honest. She really is a natural speller. She struggles with pronunciation of certain words though.. I wonder sometimes if that has something to do with her hearing... but it could just be the wrong coaching on how to decode. She has been working diligently on her geography. I am so happy with how much she wants to do everything with it.. not skip over this part, but really work at it. Her biggest struggle this year has been Algebra. She is dreading it so much she isn't coming to me with problems.... so we need to focus on that the rest of this week. She is a bit behind, but I don't really care if she is behind, I care if she is actually learning the materials. She has been taking Spanish at the schools this year. It has been going really well. She is one of those kind of kids that really wants to impress people with her intelligence.. so she won't stop until she is getting the best grade in class. That's just the way it is. I am thankful that the class she is in only has 4 students. That eases her into the learning of this language without the distraction of 14-20 other students.



Patrick has been so quick at doing all of his school this year... I was a bit concerned maybe he was just rushing through things and then yesterday he came up to me and asked me to read this poem he read in his English Lit book. Just for a bit of history on my son... he doesn't like to read, he has spent his entire life trying to keep from reading... and he came up to ME and had me READ something that he REALLY LIKED! I about cried! He was even talking to me about the poem today! That really put my mind at ease. He is struggling with the whole Latin thing, but I haven't taken the time to sit with him and give him some guidance on what to do with it either. I did tell him today that this Latin book will count for 2 years, so I plan on it taking the 2 years. That made him not feel so overwhelmed with the idea of it again.



Well, that is a general overview of what has been going on around here with their school.





Oh and before we go, Ryan wrote a poem the other day! I was so proud. He came up to me in this eager voice and asked if he could read the poem he just wrote. Of course I said "Yes". He got all serious and almost read it like I picture someone in a dimly lit coffee house with the black barre' would read.



"The leaves are falling

The wind is blowing

The birds are chirping

To be continued..."

It loses some of its effect written out, but it was super adorable!

First Week of School!

Well, we started our school on Monday. Things have been going very smoothly so far. Ryan and I work on his stuff while Kelsey and Patrick are at band and choir at the school. It gives us 2 hours of alone time and he works real hard to get done most of his work without fuss. Plus he likes to say "I was the first one done again today!" lol

We are just in the review portions of the books. Ryan is finishing what he didn't get done with his handwriting last year, which happens to be cursive. He just has beautiful handwriting and at times, I have troubles distinguishing his writing from mine. Well, after doing his handwriting, he began his new adventure of spelling. He is doing a little better than I expected for where he is with his reading. Yesterday he was sitting down, ready to write his first word and he hesitated, looked at me, put his hand on his head and said, "Oh man! Cursive is taking me over!" I thought it was so cute! It made my day, anyway.

Patrick has been working very diligently to not get behind with football practice every evening. He comes home, works on his school after eating something really quick, then is usually done with everything before his practice. But for now, it is basically introductions to subjects that I know are going to get a lot more intense. He is taking Chemistry at the school this year. So far he is enjoying it. He is keeping a steady B I do believe. He is getting ready to take Latin here this year. I am quite excited about it, but a bit nervous because I have never taken it. He is just reading over the introduction now. I still have one more book to get for him that should help out a lot for the course. He is taking Geometry and can't understand at all why he is writing sentences for a book about geometric shapes. lol I think he will understand once he gets into it more. He is also doing a class on Critical Thinking. He isn't complaining about that one, which is a pretty good indication he almost likes it. Joselynn went through that class her senior year and has said time and time again how much she learned from it and that we should make EVERYONE take it. I hope Patch gets as much out of it as she did.

Kelsey is working hard at figuring out the right schedule for her. She is doing choir, band and then interrupting the day and taking Spanish at the school. It is different for her to not be the first one done, but I think she is realizing it isn't about being the first one done, but doing your work to the best of your abilities. She is reviewing her Easy Grammar from last year and then continuing on with the rest of the book. I am having her notebook her science this year. She has a desire to write, so this will only foster more of that and maybe develop into a passion. My main objective for her this year is for her to work on her work slowly enough she really learns what she needs to and develop a passion for learning. Geography is going to stress her out a bit, but it is soooo important she learns about the world and knows where things are in this world. Once her sister leaves to go across the country, I think that will be more important to her, but for now, we will work on getting her aware of life outside our little bubble. She says she is loving Algebra. That's a good sign! lol


Well, that is an overview of our week thus far. I would add pictures, but my eldest took over my camera for her journalism class. We will eventually end up with it back, I just have no clue when! I am going to have Kelsey work on a post for here this weekend so until then, have a blessed day/week!

Mama Brown