I am so glad it is January!

December was a terrible month for us...

Darrel's dad very unexpectedly passed away... It was hard on all of us. We learned a lot about family and how precious they are.. we learned a lot on how to handle tough situations and still be happy, and we learned how to lean on God when things just don't seem to make sense... I think those lessons are the toughest and carry the most weight.

We began school again in January and things have been going extremely well. Despite the fact that we are behind where I wanted to be at this time, everyone is back on track with their school and we have had some pretty big break throughs!

Ryan has been reading better and better every day. He has been reading in an old reading book from the public school. I am so glad I found this book. It helps to build his confidence and it's so cool to let him look back at where he started and see how much progress he has made. He is reading bigger and bigger words and the best part of it all is his comprehension! He always remembers what he read about. Even if it takes him 20 minutes to read a 4 page story, he is getting what it means and that is the biggest hurdle in reading in my eyes. What good does it do to be able to read fast if what you are reading doesn't stick?
His math has had to be reviewed because of our long break in December. I have made some multiplication flash cards for him and am having him do an extra multiplication fact sheet every day as well as his math lesson. He is beginning to get better and better with it though, so I guess it's working!
I started his language book finally last week. He hadn't been doing it yet because I needed him to get more confident in his reading skills first. It worked! He is going through it quite easily. His explode the code is getting easy enough for him to sit and do it on his own now, which is a blessing to me.
We also started working in a health book. He has put on the 10 year old chunk that Patch had... and I want him to be aware of how to be healthy. So far he has been learning about how important posture is. Every now and again you can see him remember what we said as he sits up a little straighter. :D

Kelsey is doing well with her math finally. Algebra has finally began to make sense to her. yay!
Her English has been a blessing. We are working with Easy Grammar Plus like I did with Patrick a few years ago. I am so thankful for this book. It is something that really reviews well and makes sense to my kids without overwhelming them with writing.
She is doing a writing course as well, so that part has been covered with something a little more fun. She had thought she wasn't going to be able to come up with a story with a hero and a villain, but she surprised herself when she began typing! It just came to her. She has worked on it several times and is now ready to start the unit on family. I think this one is going to be so fun for her!
Her science is going pretty well, but I have noticed she is copying things out of the book instead of writing them in her own words for a summary. I am going to work with her on that one... we don't need a plagiarizer!
She got a bit confused on her geography, which I expected. But she is beginning to get her maps book caught up so she can do both books in the order I laid out in the beginning on the year. Her health is pretty easy for her so that doesn't give me much concern.
Kelsey is doing Spanish at the school this year and it is going quite well. She was able to opt out of the semester test this last semester because her grade was an A! I look forward to her continuing with Spanish through her entire high school career. She has a natural gift when other languages are introduced. I would like to get her involved in some other languages as well.. but I will see what she wants for her life.

Patrick is getting so responsible this year. He is working on his school on his own and is starting to make goals for himself since he is going to be graduating next year. He is looking at possible colleges for music!(yay!) He just started a music theory class at the school second semester and it has been really good for him so far. He is working on writing music for his band he is trying to get started. We have a bass, electric and a drum set.. why not?! (but I must admit, it's a bit tough some days when they practice the same song for 2 hours very loudly in our basement directly under our living room... but it's how they will get better! If it's not here, where will they learn?)
His chemistry with Mr. Oliver is going about how I expected. He has been keeping a pretty steady B or B- which is fine with me. He needed that class to experience the school and to build his confidence in his abilities.
He is doing geometry this year and has way bypassed by knowledge of the subject. I didn't really apply myself when I was a young in.. lol Thank God for answer keys and husbands who did apply themselves!
His econ is moving kinda slow.. I expected he would be done with the book by now, but even if it takes him the whole year, it's no big deal.. he is taking it as a junior instead of a senior, so next year we can just focus completely on government!
He is doing pretty amazing with the critical thinking. It is usually the first thing he goes for and he always does his assignments in it. He is over half way through the book. Joselynn did the same book as a senior and loved every bit of it. She suggested that all the kids take it, so I started with Patrick. I am glad I did.
We haven't made any progress on the Latin.. I am not sure what to do with it... so I may just have to take Nicole up on her offer to help me find a good book for him to start in.
His lit is going well and he still talks of stories every now and again. Good signs!

Well, that is an overview of our school season so far..Not only was December hard with Darrel's dad, but we had Kelsey's birthday 3 days after the funeral, then right after Christmas, all 5 of us ended up sick with the flu! It was a rough bug.. Kelsey was sick for 4 days, I had it for over a week and a half! Not cool. So, thus explains why I am so thankful it is January!

Blessings!
Jody