Homeschooling update

We're almost at the end of our 7th week, in our 10 week term. I've felt like it's been quite an easy week actually, as the children have happily worked by themselves. So long as I can oversee what's being done, they're pretty much just pulling out the books and getting on with it.

One thing that hasn't really worked, with regard to our new organisation method, has been the putting of all their books in the boxes. What was happening was books were being returned to the box without enough care, so I've resorted back to the stacked 'in' trays.

Hmm - need a few more trays I think!

The folders with the weekly summaries are working really well. It's just a matter of ticking of that the task is completed, adding page numbers to keep track. At the end of the term, we'll have some clear indications of how much work has actually been done and I think I'll write a summary report on each subject area so that the children can have it as a record of what's been achieved (NB - our state laws don't actually require reporting methods. This is something I'll be doing voluntarily). I'm also considering adding a page for a book list, particularly to encourage Mariposa; so she can see how much she's actually reading (a self-esteem boost).

We've also now acquired some lovely new Maths 'living books' called Life of Fred, by Stanley Schmidt. For Australians, they're stocked at Adnil Press for a very reasonable price.

I've worked my way through a few chapters of the first book, Fractions, and already am very happy. Not only is the story continuous, humourous and engaging, but other coincidental lessons are taught with regard to language and grammar. Maestro will begin working through these soon as he's almost finished his current math books.
Here are a few other reviews: BellaOnLine and The Old Schoolhouse Magazine.
Lastly, I'm preparing to change our current spelling program. As she's working further into her work, a few issues have been emerging for Mariposa. It's not that she's not trying .. she works very hard, but we're finding a few difficulties with regard to spelling. Quite often numerals and letters are written backward, sometimes in complete mirror, vowels often omitted ... so I'm going to try Sequential Spelling soon. A friend uses it with her children (with similar spelling issues) and has found it successful. It's ordered, so hopefully next week we'll try that out.