Family Update

I thought you might like a little update on how the boys are doing, what we're studying lately, etc. First, a little story. Yesterday someone at co-op had taught Nathan how to fold a paper boat. So last night he put it on his head and said, "Luke, look! I'm a conquistador!"

Luke: "No, actually that looks more like a Saxon hat."

Nathan: "Hmm, maybe you're right. I still think it looks a little like a conquistador one though."

Obviously our history studies are going well. We're finally moving on from the Crusades, which, I must say, has been very interesting. Nathan and I really enjoyed the Henty book on them, Winning His Spurs. In my last Rainbow Resource order, I got some new phonics books for the boys called "Explode the Code". They are really enjoying them, Luke especially. He is flying through his. I think I'm going to have to order him another one! He actually cheered one day when I said it was time for school because he was looking forward to ETC. Nathan is faithfully preparing for his Stanford Achievement test in May. He's working though a test prep book and oding just fine. Spelling is the only area I'm really concerned about at all. He is just not a natural speller, and since Luke is, this makes him a little lazy in that department anyhow ("Hey Luke! How do you spell 'one hundred'?"). We're working on it, but he just doesn't seem to "see" the word in his mind as he says it, and it seems to be hard for him to break it down into the sounds that he's hearing. It's always interesting to me, in a pruely clinical way, to see the differences in the boys and how they learn. As another example, Nathan is much better at Latin than Luke, especially in remembering the vocab. I think a lot of that is because we do Latin orally, and Nathan is more of an oral learner, so when he hears the words, he remembers them. Luke is much more of a visual one. I'm not too worried about that though--Nathan needs something to be better in besides reading! Speaking of reading, Luke has become interested in "Encyclopedia Brown" books, so I can finally say he is reading chapter books about things other than football heroes of the 1970's!

Bob decided he wants to grow some things on our deck this year, in our planter boxes. He got a cute little "Peat Pellet Greenhouse" at Home Depot, where you put 36 seeds in these little dehydrated soil things. Then, as you mist them, they expand up around the seed, and you put the cover on it and it's like a little greenhouse. Bob planted some tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, cantaloupe, beans, and I think even a watermelon or two. All the boys are having a great time watching them sprout. So far I must say everything is doing quite well, and since it's all self-contained, there's no mess or extra soil, which I like! Maybe this will be the summer the boys start liking tomatoes!

Our new read-aloud is Cheaper By the Dozen. I wanted something that Luke would be more interested in, since he's not as big a fan of the Henty books as Nathan is. There's been a lot of laughter, although I've had to explain a lot of words and phrases. We've found quite a few derivatives of our Latin vocab words, which is always fun. The boys like the movie (the old one, of course!), so they're already a little familiar with what happens, who is involved, etc. That helps, I think. What a great book, though!

You may have noticed that today I was able to make paragraphs! I have no idea why my "enter' key worked today, but I'm just going to accept it as a gift from God and move on.