Well, I still haven't gotten around to posting pictures, I just remembered. Maybe later this afternoon. But in the mean time, I thought I'd give a report of where we are right now with our homeschooling. We received the boys' test scores right after we got back home, and they both did really well, despite all my worries to the contrary. Yay! What a relief! We're still finishing up some things from last year, and for some things we're just kind of in the middle of them (like Luke is in the middle of a third grade math book), so we're just keeping on keeping on. I like to keep everyone on a routine, even in the summer, and we take a lot of breaks during the year, so it's not like I'm a slave master!
One subject that the boys really need to keep up on is Latin. I make up Latin review sheets for Latin Christiana ever Friday, so I printed off a bunch of old ones and took them to Ohio for the boys to do some of the mornings. We're only a little more than halfway through Latin Christiana, but we're moving slowly and reviewing lots because Luke especially is pretty young for it. A 2 year plan works fine for me.
I am planning on starting a new writing program this year called Classical Writing. It will incorporate a lot of grammar in it, but we're still going to do a regular grammar program--Shurley grammar for Luke (mainly because I already have it), and Easy Grammar 4/5 for Nathan. I guess I should actually get around to ordering Classical Writing then, LOL!
I went to a meeting of the homeschool support group Monday night. The theme was "Things to do during summer", which I wasn't that excited about. But it turned out to be a wonderufl meeting, very convicting, and exactly what I needed. My friend Christine led it, and she talked about how by April every year, everyone is just sort of tired and she's gotten pretty blase about discipline standards--not that the kids are "bad", but they could be doing better. So she's using the summers to reset the bar, so to speak. This summer they are working on the ever-popular and always-needed "first-time obedience with a happy heart", as well as speaking to one another in God-honoring ways, treating each other kindly, table manners, learning to take initiative and do things without being told or reminded--everything she mentioned were things that I had been seeing as lacking around here lately too. The funny thing was that she started out by talking about the story of Eli, who was punished by God for failing to restrain his sons, and so in effect, honoring his sons more than God. I had blogged about that very story a few months ago here. So yesterday we didn't do regular schoolwork, but I read the story of Eli in I Samuel 2 and 3, and we went through many Bible verses with the boys about speech and actions in particular, talking about how we should be treating each other. I'm having them memorize Eph. 4:32 for a start "Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you." Yesterday was a really good day--we'll see if we can keep to the newly raised standards without much fuss! It's always easy the first few days . . . I am motivated though--as Christine told us, and I told the boys, "I don't want to be an Eli!"
Well, it's lunchtime, but as I think over last year's progress and decide on next year's plan for other subjects, I'll update more. Spelling, in particular, is still an unresolved problem.
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