Weekly Report # 2

We were a bit all over the map this week, adding some things and taking away others. It will probably be a couple more weeks before we have the schedule fine tuned.

Faith, Character and Catechism: Father and James read Chapter 3 - Authority and Chapter 4 One Degree at a Time of Boyhood and Beyond.

"God does not give authority so that you can force others to obey your wishes. Authority is the opportunity to use all your skill, your resources, and all your wisdom to make those under you successful." pg 26.

"Learning to be a man includes learning to calculate the direction and temperature of your heart. Be willing to change that direction the instant you sense you are one degree off course. When your heart temperature loses one degree of warmth toward God, make changes right away. A small good change today may prevent years of trouble in the future." pg 36

They had a great discussion about responsibility and baby steps to change. Father also learning much from the book as well. I've been reading ahead of them so I'll know what they will be discussing and loving this book. He and James also read the Tale of Three Trees by Angela Hunt. Father said it made both him and James misty eyed.

This week was all about Angels. James and I read Chapter 2 Creation and fall of the Angels in Bible History all about the war between the angels and Lucifer being banished. And since September 29 was the Feast day for all the Angels, read all about Archangels, our guardian angels in Saints and Angels and what is a Saint. Completed Chapter 2 of Matthew in New Testament.

Saxon Math: Progressing well and completed Lessons 4, 5, and 6. Gave James a one minute timed test on doubles today and he got them all correct. Then I had to explain the purpose of timed tests since we rarely give them. Something he needs to learn for the future.

Voyages in English: We are working on Chapter one: Lesson one - What makes a good personal narrative this week with grammar focus on sentences. Still working the kinks out on the plan, but still loving the teacher's manual.

Spelling Workout D: Completed lesson one Consonant Sounds. Since when did W become a vowel? That's a new one on me. A E I O U and sometime Y and W. Learn something new every day. James scored 16 out of 20 on spelling test missing twelve, barrel, eleven and hammer. Something to work on for next week.

History and Geography: In This country of Ours read Chapter 24 The Story of Harry Vane, Chapter 25 Story of Anne Hutchinson and the Founding of Rhode Island and Chapter 26 The Founding of Harvard. All very interesting. Started Father and James reading Cool Geography by Jane Glicksman. Neat book and we'll be charting the course of our reading on the U.S. and world maps.

Physics: Father reviewed Chapter one with James and went over the math mentioned in the chapter. They did Experiment 1 in physics workshop - Potato Trap. Something to do with weight x gravity = force. They failed to take a picture of the potato trap that James built and the experiment. However, I do have a napkin with math equations and the answers written on it. Pictures, people, I want pictures.

Lively Latin: We started reading the precursor to all the lessons about why study latin and how it came about, etc. Next week, we'll start getting into the meat of the program.

Read Aloud: James and I are reading together "Star War, Young Jedi Knights Delusions of Grandeur." The history read alouds I planned for the week sort of went by the wayside. We're still working out how many different books, reading one chapter of each, we can handle at a time and still keep the stories straight.

Boy Scouts: This week the kids are working on their Fitness requirement which means reading all about the food pyramid, keeping track of what they eat for a week, then planning meals for the next week. James and I will be sitting down tomorrow, working on the plan and then he gets to go food shopping with me on Sunday. This should prove to be interesting.