Week in Review- Duncan

What have we done this week?

Math
The little man is wrapping up chapter 1 of Foerster’s Algebra 1. Next week I think we will review and take the test. He finished MUS Geometry lesson 1 (for which I located the DVDs hiding in my homeschool closet) and will be moving on to lesson 2 next week. He is also working through his Kumon without a bump in the road.

Language Arts
Although Duncan is still reviewing the cycle of Classical Conversations English grammar, there was no official grammar again this week. He did, however, manage to finish a few pages in Plaid Word Study D and a few lessons in Reading Comprehension in Varied Subject Matter. Duncan is cruising along through Spelling Plus. The teaching extensions and covering every homophone presented allows us to spread some of lessons over more than one day. This week he finished the third grade level D word lists. I know that so far the lists have been easy, but we are reviewing all of the spelling guidelines and phonics as we go. Owning this knowledge is very important to me, so I do not feel like we are wasting our time by spending a few minutes each day discussing the material. Also, Duncan seems to be enjoying it!

On the other hand, I had a horrible feeling this week that I have failed the wee one by playing to his strengths and allowing him to become inexcusably lopsided in his education. Duncan strongly prefers math to reading. Like many eight-year-old boys, he prefers activities that he can complete in one sitting and he doesn’t like sitting still for long. This means chapter books that would increase his reading level or vocabulary cause such griping and moaning that they are seldom completed. While evaluating this dilemma, it suddenly occurred to me that I should have him read a classroom literature book. So, this week he began reading an old 1994 Prentice Hall Literature Silver. He read four short stories aloud to me including a science fiction story by Asimov and The Adventure of the Speckled Band by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

Science
We studied light, based on our Classical Conversations science memory work.

History
We studied history based on our Classical Conversations history memory work.

Other
Duncan practiced violin and went to his lesson. On Friday, he went to drama and art.