Friday, November 2, 2012

Our Little School at Home: Rev to Rev Unit 13

This week, Joshua began unit 13 of Revival to Revolution. He only made it through day 2. We began reading Marie's Home. He looked at me and said, "Okay, Mom, this is a good book...but...um...it seems like it is for girls." I chuckled and then gently reminded him that we could still learn from it. By the end of the assigned reading, he asked, "So, do you think that maybe you could read another chapter? This is kinda good." Hmmmm...of course, I did not read on, but I did get another chuckle.

In his history spine, George Washington's World, Joshua is studying the French Revolution. His written narrations are growing in length and depth, but his oral narration this week was a little shaky. That seems a little strange to me, mostly because it used to be the other way around. On Monday, I am planning on having him reread the selection and try again. His history project is tied to the French Revolution. He is making a cockade of red,white and blue.

Joshua is enjoying his inventor study. Currently, he is studying Eli Whitney. Growing up with an uncle who is an inventor, he himself takes a great interest in the men who came up with ideas to solve everyday problems.

He hit a roadblock in math this week and I gave him a break. Typically, if I give him a few days off then he comes back with a renewed understanding. It is like his mind continues processing the information, even thought he isn't actively doing it. So, instead of pressing ahead in math, we played some math games daily.

Of course, the question is, why in the world did we only complete two days of our curriculum? I worked ten hours on Tuesday, which only affected the things that were teacher directed - we completed those on Wednesday. My parents needed help this week making repairs on their home for winter. Joshua is pretty handy, and whatever he doesn't know, my dad teaches him - from pin tucking brick to using a circular saw. So, he spent many hours crawling under their house, helping Grandpa install a pump to alleviate the flooding in the crawl space. He then leveled the dirt, insulated and worked in Grandpa's wood shop. By the end of the year, he will have enough hours and experience to have earned a shop credit. I am so thankful that Joshua has a good work ethic and wants to bless his grandparents by helping them.

Probably my favorite memory of the week was Jacob snuggled up on Joshua's lap, completing his reading lesson. Jacob was so excited to be reading to his older brother...and Joshua was so thrilled to be the one to help him. I did take pictures, but I am not computer savy, so I have no idea how to even post them.