School Ramblings {March 19, 2016}

The last two weeks have been for the most part smooth sailing. I really thought we would get behind this week. Even Caleb kept saying he wasn't going to get it all done. I just looked over the weekly lesson sheet and everything was completed. : )  Next week will be a four day school week and then Easter break. Just 8 weeks of school left after that!

We made it out to the family farm on Wednesday afternoon for some nature study. I took Lucy for a long walk while the boys helped my dad plant potatoes. The boys did a nature hike after their work was done. There isn't much to see right now (so no pictures). Things are greening up and a few trees are blooming. Lucy and I did scare up some wood ducks on one of the creeks.

Stopping at the creek so Lucy can get a drink. She always has to go into the water.

What's in the Morning Basket? 
Not much! I have been inconsistent with Morning Basket this year. Mornings are not my favorite and we have struggled with starting on time. I tried a few things to fix our lack of morning time but have not been successful. This week we did listen to Swallowdale (and hoping to finally finish this before the end of the school year since we have listened to it off and on for two years now). We also read some poetry and had a drawing lesson.

What's this (improvements needed)?
As I mentioned above, we really need to work on our morning routine.

I noticed I was missing a lot of narrations from one boy in particular and I will need to remind him that it is his duty to make sure he gives those to me.

We've got this! (improvement made, stuff mastered)
At the beginning of the school year (and a few months in) I thought I would never get Tyler writing a proper sentence. Written narrations were a real struggle for him. I think that goal has been met! I think the key with him (who can give a really long and detailed oral narration) was telling him his written narrations could be on just one part of what he read and it does not need to be as long as his oral narrations. Another key step was having him read his narration out loud to me. This allowed him to hear the awkward sentences and fix them. (I also didn't need to see his horrible handwriting, which caused me to not be encouraging of his work.) 

I've been impressed with improvement that Caleb has made to his drawing. He is slowing down and paying attention and giving some effort. Now if I could just get Tyler to do that.  ; )

Cassie's (and Tyler's) favored book.
I've been reading out loud Carry a Big Stick: The Uncommon Heroism of Theodore Roosevelt to Tyler as a history biography. We are really enjoying it! I chose to read it to Tyler because the vocabulary makes the book almost arduous. It makes it a tough read aloud too, but it would be a challenge for Tyler to read alone. I'm hoping even with all the tripping around all the adjectives that Tyler is picking up on the challenging vocabulary. We do recommend this book if you are reading this era of history.

Looking ahead (teacher's duties).
I'm very slowly starting to plan for next year since this year is wrapping up. I've got grammar and foreign language heavy on my mind at the moment. I think history will easily come together for next year (perhaps a first for once!!) and I haven't even thought about science yet.  

I do have a ton of pre-reading to do for next week. I'm averaging getting all but one book done each week. I think I plan to skim one book to help getting them all read.  

How was your week?