Week in Review: 1/9 - 1/13

This week we have had much nicer weather. The kids got to play outside quite a bit, which was nice. We will be leaving next Saturday headed to Alabama for another job. It is exciting to go to new places, but I always miss our house, our church, our family and friends. We decided to rent a condo this time, which will make things much easier! The condo is right on the lake, with a swimming pool, swing set, picnic tables, and a grill right outside the door. God really blessed us with this spot! I told the kids it would be like one long vacation, except they will be doing school. My brother, his wife and their two kids will be on this job, and it always makes it easier to have someone there with you. We are planning to have a Bible study with the pipeline wives!

Mikaela and Eli finished days 24-28 in Bob Jones University DVD learning. Mikaela had to write an essay this week for Cultural Geography comparing communism, socialism, and capitalism. She is getting better at writing essays, as she has already had several to write since using BJU. She had a chapter 2 test in Algebra I, and I'm happy to say she understands what she is learning. She has been doing multi-step equations, and let me tell you, they are not easy. I've been doing right along with her, and some of them totally stump me. Honestly, I let her skip some of the really hard ones. We do them together (while I glance every now and then at the teacher's guide to make sure I'm not making a mistake). She can do the easy ones with no trouble and some of the semi-hard ones with no trouble. Fractions in multi-step equations trip her up, and she has a hard time with word problems. She is doing pretty well, though, so I continue to give her help as needed. I figure if she was in public school, she would have to have a tutor, so I'm kind of her "tutor" and teacher. We do her work together, although I let her work some on her own, but I check them right away. So about half an hour to an hour of my day is sitting with her doing Algebra. Physical science continues to challenge her, but she did well today on her section review questions. She is on chapter 4, which is simply titled, "Mechanics". Writing and Grammar is easy for her, and she enjoys her assignments. She has to read a book she's never read before and write a book report on it, due next Friday.

Eli had to write an advertisement this week for Writing and Grammar, and he did a really good job. We have got to work on his handwriting. He has always had sloppy handwriting, but this was him working really, really hard. Dysgraphia? I've thought maybe. His hand hurts to write, but he doesn't complain like he used to. I love how he added a blue "slide" for the "L" in Playground.

 I love these little Writing assignments at the end of each chapter. So far, he has had to design a book jacket and keep an observation journal. He is also learning about personal pronouns. He is learning about prime numbers and factorization in math, which isn't very challenging for him. He is learning about Asia in World Studies, and he continues to enjoy this class. He is always throwing facts at me that I don't know! In Life Science, his favorite class, he is learning about cells. He has watched several investigations on his DVDs this week. He learns quite a bit from this course. Honestly, the Life Science is the most impressive class we have! I would recommend it for anyone. There are fun projects and plenty of investigations (experiments), and his teacher makes the class fun to watch. The little kids often watch with him, especially when Lab Rat is on! He's a rat puppet that cracks lots of jokes and is very cute.

Mikaela and Eli are going to a youth weekend conference called D-Now. They left yesterday afternoon and will be back on Sunday. Mikaela went a few years ago and a had a really good time. I'm hoping it will give them a nice boost in their spiritual life for this year.

 Mercie completed Unit 18 in Bigger Hearts for His Glory, and Silas completed Unit 1 in Little Hearts for His Glory. You can read about their weeks by clicking on the links. Titus did not do preschool this week, but I pulled out Little Hands to Heaven to start with him next week. I forgot how sweet and wonderful Heart of Dakota is!

I began reading "Shepherding a Child's Heart" by Tedd Trip this week. It is transforming my parenting habits immensely. Just the introduction to the book was hugely convicting. I've highlighted my way through a few chapters, and I'm using the accompanying parent handbook, which is workbook/Bible study.

I'm also learning to hand-letter. I'm just teaching myself by *blushing* looking through images of hand-lettering fonts. I am pretty good at copying them without directions, but I have a long way to go! Here is something I made this morning. As you can see, I have lots to learn! I used watercolors for the background and a plain Sharpie to letter the words. It is so much fun.

How was your week?