Aug. 15, 2008 - Weekly Wrap Up, The First Two Weeks
We've now completed our second week of the school year. Whew! It's been a busy couple of weeks!!! 
I feel like I'm on a merry go round and I'm getting dizzy! On top of trying to get our school days going, I've also been going super speed trying to get other projects finished before their deadlines. Our church is going to two services in two weeks, in which time the new nursery will hopefully be ready. My hubby and I are on the nursery leadership team, so we've been helping overhaul the nursery (not physically, praise God there have been wonderful men who stepped forward for that!). The things I have left to do: make name tags for all nursery workers, make final decisions and purchase toys for large play area, and put together crafts for two services (three classes each service) for the next two months. I'm also the Elementary Coordinator for the local homeschool group here. We've cemented our plans on the group calendar, with the exception of two things I need to follow up on. I have one more meeting next week before the whirlwind of planning for that commitment will be done. There are many, many people at our church who are interested in learning more about homeschooling, how to get started, curriculum, scheduling, etc. It looks like I'll be the person putting together a mini-conference on that one, probably to be held in my home (There's no way that can happen before October, but the planning for it is already running crazy thru my head!). Dear friends of ours are moving in three and a half weeks 
. Today I had all four of their children so they could get the house prepared for an open house this Sunday. . . hmm I wonder if that is why I didn't get anything done today! I have another five hours of DVD tutor instruction to watch before Monday (more on that in a minute). The pool in our backyard has needed to be vacuumed for a week. It is now turning a lovely green color. Our puppy ate thru her leash, I desperately need to buy a new one so I can walk some of that energy out of her again! I have two potted hostas sitting in my front flower bed still waiting (for months now) to be planted. The tomatoes in our garden are beginning to appear (I got them planted very late, so they're appearing very late) and I need to get ready for preparing them into tastly salsa, ketchup, etc. I'll be traveling back home mid-September for a bridal shower, then we'll do the same at the end of that month for my nephews wedding as well as spending some time with other family up there. My hubby also has a Elder/Deacon retreat to go on in September, so I'll be alone for a couple of days while he's gone. Whew again!!! After typing all of that out, I'm beginning to feel like I have decent reasons to feel a bit pressed for time/frazzled!
Since I have half a dozen other things I should be doing right now, here's a brief update on our first two weeks:
Reading:
Big Man (8) completed his first level of Barton Reading, he's so proud 
The first level focuses on phonemic awareness, which was a weak area on his testing. Things that were difficult for him at the beginning & middle of the week were easy for him by the end of the week. That was SO encouraging! He could even see how much he improved thru the course of a couple of weeks. I just got the second level of Barton, but I need to watch the tutor instructional DVD's before we begin on Monday. The DVD's are very, very helpful. I'm so thankful to have a program that walks me step by step thru everything (and I mean everything -- those DVD's are thorough!), as well as the comfort of knowing that the author of the program is a phone call away. The One Minute Reader has been a huge confidence booster for him as well. We started with the orange book (which was recommended for his age, plus I found it used for $10!) Last week, his score on Monday was 33 words per minute. He practices by himself for the next three days. Friday his score was 88! Woooo, was he proud! This week, his score on Monday was 35, today was 104 without a single mistake!!! I didn't know his chest could puff out that far At first, I hesitated to buy this program. Now I have no doubt I'll keep buying the next levels! We'll be adding in Literacy Leaders to our days beginning next week.
Little Monkey (6) has been the hot topic around here when my hubby and I are alone together. More and more we are seeing red flags of dyslexia. This, obviously, is quite discouraging. Dyslexia is heavily hereditary, so we were told to keep a close eye on the other kids for early intervention. We have decided that we will begin Little Monkey on Barton Reading this next week. It will not do any harm if he isn't dyslexic. It will move the world if he is. We had already planned on getting him tested by the end of the schoolyear, this is just earlier intervention than that. The bad thing for me? Barton needs to be done a minimum of 45 minutes a day, as many days of the week as possible. Add in Literacy Leaders, Earobics, etc. and we've got a humdinger of a day!
Math:
Both boys are slowly getting back into the math groove. What has become glaringly obvious to me is that I have neglected drilling Little Monkey enough on his math facts (addition and subtraction). He takes soooo looonnnggg to finish a math sheet, but he clearly understands what he's doing. The thing that takes him so long is the actual calculations. I've begun to drill him daily with flash cards. This will help him tremendously.
Grammar:
We're going to make some modifications to our program. I still like First Language Lessons, it just needs to be more multisensory for my kids. I'll post more about this another time . . . when I have more time!
Earobics:
I have to say that my kids are enjoying this one! After their quite time on the first day of school, they both asked to play Earobics again. Oh yeah, you can play as long as you would like! They are moving into harder levels now. Background noises are being added into the program as well as the general increase in difficulty. I've noticed that they both are really needing to concentrate while they are working on these.
Handwriting:
Big Man is doing well with cursive so far. We're sticking with Handwriting Without Tears for this one. I keep hearing that cursive is good for dyslexics, they can't reverse b's & d's. I'll be interested in seeing how that pans out.
Little Monkey is working on his thank you notes from his birthday for handwriting 
Yes, his birthday was almost two months ago. For family reading this. . . I'm hoping you get your thank you cards before Christmas.
History:
We've been enjoying Tapestry of Grace. We are continuing our unit on the first colonists in America. I've been keeping it on "Tapestry Lite" due to all of the other things going on around here right now. We're reading A LOT, but the book selections in Tapestry are wonderful. They really keep my kids attention. The geography over these last two weeks has been heavy, but both boys are doing well with it. We'll continue to review the states we've learned & add in the last couple of colonies within the next two weeks. They are itching to add in projects once again, which we will be doing next week when we take a week to delve into Indians a bit.
The Extras:
We've played a few games around here (that are used to improve the auditory processing skills). The most popular one was The Auditory Processing Game. I've been asked about these games, as well as some of the other things. I'll have to do a post on this when I get a chance. I received on of the core books I had been waiting on for Big Mans "Executive Function" problems (only if you've read an audiologist report do you have any idea what I'm talking about . . . maybe not even then!). Now I just have to wade thru the first few lessons and make the copies I need for those lessons so we can start in on it!
That's all I have for now. I need to go make three beds, clean the kitchen disaster area, and start watching the Barton DVD's tonight. All of this before 10:00 so I can watch Olympic swimming. 
Oh yes, didn't I mention I've been staying up until one in the morning every night so I could watch? What, me crazy? Yup.
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