Home School Update

Monday was the first week of our second semester.  Since I haven't posted anything about school for a while I thought I would give a quick update on where we are and where we are going.

Rebecca (our seventh grader) just started algebra on Monday.  She loves it and is finally being challened a little in math.  Seventh grade math was a lot of review for her, and I think she spent much of the time on autopilot.  It is good to see her having to work and enjoying it.  She is starting to feel more comfortable with science and history/geography.  She likes science but it took her a while to get used to the tests in her Likfepaks, which are a different type of test than she is used to taking.  As for history/geography, she just isn't that interested in it, but knows we want her to learn it.  However, I am happy to say that she did very well on her Lifepak on American settlement and Native American cultures.  Language arts is going well, which is not a surpirse becasue she loves to write and is quite good at it.

Timothy (our fourth grader) is speeding through math, and just finished a rather intensive section on improper fractions.  He enjoys math and is also good at it, but has a tendancy to lose points on tests because he rushed through something.  He loves history/geography and is moving rather quickly through that as well.  He just finished a Lifepak on the Arctic and Antarctic, which seems appropriate now that the cold has returned to SW Michigan.  Science tests were also a struggle for him, but he is doing better while learning about elements and molecules.  As for language arts, he is also a good writer but has a tendancy to race through assignments rather than writing everything that he knows to the best of his ability.  I am told that this recurring issue of racing through things has to do wtih the fact that he is a boy, but I hate to point to that.

Both Timothy and Rebecca are doing their Bible coursework using Switched on Schoolhouse (from Alpha Omega) and they are really enjoying the computer format for this course.  They both enjoy the games and the interactive portions of the work.

Linden (our pre-schooler) is finally starting to get interested in learning.  At least a little bit.  I must admit that she has been a challenge for us becase she has such a different attitude about learning than her brother and sister did.  Both Timothy and Rebecca were confident readers before they were 5.  Linden only knows a handful of letters and is resistant to our efforets to teach her any more.  Thankfully, I recently read about Starfall.com on Tracy's blog and it has been such a blessing.  In the last week Linden has spent more time working on letter recognition and phonics than she did over the last several months combined!

The whole family started Spanish this week and we are having a lot of fun with it.  My husband and I each have student profiles just like the kids and we have to do the same assignments.  While my husband and I both had several years of Spanish when we were in school, that was a long time ago and this refresher is really helping.