Weekly Report 11 January

Well, we were very busy this week. Or maybe we seemed busier because I was still sick! We managed to get quite a bit in. We have added a new feature to our homeschool - we will be spending Mondays with our friends the Cs. doing science and history together. My friend EC has two boys about the same age as my girls, and they really enjoy playing together. E and I both send our older children to a fine arts program for homeschoolers once a week. This program includes history which is done in 6 year rotations. I think that they will finish this cycle when Nutmeg is in 4th grade, so in 5th grade we will start 2 more 4-year cycles on our own. I started Nutmeg last year which was our first year of homeschooling. I was thrilled last year with the Middle Ages. I mean, really, what else is there? I lose interest right after the Middle Ages, so history has been a slog for me this year. With The Program, we are in year 3 which roughly corresponds to the first half of SOTW 3. Nutmeg really likes The Program, especially one of the extra classes, Colonial Girls. I will have to do a separate post on the wonders of that class.
My parents got me just what I asked for for Christmas: Rainbow Resource gift certificates! Now I have lots of new toys to try out on the girls!!!

So here is our week in a nutshell:
Math: plugging away at Saxon 2 (a bit boring right now)
Latin: Prima Latina - still reviewing, did not get a chance to watch DVD lesson 8 this week
Copywork: Serengeti related sentences
Phonics:started Explode the Code 5
Grammar:fell off the wagon this week with all the new introductions; just got Oral Language Lessons in
Reading Aloud:Nutmeg is still working on the Neighbors reader from Seton and reading some science related library books
History:Story of the World 3 chapter 7. Yes we are behind, but we are only doing the first half this year. Wow, don't you love Nzingha?!
Science:We started the Savanna unit in My World Science's Red Book. We are very excited! We are making a Safari Guide Book with our drawings and copywork. There was no experiment the first week, but there should be one every week after. Order this from Rainbow Resources while you can - the company has stopped producing this series. The Chipmunk and her little boy friend are out of pre-school on Mon and Tues, and I do believe they will be active participants in the science lessons. History left them cold though.
Mythology:We started a Mythology Pocket this week-Medusa and Perseus! The Pockets are for grades 4-6, so there may be some writing assignments we won't cover this year. Nutmeg is very interested in mythology so I wanted to strike while the iron was hot! I looked at Memoria Press' Greek Mythology series ( and ordered it), but I think it may be too many worksheets with everything else right now. So we are making the pockets and reading from the D'Aulaire book. Nutmeg calls myths "Just so stories" because she loves Rudyard Kipling's "Just so Stories," and those were her first real introduction to myth. I find that interesting because my first brush with myths was Greco-Roman and so I compare other myths and pantheons to that. It would be interesting to be most familiar with Native American or Norse or Kipling's India and that be your point of reference for archetypes.
Music:still enjoying the Harmony Row program
Ballet: Still my prima Ballerina
Swimming: taking the water world by storm- At her first swim meet in the fall, Nutmeg would not let me write "Eat my Bubbles" on her shoulder. She said it wasn't nice. Her reply was the same when my dad told her she needed to swim faster and beat the other girls. Her second meet is in a few weeks; we'll see if anything chages!
Story time with Daddy: still working on Madeleine L'Engle's "Wind in the Door"