Just One Quarter to Go!

I am as bad as the students are at this time of the year. I am really ready to be D-O-N-E.  That being said, we did some interesting things this week. 

The best thing we did all week was finish reading Wonder and we watched the movie. It was so sweet. Of course, the movie was not faithful to the book, but it was still worth watching.  It spawned many deep discussions about being kind to people and helping people out.  I would highly recommend the book and the movie to everyone.

We're cruising along in math and science. That's about all there is to say about that.

We read a little bit about the Vikings. I'm not going to spend a lot of time with them. They will come up a little more when we start the Middle Ages next year.  We will move on to Ancient Rome next week.

We finished The Subtle Knife a couple of weeks ago. It was incredibly strange. We started The Amber Spyglass last week, and I have to say I am enjoying it more. Henry is looking forward to the remake of the movie.

We are really hoping that the weather will take a turn toward being more springlike. This March has been incredibly cold and unpleasant. Warmer weather, and being able to get outside will do us all a world of good. Perhaps it will bring back my enthusiasm.

When in Doubt, Craft

I am seriously at my wit's end with this winter weather. I swear it is never going to be nice again. In order to break up the monotony of our ever-growing case of cabin fever, we have been crafting. Henry told me this week that he would like to learn to knit. You know that is music to my ears!  I dug out some needles that a neighbor gave me and a skein of cheap-o yarn. I cast on 15 stitches for him and showed him how to make each stitch. He thinks it's pretty cool...except for when he makes a mistake and I rip it out and start him again. I am not being too pedantic about it, I'm just letting him do his thing. Learning isn't perfect, nor is it linear.  I'm just glad he's willing to keep going.  This is the fruit of his labor.

I have been keeping my hands busy with learning how to crochet. This has been a years-long endeavor that has heretofore been unsuccessful. This time, it's actually working out. I will always love knitting, but crocheting is a very rhythmic, flowing sort of movement. I can really zone out when I'm working on it.

Finally, I have been working on Log Cabin Afghan squares since December or January. I hope to have twelve made, the borders knitted on and have it all sewn together to enter in the county fair at the end of July.  I have four blocks done. This is the latest.

We did do schoolwork this week, too. We had more fun crafting, though.

A Week of Words (and Never Ending Winter)

This week, the highlight was Henry deciding that spelling is his definite favorite subject (it was history last week). He did almost two complete lessons! I didn't say a word. One lesson had the root word trac, with the prefixes a-, sub, and dis, and the suffixes - tion and or. One of the sentences he wrote, all on his own, was:  I grab a stick when I lose my traction. I was tickled pink.

Later that day, while out for a walk with Papa Bear, the sky got very dark. He said, "Those clouds look ominous."  When he was in the pasture with me, he threw a stick, and it stuck at an odd angle in some brush. He said, "That stick is perched precariously." He also thinks the word "awkward" is a good word. Holy smokes. His vocabulary thrills me no end.

We continued with Ancient Greece this week by reading about the Classical Period of Greece (800 BC- 323 BC).Now, whenever he hears 800 BC and Greece, the only thing to say is, "Homer!" A lot of the writing from that period is attributed to Homer, even though he did just a fraction of it. At least it sticks in his head that way. I hope to finish Greece next week with some more mythology and the rest of the history in our workbook.

The weather in our neck of the woods has been off-the-hook crazy. We had a couple of really nice, warm, lovely days earlier this week.  Today, we woke up to this. Ah, life in Northwestern Pennsylvania in March.

Only 11 more weeks of school!
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