And She's Done!

Jordan completed the 9th grade last week! She was so excited and I am happy she made it as it was rough for a time there. The program we use has a great deal of essays, reports and projects. Almost one for every unit of every class with the exception of Algebra. So with New Testament, World Geography, English I, and Integrated Physics and Chemistry classes, each with 10 or more units, there was a huge amount of writing  Writing is not her strong suit. There was a lot of it that was repetitive, so I took quite a few off of her to do list.

James is coming along in 4th grade and is nearing the finish line. He is excited to be shopping for next years curriculum. Funny kid. My old G8way laptop finally started dying (it's over 10 years old) and so we had to switch to my HP Mini...he loved the small notebook, but I could not get his Bible class to transfer to it. He had to use the G8way for Bible class. He was always so amazed at how big a difference the screen size was as he switched back and forth. The mini is very convenient for taking school outside to enjoy the weather. Next year I will have 4 kids on laptops....I think mini's are the way we are leaning. Time to get on E-b*y!

Jackson is doing well, but is a bit behind. He works steadily, 2nd grade is just a big switch from 1st grade and the work load is heavy. He is a meticulousness worker and likes stuff to be just right, so he sometimes gets hung up on things that may not really matter to the lesson's requirements. I loaded some 3rd grade onto 1 of the laptops so that he could start practicing doing SOS and he really enjoys that. Switching from workbooks to laptops is a big change.

Jeanna is making progress. It is a very slow trek for her as she gets "stuck" often and needs loads of coaching to get back. When she first came she was on a very strict sensory diet that we had kinda worked down, but I am seeing a need to get back to it a bit more. Her dysregulation comes quickly, with me sometimes missing her triggers. She likes school and when she is on task, she does very well.

Joshua has completed Pre-K. He really mastered many skills during the year. He will continue this summer with large and small gross motor skills. I still have not decided about next year, but I am leaning to another modified pre-k. I just am not ready for him to do the Kindergarten curriculum yet.

Next week is a school week...the following week is a week off.

Quadratic Formula What?!?!?!?

Yeah, it's that time again. 9th grade algebra with its quadratic formula and stuff. (Yes, "stuff" is the official term that has been assigned to this lesson). I did find this on YouTube which was very helpful this time around. It was so helpful that we only cried about algebra for 2 hours today. ~Smile~

Only 4 more times to teach 9th grade algebra!

6 Week Progress Reports

The time is flying and yet sometimes it feels like we are standing still. Progress reports have gone out and most are very happy. 1 of my 2nd graders does not have enough grades yet, so we are waiting for that.

Jackson is doing well in most areas. Bible verse memorization seems to be more difficult for him this year. Spelling however is a strong area with him earning 100% on all of his spelling test thus far.

James is doing very well this year. History and Geography gives him a bit of trouble as it is so abstract to him, but he is doing better at keeping up this year.

Jordan is having a wonderful year so far, earning a 4.0 GPA for the first marking period. She enjoys New Testament Survey and Science.

Pre-K is coming along nicely. He is very eager to read and has almost mastered his high frequency words list.

Wednesday is Entertaining Angels. We now have approx. 274 people on our list and are now purchasing between 300 and 400 items each month. It is an amazing and wonderful experience. certainly bigger than we ever imagined.

Moving along....

Monday... Oy Vey!!

We have had a rough day today which actually probably started late last night with a real fire (drill) emergency.

When James loaded the dishwasher last night, a plastic lid to a storage bowel was loaded incorrectly. As the drying cycle came around, the lid had fallen onto the heating element and started melting which caused a major burning smell. I was on the couch and even though the detectors did not go off I quickly got the kids up to leave the house thinking it was electrical. As we walked through the kitchen to leave we could smell it was coming from the dishwasher. We opened the dishwasher to stop the cycle and found the melting lid. Whew.... glad that is all it was. I had never had that happen before so I was a bit nervous.

They all did a great job of getting out of bed and getting out of the house in less than 1 minute.

Of course the kids were a bit nervous to go back to sleep so I let everyone sleep in this morning for an extra hour. That seemed to throw every one off their schedule and school was not very productive today. Oh well... we will catch up this week.

9th grade finally started today. She had delayed her start due to many family emergencies last week. She is off to a great start, but the rest of the kiddos....oh my. Lots of weeping and tears today.

Praying for a better tomorrow.

Orientation

We had orientation Moday and it was crazy. My printer would not "listen" to my computer. Microsoft Office was "not responding" and well...it was nutso, but it was us and everyone was excited to see their new books, schedules and even their homework schedules. My student body has grown so much. Of course, the dog had to be included as he tends to have perfect attendance!

That Time Of Year

This is what's going out in tonight's "mail" ( I don't really mail it...just will mix it in with tomorrow's mail).

I think I have start dates figures: 

James, August 13

Jeanna, August 22

Jackson, August 27

Preschool, August 27

Jordan, September 4

I have all of my curriculum except 1 book which is easy enough to get, I just don't want to pay full price for it. I am a very frugal shopper. I am currently working on my portfolio folders. They have become messy and unorganized over the years. 

I am kinda looking forward to getting back into the schedule. Jeanna is very excited... the rest are kinda ready.