I have decided that it would be more productive to post end of week wrap-ups to let our readers and family know what we did throughout the week. I will also post special separate things of on goings around Castle Academy but my main focus will be the wrap-ups, at least until I change my mind again
. So here is a look at our first two weeks back in the New Year…
Prince has made another change in his curriculum, after a couple of lessons in the Apologia General Science, he decided that he was not ready for this upper level Science. It is not that I agree with him, because I KNOW he can do it, but I have no problem with him making this decision. So for Science he is working on the Answers in Genesis God’s design for Life. Both he and Princessa are working in the World of Animals book. HE is on the mammals unit, and although he knows what a mammal is this has given him the opportunity to work on his research skills also. He is given a different unique animal each week to find out all the information he can on it, which he seems to be enjoying. He has also been keeping a science notebook which he enjoys drawing in. Math, as mentioned before is finally coming along. He has grasp the concept of multiplying and dividing fractions, it is not that he did not understand he just hated all the steps it takes it get to the answer, but I finally got him to understand the importance of each step, at least I think
. He has moved on to a simpler concept for now and is working with decimals, he is going to be upset with me for I have decided to move, or rather move through this fast because they come so easily (we still have another year to catch up on). Language Arts on a whole is simple enough for him that we have no major struggles.
Princessa is my easy going student, and is moving along in everything quite nicely. She is also doing the AIG science, and just finished up the Fish and Birds unit. She was fascinated to learn that the Shark had no bones in it’s body and chose to do her report on it, I think this has become her favorite animal! She to is doing a lot more research using this curriculum but enjoys it, coming from a mom who use to read the encyclopedia for fun, I could not be happier! Math just seems to come easy to her and man am I GLAD! She barely needs any help in new lessons and pretty much teaches herself, she did NOT get this from me! She could probably get the book finished early, but insist that she hates math so I let her move at a new lesson a day.
Grammar is kind of a struggle for her, but not the harder concepts, such as the parts of speech. She can pick apart a sentences just as good as Prince and on his level. I praise Easy Grammar for this! It is just so much easier to be trained to find the preposition first, every student should be taught this way! But back to the subject, what gives Princessa trouble is contractions and plurals. I am tempted to not worry about the contractions being that they are really not proper English and not allowed in high level papers, but I understand they may come in handy one day? I have begun pulling this from Pinterest to help her on this. As for the plurals she understands what they are, it is just the spelling part that gets her, especially the ending O’s and the IES’s. But I have faith that we will get through it.
Lady Jey is coming along through her studies. Her reading is becoming a lot stronger and we have also been working on spelling. She has also been introduced to a couple of 4 letter words and sight words. I though at first she would struggle but she is skipping through with a smile . She can even spell a couple of her sight words! I think I am more excited then her, only because I did NOT expect it to be this easy! She is still enjoying her SonLight read alouds, but I am starting to think we should have gone with a more advanced Core, but we will work it out. Math is simple enough for her also, we worked on measuring the first week and then on to time this past week. I thought we would need an extra week for this just because of past experience, with the other children, but she caught on the first day! and was bored with it the second, so needless to say we are flying through the BJU math book.
We had finished our BJU science book before Christmas, so while organizing and cataloging our home library (OCD much), I ran across a book we already owned and decided it would do the job until I came up with something better. So both the little ones have been using My Very First Encyclopedia with Winnie the Pooh and Friends, more encyclopedia work! just trying to push my love of research off on my kids. They enjoy looking and reading about the different pages of animals. The full color picture of each animal is beautiful! By reading this book Lady Jey has learned so far what a mammal and bird are and their characteristics. I think we will stick to this until we finish it, since it is teaching them something. I also purchased the complete set of Magic School Bus episodes, while on sell may I add, and we have been using these in the morning while eating breakfast. I know they are a little advanced for the little ones but they are such a great way to introduce the little ones to science topics and help review the olders on topics they have already learned.
Lady Bells is still not doing much in the way of typical learning but she is absorbing all she can. I think the Magic School Bus episodes are her favorite and she ask to watch them as soon as she opens her eyes in the morning. She still enjoys listening to Lady Jey’s stories and “helps” me while doing word work with Lady Jey. Last week she started saying the words along with Lady Jey, so I know she is learning, in secret! When we review a letter every week she knows it and it’s sound and will complete a color sheet of the letter, but this is the only worksheet type learning she will agree to do which suits me fine. She shies away when we do math work, has to be my blood! but once we break out the Winnie the Pooh encyclopedia she is ALL ears! She loves trying to guess the next animal we will read about and gets excited to see the pictures of the animals, especially the ones of the baby animals. As for our group learning we are sailing through. Still enjoying SonLight and ALL it offers. For History we are right at the Revolutionary war, which seems to be Prince’s favorite topic! He enjoys reading all the information he can get for this period. And as for the read aloud, Johnny Tremain, they are absorbing it and are upset every time we put it down for the day. Princessa does not seem to be as interested in History as much as Prince but I understand each is different, as long as she shows some understanding I will not worry.
In Bible, we started our Apologia Who is God and Can I Really Know Him? The first weeks went by slow but it was just the introduction but on Friday it picked up and we are getting into the purpose of the book, to learn how to discern the truth Biblically. I say the first week was slow for us, not that it was not necessary nor was it not good, but the first couple lessons deal with becoming a Christian which both of my older children are. So they found it kind of strange to be talking about this, when they have already accepted Christ as their Savior.
I have to say our time back after the break has been great! I don’t know if it is because we just needed a break after being in school since July or just because we have finally fallen into our new routine. Whatever the reason I simply enjoyed the past two weeks and I know I owe all of it to God! My prayer is that things continue to go so smooth so that we can enjoy our learning together!
So until next time, This is our days at CA!
. I am not a very hands on learner and just reading about the experiment does it for me so thankfully these experiments or pretty straight forward and he can do them himself plus they offer a companion CD that explains the experiments. 
