Homeschool Week in Review (week 2)

Phase Three of our homeschool launch is complete.  First the kids started their co-op classes, then we started Will's pre-algebra and grammar, plus Bible and History, which we do as a family. This week, Katie started her math and grammar. By the end of next week, we'll have all kids doing all subjects!

In Bible, we studied the name of Jehovah Rophe, the God who heals. This particular name was challenging for me, because we lost a beloved family member to cancer in June. Some of my favorite verses we looked up were these:

Praise the Lord, my soul;
    all my inmost being, praise his holy name.
² Praise the Lord, my soul,
    and forget not all his benefits—
³ who forgives all your sins
    and heals all your diseases,
⁴ who redeems your life from the pit
    and crowns you with love and compassion,
⁵ who satisfies your desires with good things
    so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s. (Psalm 103:1-5)

But he was pierced for our transgressions,
    he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
    and by his wounds we are healed. (Isaiah 53:5)

Math--everybody's on track and it seems to be going pretty smoothly. Will has already finished his first chapter and did well on the test. (Yay!) 

Grammar--I love grammar; I really do. My kids are reasonably proficient in it, so it's a subject that nobody really minds doing. We're still in the simplistic early days of "simple subject vs. complete subject," but their Institute for Excellence in Writing (IEW) co-op class gives them practical exercises to apply what they've learned in grammar. The instructions for IEW will say, for example, "add a who/which clause to your rough draft." The nerdy grammarian in me just gets all giddy over things like that.

History--This week we covered the Mexican Revolution & Pancho Villa; Porfirio Diaz and his 30-year presidency, Francisco Madera & Victoriano Huerta (still called the Jackal or the Usurper by modern-day Mexicans!) This all happened immediately prior to the beginning of World War 1, which we'll begin studying next week. Unless I spend a couple more days on the Mexican Revolution--I found it really interesting!

Science--This is a co-op class, and I really want to stay out of it as much as possible, so there probably won't be much to report on this. I think I saw on the syllabuses (syllabi?) that both kids have their first science tests next week.

In preparation for beginning our study of literature next week, everyone chose a biography to read. Katie chose Milton Hershey; Will chose C.S. Lewis; and I chose Dietrich Bonhoeffer. I'm kicking around a couple of ideas on fun projects we might do, either as we read or to wrap up this unit.

Thanks for reading! I hope you have a wonderful weekend.