Weekly Wrap Up: Warm Weather, Math Tweaks, and Classical Literature

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In my life this week… We had a few days of summer weather. The crocuses are blooming, our hyacinths are coming up, and some trees are budding.  We heard frogs croaking. The trampoline is up a month early, and there was some talk of swimming…. But today Miss 9 wore mittens to gather wood chips for kindling and my husband is planning to light a fire.

In our homeschool this week… Steady work, day by day, just keeps us moving on.

Miss 11 finished Singapore Math 5B, a review of her earlier work, and then asked to switch to Ray’s Arithmetic.  She’s going to give it a one week trial and then decide if she wants to go back to Singapore Math or spend more time with Ray’s Arithmetic.  It makes very little difference to me, one way or another, which course she studies.  As long as she’s doing math, it will all work out in the end.

Mr. 16 was floundering with Singapore’s Additional Mathematics a precalculus/calculus text.  There’s something about topics like logarithms and such that makes them hard to learn and remember.  I recall those days myself, decades ago.  Perhaps it is because the concepts are so novel (even though he has been exposed to them before) and seem so unrelated to everyday life.  In any case, we signed him up for a month of precalculus with ALEKS, the online tutor we always turn to when we need a bit of support in math.

Helpful homeschooling tips or advice to share… One theory of learning is that you need ‘hooks’ of prior knowledge or experience to ‘hang’ new ideas on.  If there are no relevant ‘hooks’ in your past experience, it’s almost impossible to learn a new topic.  That is probably what is happening with Mr. 16’s math, so he will get all the time he needs to explore the ideas, make sense of them, and become familiar with them.  Furthermore, I’m going to continue to assign regular reading about math topics to help build these ‘hooks’.  Math at this level is full of unexpected concepts.

Places we’re going and people we’re seeing… Judo, catechism, library, stores, doctor (Miss 14 has bronchitis).

My favorite thing this week was… Again there were so many!

• The deliciously warm weather.
• Not wearing sweathers.
• Having my husband take some time off.
• A surprise visit from Miss 19.
• Yellow crocuses.
• Meeting my exercise goals.
• Wandering through the snow-free woods.
• Seeing Miss 14 through the trees in the woods, her green-checked, tiered skirt fluttering in the breeze.
• Eating spicy gluten-free fried chicken.

Questions/thoughts I have… Although the infamous Alberta Education Act could still be passed, a provincial election may be called instead.  For more information, see the Alberta Home Education Association.  Please continue to pray and work for freedoms, both in Alberta and in your own area.

Things I’m working on…

• Dejunking our bookshelves
• Blog background issues.  Currently about 100 unique readers visit Tea Time with Annie Kate each day, and I want to make sure that their visit is worthwhile.  I’m trying to organize all my reviews so they will be easily accessible by topic.  I’m also working on a page of Canadian resources, trying to plan a page of Reformed links, and updating a few posts, links, pictures, and SEO issues.
• Yard spring cleaning. We cleaned up more garbage.  Miss 9 and I dug up dozens of thistles around the beehives.  My husband chopped many cords of wood, and the children helped stack them in the barn.

I’m reading… Romans.  I finished Three Men Came to Heidelberg and Glorious Heretic.    I’m listening to The Money Saving Mom’s Budget by Crystal Paine, and the library suddenly sent me The Happiness Project.  I’ve put Mindsight by Siegel on hold while concentrating on other books for a while.

I’ve been reading some ancient literature to keep up with Mr. 16’s studies.  The Odyssey (the version by Samuel Butler) is tough slugging; the constant references to Greek gods bother me immensely, and I’m very thankful for guidance from Omnibus and Leithart’s Heroes of The City of Man.  I finished Agamemnon, the first play in the Oresteia, by Aeschylus.  This is also an Omnibus selection and has been beautifully explained by Leithart.  Although we deeply appreciate Omnibus, I am continually astonished that such graphic, violent, adult literature would be recommended for grade 7 students.

With the kids, I’m reading Romans, These Happy Golden Years, Rozemarijntje Gaat Naar School, the third volume of Wambu, The Story Bible for Older Children, and various books for school.

When my husband is home for meals, we read Isaiah.

I’m grateful for … Peace.  Hope.  Joy.  God’s goodness.

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This post is linked to The Homeschool Mother’s Journal and to Weekly Wrap Up at Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers.