First Quarter

Next year will be the first year I think I'll actually have to keep a gradebook so that I can issue report cards for Nadia as she will be in high school. There are several routes homeschoolers can take regarding earning a high school diploma. If, for example, she takes a certain number of college credits while she's in high school, then I wouldn't need to create report cards for her each marking period. Since she has no idea at this point what she might want to study if she went to college, I assume at least in the beginning I should keep a record to keep more options open. Our local school district is having parent teacher conferences today and tomorrow, which usually take place near the end of the first quarter. Today was our 63rd day of school (out of 180), but a large percentage of those were field trip days. I think in terms of days when we do math, spelling, science, etc., we will have completed 1/4th of the curriculum for this school year on November 11. Here's a summary of what we've been up to so far this school year:

Bible - We've memorized the first chapter of James together. Nadia has also memorized all of Romans 1

and most of Romans 2 for Bible quizzing. We've read all of 1 Kings and will finish 2 Kings and Proverbs on November 10. We've finished two inductive Bible studies on the book of Genesis and are more than half way through our third one, which is over chapters 11-25.  

Spelling - Ian is in his last year of the spelling curriculum (level 7); spelling is a breeze for him. Spelling is a little bit harder for Oliver, but he's working through level 3 this year. 

Handwriting - I periodically require Nadia and Ian to copy something related to what we're studying in history in cursive. It takes Ian a VERY long time, but he has beautiful handwriting. Oliver is the only one working through a cursive textbook this year. 

Grammar - Nadia and Ian are working through Little Mermaid (Fix it Grammar) together. To make it a bit easier, I've been letting them just verbally make the corrections and tell me the parts of speech. I haven't started this subject with Oliver yet. We haven't done much writing yet this school year. 

Music - This is going very well for all three kids! Oliver is making great strides in his first piano books, and Nadia has come a long way with learning to play the flute. I love listening to Ian practice the piano; he's in level 6.

Coding - Nadia and Ian are working through a JavaScript textbook. They need to put more time into completing the challenges on the computer. 

History - We're using Mystery of History this year and are studying from Creation through the time of Christ. History and Bible are the only two subjects all three kids do together. Some of the audiobooks we listen to together correlate with what we are studying in history. This is our first year of each child having a Book of Centuries. So far so good! 

Science - Nadia and Ian are studying physical science. Hopefully their scores will improve on future tests. Paul is helping with some of their labs. The only two subjects where Nadia and Ian are graded at all are math and science. I have yet to grade anything Oliver has done. Oliver is studying flying creatures this semester. 

Math - Nadia and Ian are working through Life of Fred: Pre-Algebra 1 while Oliver has almost finished Life of Fred: Dogs. Nadia completed lesson 26 in the

Saxon Algebra I book today; she did very well on one test, but in general it has been a challenge for her. Ian is using Teaching Textbooks for the very first time (Math 7), and he loves it. It's the first time he's worked on math without much assistance from me, but it takes him a VERY long time. Oliver is working through the 2C book of Beast Academy now.

Reading - We continue to enjoying listening to audiobooks together seven days a week; we finished 35 books over the past four months. The three we are listening to now are The Last Battle, The Way of the Wilderking, and Alcatraz versus the Evil Librarians. The kids also read independently every school day. Nadia definitely reads the most. Some books that Ian has recently enjoyed reading have included Detectives in Togas, Mystery of the Roman Ransom, and the Heartwood Hotel series. He also recently started reading the first Harry Potter book. Oliver has been reading Imagination Station and Magic Tree House books.

Spanish - All five of us have been using the Duolingo app on a

regular basis. Nadia has been putting the most time into learning Spanish. When we used Talkbox.mom last year we actually used Spanish more throughout the day. It feels like we are spending more time learning Spanish but use it far less. Hopefully at some point during this school year the Spanish we are learning will be used throughout the day. Personally, my ability to understand Spanish is far better than my ability to speak it. For example, conjugating in the preterite tense is very hard for me right now.

We haven't done much with keyboarding, creative writing, art, or gym yet this school year. This is partly due to the fact I had signed the kids up for co-op classes, but we haven't been able to attend the classes due to my broken ankle. I'm planning to sign the kids up for a homeschool gym class starting in January. Oliver might join the kids' choir at our church at some point this year as the choir was restarted in September for the first time since March 2020. Nadia is signed up to be in a drama class starting in January. School has been taking longer than I would like it to for Ian. He takes at least an hour to eat breakfast and at least an hour to eat lunch, and he struggles with staying focused when he's doing his work. I am hoping that he will show improvement in his ability to be be more efficient and stay focused during the school year so that it won't take so many hours for him to finish his work. I know he'd like to have more time to play with Legos, read for leisure, etc. Thankfully, homeschooling is something I can still do while sitting with my foot elevated. I'm very grateful for the opportunity to teach my three children!