The due date was coming up for VAL monthly progress reports, so I sat down to do them today. It got me thinking over the past couple months and what's been working and what hasn't been a favorite. Here are the things I've really enjoyed:
Going through Proverbs...just neat to address so many practical issues in a non-confrontational way
Life of Fred once a week on Friday...it is just such a great, funny look at math. It has also been addressing problems that we haven't done too much of with Abeka so it's a good complement
Read-alouds...the one we're doing now I think will become a favorite...I'll review it when we're done :)
Verse Memorization...although I've been terrible at updating it on the Blog, we've actually been doing a decent job at it
Poem Memorization...this is something we've never done before, but the kids have picked it up pretty quickly and I love seeing them recite
Picture Study...we've actually only done this once with Norman Rockwell, but we all laughed a lot at his drawings and it was a good practice to be observant
Nature Study...I've really enjoyed taking the time to draw things. Hannah's been enjoying it as well, but Josh isn't quite there
Science...we always love Apologia
Here are some things that I haven't loved so far:
Bauer's Writing with Ease...it just seems like a lot of busy work. I do like that she already has selections picked out, but we can just as easily narrate our regular readings. I also still don't see the magic in copywork. Maybe it's a disconnect with my mathematical mind. We are still plugging along with it though.
Story of the World 4...this year has just been different than the previous years. The reader is still just as good, but the maps are mostly labeling and the projects haven't seemed to be as user-friendly. We will finish it up though, and then move onto Mystery of History! Hooray!
These are our nature studies from last week. You probably notice the Webkinz lamb and toucan...they are math fact prizes. Josh is still slowly proceeding through addition and Hannah just started division. Mastering Math Facts has been a decent program for that.
