Weekly Review - Week 31 (April 5-April 9, 2010)

It's been a quiet week in the southeast. The pollen accumulated, our family sneezed and took decongestants. Puffs of yellow arose where ever we stepped and we left footprints on the driveway, there was so much pollen. Not nearly as much fun as leaving footprints in the sand. The cats were not allowed on the balcony this week - we didn't want them to turn yellow from the pollen and track it inside. It rained last night, washing the worst of it away. The blooms are falling off of the trees, revealing the leaves - out for their summer show. The crepe myrtles are starting to leaf out, and I've discovered that one of the roses on my garden arch is dead. With our studies, we entered the final stretch this week - the time between spring break and the end of the school year. Looking back it seems like Rocket Boy has accomplished many things, but looking ahead it seems we must rush to finish all that needs to be done before summer comes.

Bible- This week we continued to read in Numbers. We will finish this up and start Deuteronomy next week.

Middle School Essentials - We started a new book this week - another one from Boys Town. This one is What's Right For Me? Making Good Choices in Relationships. Some of the material is prep material for Rocket Boy, but it is never too soon to talk about healthy relational boundaries. Additional topics of conversation this week were harmful or violent relationships, jealousy and envy, teasing and bullies. A lot of good stuff here. We will continue with this book next week as well.

Fine Arts - The last assignment in Artistic Pursuits has been given. We will see what the results are when it is due next week. Guitar and acting class continue, of course.

History Odyssey - Rocket Boy read two first hand accounts of the Boston Massacre, a misnamed event if ever there was one. The few deaths and injuries there were hardly constitute a massacre, but nonetheless, that is how the papers of the time described it, so the title stands. As I am typing, he is completing an analysis of what he thinks are the top ten events that led up to the American Revolutionary War.

Language Arts - Work on spelling continues, nothing unusual here. No writing assignment right now either.

Math - we have moved back to Chalk Dust now and things are going much more smoothly! I am excited that progress is finally being made in pre-algebra.

Life Science - The book work is complete on plants and Rocket Boy will be dissecting a flower later this afternoon. I'll be glad to move along - sometimes it seems the simpler (at least to me) subjects are the ones that take a long time.

There are seven more weeks in our scheduled school year and miles to go before we sleep!