Year 1, Weeks 32, 33 & 34

After the beautiful weather in the last post, early spring weather showed up, and it is quite cool!  Basketball is over, and now he's playing soccer, sometimes in wind and rain, twice a week.  He loves it, and thinks that is what he's best at.  I'm so glad he enjoys a sport and the friends he makes there.  As our foster kids leave us, we will have to make a more concerted effort to keep him playing with others. :)  (Luckily, public school will be out in just 3 weeks so more friends will be available about the time our house empties.)

Gloomy soccer game, but the kids don't care :)

Weeks 32 through 34 of Ambleside Online

We are both enjoying Viking Tales, and I personally like Trial and Triumph.  I never learned the history of the church  in an organized way, and I just hope he's gleaning something from each reading as he sees my excitement!  We have seen a lot of birds move into the area lately, and I will especially enjoy the bluebirds.  Learning about birds has been one of my favorite parts of this year.

Daddy Bluebird, right after his babies hatched

He always balks when I bring out James Herriot's book, but has loved every story and does a good job narrating them.  I think the  pictures help, because even with other short stories, like Aesop's Fables, he sometimes struggles to recall anything.  I was hoping that he would progress more in narration skills than he has this year, but I've done a lot of modeling it for him through the tougher readings (Shakespeare, Parable of Nature, etc).  Perhaps a summer of free reads, and no expectations will increase his confidence, and I'll try a variety of narration methods next time around.

We are in week 34 now, which only leaves 2 more weeks of school, plus the optional exam week.  I haven't done exams on the other terms, and don't plan on doing it this time either.  What I am planning on doing is continuing schooling, with breaks for trips, throughout the summer.  He does better with a routine, and since we haven't progressed as much in math as I hoped, this will give time to master some more things.  Hopefully, with a lighter load, we can have a great summer and be ready to start AO Year 2 in the fall.  On the bright side, we jumped from a first grade primer to a third grade reader, and he's doing very well!