Progress Report (AO4 Term 1)

We have just finished AmblesideOnline Year 4 Week 7.  It was a lighter week of readings (on my modified 14 weeks per term schedule), which worked out great since I babysat a toddler a couple of days, had an afternoon of IQ testing (he finished this time!), and today is gymnastics day.  He got extra computer time to practice coding (he gave up on Code Kingdom and is back at Code Academy), as well as math facts games, while I chased the toddler about.  It was great fun for all of us, as a change of pace usually is.

The books this term are harder than what we have done in the past, but there are several he enjoys (Robinson Crusoe, The Storybook of Science, Minn of the Mississippi) and some that he groans about (Madame How and Lady Why, Age of Fable) but I have confidence that he will come to enjoy those in time.  Pictures and videos help ease the pain! :)  Carol has a great AO Pinterest board and I've been repinning her MHLW and Storybook of Science pins to my AO Year 4 board.

As it was the first week of a new month, we started the next folk song and hymn, which is always fun.  I chose to do Jesus Loves Me, both in English and Spanish, to help prepare the Boy for his mission trip to Nicaragua (coming up in August!).  The folk song is Pick a Bale of Cotton (see it towards the end of this playlist), and its incredibly catchy, and he was tapping and humming along with it after the first listen.  Our artist this term is Degas, and the first painting was The Cotton Exchange, and the one we did the past two weeks was Place de la Concorde.  He likes to fight me on art study, but does seem to have accepted that its this thing we do on Tuesdays.  He considers it and listening to music a waste of time and doesn't see how its "school", but I think that might be the rigid thinking talking, that is so typical of Asperger's. (Still no diagnosis, but the paperwork is turned in and we are waiting on a phone call for an actual evaluation appointment.)

We will be schooling year round again, taking a couple weeks off here and there, so no real wind-down coming for us.  I hope to find a good stopping point around Memorial Day so we can take our first break cleanly.  Will you be making a hard stop for summer?

As you are winding down your school year, consider ramping up your household organization.  Summer is a great time to reassess and make some changes for a fresh start before you start school again.  Mystie is offering $15 off her Simplified Organization course for Mother's Day, so check it out! (Coupon code happymothers is good through Monday.)