Very steady progress and solid effort being put in by all. Malachi in particular consistently works very well and Xavier is pretty good too. The other three tend to procrastinate a bit. Dominic takes a long time to do his work, but his application has improved dramatically and his attitude is much better.

Spelling
We are finally at the stage where I can see the consistent effort of the past three years has paid off. Everyone is in very good habits of doing their spelling daily and achieving good results at the end of the week.

Dictation
All have been consistent in completing their dictation and getting great results. I am getting them to correct errors immediately and I remain convinced this has borne fruit.

Poem Memorisation
Good effort here too. Although I’m planning on assigning the poems next week. I believe the older ch’n need more challenging works.

Handwriting
D down managed to be consistent here. Focusing on printing this term.

Times Tables
Consistent here too. I need to quiz the older children more. I’m really keen to no longer have D and X on daily reciting.

Type Tutor
Trying to decide whether the younger children benefit as I have caught them using one finger. However all are consistent here. Chiara is using an online program for a change and enjoying it.

Mathematics
Dominic is putting in a huge effort here, in fact week 2 he negotiated to do less of his other work so as he could do more maths!! I am astounded at the attitude and confidence turn around after so many years of struggle.
Chiara didnt’ manage to complete her maths week 2 but I know she will work hard to catch up; in fact due to sickness the first week and a bit she hasn’t achieved as much as she normally would in all subjects.

Faith
M & X are very consistent at completing their work. MT tends to leave it all to the last minute which doesn’t make it enjoyable. C is happy to write her answers but D negotiated to orally do his with me. He is struggling so it is best to do it this way anyway. It is requiring an analytical mind so honing his skills here.

Writing Excellently
The program arrived late Monday week 2. We watched the first video and the children really enjoyed Andrew Paduea ‘s dry wit. I need to watch the program and establish a routinue. The younger children wrote blog posts for their writing.

Serendipity Language
2 lessons week 1, didn’t do it week 2. Some not so enthusiastic now but still prefer it over other grammar approaches. Learning lots in spite of themselves.

Editing Adventures
I’ve typed up some lessons for the M&Ms and they correct on the sheet. They really enjoy this and are very good at it. For the boys I still write on the board and they have become good at this. I haven’t got organised for Chiara, but am planning on getting book 2 back and use with her. Otherwise I may use it for the boys as I think they are ready for the harder book. I may have to write selections from literature for Chiara on the whiteboard.

Geography
Didn’t do with the children week 1. week 2 Serendipity has plans! So we embarked on Africa, basically we spent the time discussing what we knew about Africa, rather surprised they didn’t know more but some facts they knew surprised me. We are planning on cutting a jigsaw map out of Africa and certainly learning the Geography Song. Chiara continues to work on her American states, mm I might get her map blown up too so she can cut out a map.

History
Children have built mangonels and catapults with great enthusiasm. They have listened to ‘The Door in the Wall.’ Also boys have read non-fiction books with gusto but they are not reading many fiction books, I will have to assign books to them. Malachi is the only one who has provided written work despite me assigning this. Continues to be a weak area.

Science
M&Ms are really enjoying their new approach of experiments. Very faithful about writing it up too. Dominic and Chiara are very happy with their new Singapore Science books, so relieved. Xavier is not being keen on doing his History of Chemistry I plan on asking him if he’d like to swap to experiments.

Happy with these two weeks, attitude is good, I’d like Dominic to speed up a little though. And I need to have my finger on the pulse with Chiara though, she is working hard but I don’t get to discuss with her. I’m still not getting to Little Saints with the little ones, but I’m committing to reading picture books for half an hour daily.