Week 10 - Ahead of Last Year

Monday afternoon I decided to check Amber's school hour progress for the year to date, and compare it to last year at this time. I'm not sure what prompted me to do it, but since we use Homeschool Tracker, it's easy enough to set the dates I want on the hours report. This is where it helps that I am rather obsessed with proper recording of hours in the software.

The results were astonishing, especially considering we feel so far behind some days. Amber is a full two weeks ahead of her hours from this time last year. That's two weeks of full school each day, roughly 40 hours! Since we start our school years on the same date each year and she schools year-round, this is a valid comparison. I still feel like we aren't where I want her to be, but clearly we are doing significantly better than eighth grade.

Milori was sleepy a lot, Rosie was a princess as usual, and Biscotti sat in odd, uncomfortable looking places. He also demanded attention every morning while I curled my hair.

So, of course we took a couple of days off this week simply because we could and the weather was cooperative.  The first day was our monthly Amber and Mom day, where we don't worry about school, doctors, house work or anything else. We just spend time together and nobody gets nagged about anything. Today was the second day - mostly because we had a plethora of errands to run, Amber was exhausted after co-op, and she slept poorly.

Amber does seem to be stabilizing with current weather pattern, albeit with more pain than during the summer weather. She's heading into the winter pain pattern and using more meds for pain again. Thankfully this year she will see pain management in December when she should begin her her worst pain level. The plan is for the team to decide which meds to use and if Amber needs different PT / OT treatment during winter months 

Although we took two days off this week, the remainder of the days were freakishly productive. Amber even completed some lessons after PT on Monday, which is a rare occasion.

We still have the dry-erase wall and use it daily.

School Update: 

Math - She's still plunking away at algebra 2 (Life of Fred advanced algebra), but did not finish the book this week like anticipated. Still, she's making steady progress without comprehension problems because I don't force math on slow brain days (symptomatic dysautonomia days or high pain EDS days). We do have the Life of Fred geometry book and are ready to go with it. Hopefully in a few weeks. 

Science - Rolling through botany quickly, still. Amber loves science this semester and finds it utterly fascinating, especially the "Wicked Plants" book. Most days she chooses to write her narration from that reading. 

Literature: We're currently reading Around the World in 80 Days and have the 1980s mini series with Pierce Brosnan to watch when we are finished with the discussion. She's been very diligent in mapping Fogg's route while learning quite a bit about Victorian era geography.

Language: Amber LOVES Fix-It! Grammar. This week she declared it to be her favorite grammar curriculum of all time, and we've tried a few. I believe the words, "This is actually fun" were uttered.

Amber even added some logic back in this week. I need to get her going on German still, but she isn't in a hurry it seems. I'm rethinking how Amber's subjects are scheduled since she seems to have trouble concentrating on this many subjects.

We might just try more of a college type schedule with fewer topics for more hours. Not exactly like the block scheduling we tried last semester, but not quite so much diversity per semester either. I'm thinking this through right now. Amber is doing great with the subjects we can get in, and she is willing to work hard on them. So, perhaps next semester we will focus on a slightly different set of subjects. 

Sunday morning is Amber's public questioning for confirmation! Once she passes the questioning, then she is finished with all the work and the only thing left is the actual rite of confirmation on Reformation Sunday. She knows the answers to all the possible questions and feels prepared. I am probably more nervous than she is, even though I know she is prepared and can handle it. She's much more mature at this age than I was, and I survived my questioning. 

I've got quite a bit of sewing to do this weekend on Amber's costume and preparing for a service project next week. Let's hope the cats cooperate and aren't as interested in normal in my projects.

If you are interested in applying for the Homeschool Review Crew, take a look at the requirements and benefits.  The new crew member application should be up next week!

Happy October Weekend!

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