Homeschol Updates- Non adoption related

Since I focused so much on the adoption front, and I'm tired of it.... I thought I would post something that is actually going well here at our house.

We have really begun to dive into history and science. The boys are enjoying learning about the Middle Ages. I am too, now that I purchased one key element. It's an audio CD of the reading in our history book. Story of the World. Totally worth every penny I spent! You see my voice seems to tire easily when I read, probably because I use it so much during the day repeating simple instructions to two boys!

You know.... "please take the laundry downstairs, please empty the dishwasher, please take this pile of clothes and put them away, and the belt goes in your closet hung up so we can find it when we need it. Whose snakes and spiders are these? You know that if you leave them out down here they become mine, and you have to earn them back..... Did you straighten the playroom before dad comes home? I hope your beds are made and your rooms look good... do I need to come and check? Who didn't flush the toilet??? Come on guys, you have to remember to flush the toilet. Please finish your seatwork.... ____ focus please. ____ no daydreaming. Okay, I'm setting the timer now.... you have 10 minutes to finish the rest of the problems on that worksheet. Are you ready for your spelling quiz? Did you review your spelling, bible verses, multiplication facts..... etc etc etc. No I don't know what a Komodo dragon eats, but we'll look it up after you finish your spelling sheet. No I don't know anyone a Komodo dragon has attacked, I don't even think we'll find that out when we look it up... did you finish that sheet yet. No, no more questions on Komodo dragons, until that is finished and then I promise you we will look it up. Yes I do think you would get hurt if you jumped off a 7 story building. I'm not sure if you would die, maybe you would get hurt really bad. No, I really don't know how hurt you would get... I don't know anyone personally who has done that.

See what I mean??? Tiring!! Plus, I have to read several other books out loud to them, and that can be tiring on my voice too. I don't know if you are like this, but when I read out loud, I don't retain as much as when I just hear something read. Maybe it's because my brain is focused on the reading part that the retention part of my hearing is not up to snuff. Maybe it's just cause I'm getting older... (probably). But I can tell that when I am listening to these audio CD's I'm retaining more and my kids seem to be too. Then I go through review questions with them to see how well they got the material. They have been telling Chris all they learned in history each night, and you can tell they are enjoying it. Plus it frees my time up to focus on a fun activity project to go along with our history. On Monday we will be designing our own block printing projects representing the block printing that the Chinese did.

So, history is going well, and so is Latin. We are using Prima Latina, and my boys love it! We have it on video and while the instructor has a wicked southern accent.... not especially helpful for Latin pronunciation. We can deal with that. My boys have remembered all 25 of their vocabulary words thus far and can tell me some English derivatives that use the Latin root word. Very cool! I'm encouraged to see how this will help them in deciphering words and their meaning as they get older.

We are also learning Russian phrases. I ordered a CD that Kim recommended called Russian Phrases for Children. It's really good, and we have learned quite a bit from the first two tracks already. It's all about repetition, repetition repetition. (at least for me). Both my boys surprise me with what they are able to say.. My youngest one has such a memory on him.... I struggle to remember what a phrase is for "you are so handsome"... and he pulls it right out of his hat, plus the phrase for "you a so beautiful" too! Stinker!

I think that's it for now. We have been enjoying our time homeschooling, it's been interesting and filled with much laughter...which is always a good thing!