Home School Update

Well, folks, there will be no post full of photos today. While some of you might not mind this too much, I'm still convinced that my children's grandparents only come here to see pictures of their cute little boys. I'm sure I could post nonsense like "Blah blah blah (photo), blah blahbitty blah (photo), and they'd all be quite content. :)

I have to admit that the reason why there are no photos is because I am feeling just plain lazy tonight. But since I told you I was going to blog more regularly, I'm going to at least muster up the energy to type. So, I give you the home school update.

Joshua (4th grade) continues to move along nicely in his studies, although he has become my A-number-one-champion dawdler. We're working hard on that! He continues to love reading, and has finished The Fellowship of the Ring and The Two Towers from the Lord of the Rings series in the past 2 months. Right now, he's working on a Mark Twain collection and really enjoying it. He is also making good progress in his piano lessons. I'm hoping to make a little video of him playing soon to post here. He is enjoying medieval history, and his zoology course for science. Overall he loves to learn, and is very creative!

Jonathan (2nd grade) continues to amaze me with his ability to pick up and master math concepts. He has just finished our 3rd grade math text (multiplication) and is several lessons into our 4th grade book (division) and hasn't missed a beat. He already knows how to do it, with very little input from me. I think his goal is to pass up his older brother, who is near the end of the 4th grade book! Jonathan's reading is coming along nicely, and although he doesn't love to read as much as his brother does, he still reads a good amount. He's currently working through the Chronicles of Narnia books. He really enjoys science, and tells people he wants to be a scientist when he grows up. He's taking the same zoology course as Joshua. He is learning to play the piano as well and practices pretty diligently, and is hoping to start learning to play the guitar this spring...he received a nice guitar for Christmas!

Jordan (kindergarten) is more than halfway through our phonics book, and is excited about learning to read! We've also just added 1st grade math to his school schedule, and will be adding 1st grade grammar in March. Because of the age cut-off in NY, he will be a 1st grader this next school year--starting in July! I've decided to go ahead and introduce those 2 subjects slowly this spring, so he's used to a little bit of a school schedule already when we give him a full course load in July. He's really excited to be doing math so far...hopefully his enthusiasm will continue!

Joseph continues to make it his business to distract and disrupt his brothers' efforts as much and as often as possible! He is learning to count to 10, and almost has all the basic colors down! He watches Leap Frog Letter Factory (a phonics DVD) on TV a couple times a week, mostly to keep him occupied for half an hour, so he is learning his letters and letter sounds as well!

I have to mention Josiah as well, although he doesn't do anything school-related yet! He is on the move and constantly exploring anything and everything...so he really is learning tons, too!