My body has been super annoying this week, as usual, but we still managed to complete everything we needed to for school. We even took Monday off so I could “clean,” but that was a joke. I got the dishes done and a load of laundry and then had to lay down because the baby was crushing my pelvis… But I was able to easily push everything in our schedule back a day so it didn’t feel like we were behind.
Our Language Arts curriculum has assessments before every lesson, and if your child can pass the assessment, they can skip the lesson. I usually skip the assessment and just make Kender do all of the lessons because I want him to have a strong foundation, but once we hit lesson 14 I knew he could pass the assessment with flying colors. Sentences clicked for him right away, and he does well with punctuation too. Lesson 14 was LONG, and because we were able to skip it, it put Kender ahead of schedule about a week and a half. That was absolutely a tender mercy for me! I have some goals of where I would like us to be before the baby arrives, and that helped me see that we are going to be just fine.
There are also timed reading assessments throughout the course to see how much progress your child is making. These have ALWAYS caused Kender a lot of stress. He’s very competitive and gets super upset because he wants to do it not only fast, but perfectly. The first time I tried to give an assessment, he flat-out refused. I tried to encourage him, but ultimately didn’t push it. Later on I was able to hide the timer and treat the assessment like a normal lesson and that worked great! This past week it was time for him to take the assessment again to check his progress, and I didn’t bother hiding the timer. I just explained that it doesn’t matter how fast he does it, and it doesn’t matter if he makes mistakes. It’s just to check his progress, and it’s not a race. He was still hesitant, but ultimately agreed. I was SO amazed by the progress he’s made! He cut his reading time in half, and reduced the number of mistakes he made in each section.
I feel like those assessments are just as much for me as they are for him. They show me that our efforts truly are paying off. Sometimes I feel like we are somehow behind because we didn’t finish our “Level K” curriculum last year, but I have to remind myself that we are using an advanced curriculum, and it doesn’t align with public school grade levels. He may be working out of the Level K book, but he’s still at a first grade level. He is going at a pace that works well for him, and he is thriving, That’s what matters! I’m still in awe of how much progress he’s made with his reading and handwriting. I know that the Lord has been hearing our prayers and helping the both of us.
We recently finished up our Safety unit and started the Arthropod unit. It’s been really fun so far! These little creatures are all around us, and it’s amazing to learn all the things that they do for us. Kender even caught his own crustacean (a pill bug) that he named Rollie James Cleaver. The next morning he decided to change his name to Climber, but kept forgetting and calling him Rollie. We got to enjoy Rollie/Climber for about a week before he went to arthropod Heaven. He was actually really fun to watch, and we were sad to see him go. Kender shed a few tears, and my heart broke for him a little bit. He is such a sweet and loving boy ❤️
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| RIP Rollie! |
In addition to the progress we are making with school, progress on our house has been pretty exciting too! The trim is all painted, shelves are installed, and counter tops go in tomorrow. Things should get moving pretty quickly from here, and soon we might actually have a move in date! Pray we get moved in before October so we have time to get set up for this baby!!
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