November was kind of a strange, inconsistent month as far as school went. We didn't have a single week that was a normal M-Th schedule. It made the time fly by to mix things up so much, but also made it hard to keep everyone focused.
Hyrum had definitely fallen out of his groove during his trip with his grandparents, and then he missed several days for his hunt, so it's taken him pretty much all month to get back on top of things. We've made some goals that he needs to accomplish by the end of the year and he is working hard to get caught up. He's almost done with geometry and then just has one more unit on data and statistics. The goal is to pass 6th grade math before the new year. We re-evaluated his biology course and it turns out I was mistaken and have been having him work on the harder, more advanced of the two options we had. We started him over on high school biology, rather than biology library. He could have probably passed the course this semester if I had had him working on the right one all along, but as it stands, he's going to have to spend a bit more time on it. It'll go faster I think, and I hope will be a lot of review. He's still plowing his way through ancient civilizations, and will continue working on that into next semester. He just passed the grammar course and he's got maybe a week's worth of 7th grade reading comprehension to finish, and then he'll have met his ELA goal. I still need to get him writing more, and plan to have him start doing journal entries. He does well when he knows what he needs to accomplish each day, and then is able to decide when and how to get his stuff done. I'm so grateful for how responsible and hardworking he is.
Abraham is progressing, but has fought the schooling process all month. He'll buckle down and do what needs to be done, but not without some protesting and a solid show of how miserable he is. In math he cruised through plane figures and measuring angles, and is so close to passing area and perimeter, which he has had a remarkably hard time with. He just has units of measurement left, and then he'll have passed 4th grade math. I've been having him read and fill out simple book report sheets for ELA, which he loathes. He's also been doing some grammar worksheets and writing prompts. We got him a Udemey course on Blender, a CAD program, which he's shown some enthusiasm for.
Mercy seems to be the one thriving the most in school at the moment. Her reading has improved leaps and bounds. I've been underestimating her abilities and kept allowing her to get nothing but picture books from the library. On our last trip before the lockdown started we got several simple chapter books for her and she's devoured them all. She's even read most of the books we picked out for Abraham, so I suppose we've officially moved on from beginner reader. She doesn't mind filling out the book report sheets or doing writing assignments, but has atrocious spelling and not great handwriting. I'm hoping once the lockdown is over, we can get her into speech therapy and that might help with the spelling. I think there must be a disconnect in her head between the sounds she hears, the sounds she makes, and the letters that represent those sounds. She hit a wall in math when she started division. Since she's so far ahead grade wise, we decided to take a big step back and focus on solidifying her base in addition and subtraction. We purchased a computer game that is essentially glorified flash cards and she has spent most of the month leveling up in that. The plan is to start her back up at multiplication in the new year.
No one has made great gains in music, but we did move it to the first period of the day, which everyone seems to prefer. We've also added yoga to our schedule, reinforced going outside for morning and afternoon breaks, and Hyrum has started taking Mabel for walks during lunch.
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