Year 8, Week 10: Writing

     This past week was filled with a lot of prep work on my part.  A lot of making double batches of meals to have and freeze.  A lot of running errands and gathering supplies.  A lot of dropping off and picking up books.  A lot of research and writing.  You might be wondering why I'm researching and writing and what the extra meals and supplies are all about, but I'll get to that in a bit.

     Let me share what my kids are doing for writing this school year first.  A380 is using Writing & Rhetoric, a program that I have come to love after trying a couple of different ones over the years.  This is one that the kids also enjoy so that's a bonus.  I work with A380 on his writing but for Little Toughie I wanted to change it up.  I wanted to challenge her this year so I signed her up for an online class through Circe (By the way, they have classes for adults too.  I took a Socratic class in the spring.)  I felt it would be good for her to have a different teacher; to get a different perspective and a different teaching style.  They both get to read great stories and then write their own.  I've kept copies of all their work and it's interesting to see how their writing has progressed.  One of these days, with their permission, perhaps I'll share some of it!

     As for all the running amok around remember that project I've been waiting to announce?  Here it is:  I'm participating in National Novel Writing Month, also known as NaNoWriMo (My husband calls it nanu-nanu!)  Basically, I'm going to draft a new novel of at least 50,000 words in 30 days.  As you can tell, I'm a big fan of books.  I love to read but I also have a passion for writing; a passion I haven't really nurtured except for blogging.

     Every now and then a story will come to mind, but I'd let it go, believing that there's no way I could write that story.  However, at the beginning of this year I had a story that kept coming to mind so I started to write it.  When Covid hit my focus shifted to other things and so the writing stopped.  Early in October I remembered NaNoWriMo and decided to sign up.  I've read that it can be pretty time consuming considering that you only have 30 days to reach the goal.  I've spent the past few weeks prepping as much as I can, down to a rough outline, some aspects of my characters and researching settings.  Even now, as I write this I'm participating in an online writing forum filled with challenges and Q&A.

     It's not too late to join!  You can be a panster, a writer who writes by the seat of their pants and doesn't plot or plan when writing their novels.  I'm a planster...someone who plans a bit of it and will write it as it comes.  If you join, let me know.  We can be writing buddies!

     I have to go.  I have a 5 minute writing sprint to attend to and I'm already one minute behind.  Have a great week!  Oh, and A380 says, "Have a happy halloween!"

Kindergarten, Weeks 27 and 28

     Oh, yes I did indeed miss posting last week.  I've been busy reviewing different curriculum lessons as well as planning my daughter's (and possibly son's) curriculum.  My days are filled with homeschooling, homework and after school activities, housework and dinner, and my evenings have been filled with pouring over books and resources for curriculum planning.  I want to have it done before the homeschool conventions season begins so that when we go I know exactly what to look for.

     I'm also currently reading The Well-Trained Mind and taking copious notes so that I can plan a curriculum both suitable and challenging for both of my kids.  Last year I read The Core.  The Well-Trained Mind goes into more detail, supplying you with resources and even a sample schedule for each subject.  It does this for you through High School, though right now I'm only focusing on the Grammar Stage (roughly grades 1-4).

     Week 27 brought us to the close of the Olympics.  We didn't do a study on it, however I did have my Little Toughie keep track of the U.S. medal count.  I didn't watch as much of the Winter Olympics as I would have liked.  As I said, I been busy; I even missed to closing ceremonies!  At least I got to explain what they were and my daughter would pay attention whenever we happened upon the Olympics coverage and an update on the medal count.

     We also began reading Ramona and Beezus.  I remember reading Ramona the Pest when I was younger (though I can't remember the story) but it's fun to read books from my youth to my kids.  We also continued our Bible study, making our way through the New Testament and reading about the many sick and crippled that Jesus healed.  I like when in the middle of a reading, my daughter excitedly tells me that she knows the story and begins to narrate it to me.  I know she's paying attention in Sunday school!  We need to move on in our Fruits of the Spirit study, but I'm not sure just which Fruit to pick.  I have to pray on it and ask for guidance!

     Week 28 we covered a bit of sentence structure, beginning with the subject and predicate of a sentence.  Using The Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading I followed their lead in creating cards to make wacky sentences.  Using index cards and short simple sentences, like "The tan hog dug in the mud.", I wrote the subject in one color on a set of cards and the predicate in a different color on another set.  I had my daughter mix up each set and make wacky sentences.  So, instead of "The tan hog dug in the mud." she would get, "The hot dog dug in the mud."  I made 20 cards for a total of 10 sentences.  She wants me to add more pronto!  She had a lot of fun creating sentences and would laugh at the silly combinations.  Her reading skills are improving every day and I'm enjoying observing those skills emerge every time she picks up a book.  Our library trips will now require a rolling card instead of a crate!

     That's all for now.  Have a wonderful week!