Weekly Wrap-Up

This week did not go exactly as I'd planned (and I'm still waiting for one that does, by the way).  We've had some illness: I've had a scratchy throat and congestion, but nothing like this past fall, so I'm thankful for that.  Miss Priss, however, has had a bit of a sore throat and a cough.  It's the cough that worries me most.  She was very ill last winter; we spent several days at home with her hooked up to the nebulizer every three hours and a chest x-ray needed.  As a result, she now takes asthma meds every evening for nine months out of the year.  So when this cough started up, I grew a bit anxious.  For the past three days, she's been using Xopenex and the aero-chamber device.  She's under strict orders to lay low this weekend.  So with that and our mini-van needing to go to the mechanic (cracked manifold), Girl Scouts to get ready for, and a few other interruptions, we did not complete everything on our schedule.

That's the negative report.  But there are some positives as well (thank you, Lord!).  Most of our incomplete items are our family readings, which we can catch up on over the weekend.  And even though Miss Priss felt like staying on the couch more than usual, she was reading.  Admittedly, it was her free read she reached for mostly, but since I'm pleased with her choice, I felt okay about it.  Tiny Girl, who has typically only read the exact amount required, took off like a rocket this week.  She is now reading Ballet Shoes, she finished The Water Horse, and read in one day the Moonsilver #2 (which arrived from Paperbackswap.com)!  I was just the slightest bit skeptical about that last item, so I asked for some narration (which I don't do on free reads), and her answers satisfied my mind.

The girls' medieval notebooks are coming along a bit slower than I'd hoped, but that's okay.  They were all we worked on in history this past week.

Miss Priss made more progress in Latin.  I broke out the flash cards that came with the program (Latina Christiana) and also worked with her on verb personal endings.  Prior to this, we'd just been relying on the DVD instruction, but I realized that she needs a bit more study in addition to the DVD.  As I've said before, it's not her favorite subject, but after our lesson together, she felt more competent.  She enjoys feelings of accomplishment in her work, so it was a positive thing.

We're also making progress in math.  Tiny Girl is more natually adept at mathematics and enjoys her lessons.  This week in MEP, she was focusing on geometry, and actually caught on to the symmetrical patterns activities faster than I did! Miss Priss and I work more slowly through her math.  She gets frustrated easily, and I discovered the hard way that it's best to do less per day.  That way, we can focus on her "getting" the material and thus end the lesson on a high note.

This morning, I am more congested than I have been, alas.  I'm off to put the kettle on!