Term 1 had weeks of strength and weeks of little accomplished. Looking back over my planning notes I see tasks accomplished steadily and some not achieved at all.

Ancient History- We studied Ancient Egypt the first half of term, quiet successful, lots of books read (see Children’s reading list and list on other blog) some hands on activities. Some notebooking occurred but this still remains our area that needs constant attention. Then the last three weeks we started Early Church history.

Liturgical/Faith Studies – We took a couple of weeks off during lent and focused on reading related books and some craft activities. See other blog for details. Baltimore Catechism and assigned saints books relating to the liturgical year were read. Mariah preparing for FHC using Jesus and I, loving it.

Science – After a poor start we improved in this area by the end of term. We settled down to a pattern of C and D reading a chapter and answering the questions in their respective John Hudson Tiner books. The last few weeks also saw the Ms start a unit on Australian mammals, reading, narrating and researching using Leslie Rees book as a base. Read ‘Shy the Platypus. X started a unit on insects, observing, reading and recording using Nuri Mass’ book.


Geography
was touched on a little when we studied Egypt, but not really. Once again it remains our weak area.:(

We didn’t do any Australian history either:(

Maths saw good steady progress. C is progressing a little faster this year. I still have to install her maths CDs.

Latin We gave up on Latin as I really lack the confidence on pronunciation, however there is news in the pipeline;)

Italian only the older two stuck with it under duress.

Grammar All started out doing grammar but after thought I decided that I would only continue with C and D using Ronald Ridout’s books. Instead with the younger ones I switched to expecting some creative writing daily.

Dictation Solid progress here and for Dominic in particular I see a huge improvement.


Handwriting
The boys running writing is improving greatly. Mariah is forming neat letters.

Typing C, D and X are doing daily tutorials.

Piano C, D, X and Mariah have been taking lessons this term. Some breakthroughs are happening:)

Spelling Consistent work with success for all.

ReadingThe Ms making steady progress, I think they are on par and then Malachi will put on a burst and speed ahead. Still need to work hard.


Literature and Poetry
Poetry was non-existent 🙁 For Literature we did start ‘ Folk of the Faraway Tree’.

Creative Arts Poor effort here, this is due to my lack of organising. I need to solidly plan for next term.

Industrial Arts Dominic helped David build soccer goals (see other blog).

One very successful tool I used was the individual weekly planning sheets. Every child has it spelt out for him/her clearly what is expected and they must complete all tasks by day’s/week’s end. For some reason this resonants with all my children even the little girls asked for these.

Looking back I can see good solid progress in many areas although some of our weak areas still continue to flounder however some weak areas have seen progression. The solution to this problem is thorough planning and discipline on mum’s behalf.