333

I noticed that this is my 333rd post. It's hard to believe. Our second week back in the swing of learning at home is going well. I'm still tweaking the program, but for the most part we're in a groove. We are studying South America using a modified program I found on Serendipity. I chose not to purchase the spine book because I didn't think it would work well for Nathan. One of my difficulties in homeschooling these boys is that Nathan's autism gets in the way of a lot of the literature and book study I'd like to do. It is sort of silly to have the boys studying too differently since they're both close in age, yet I need to cater to their abilities. I'm still working on that.
We are also using the Shakespeare study that is outlined in Serendipity. I have to say I think this is my favorite subject so far. We do Shakespeare Fridays for a change of pace. Today we read the book William Shakespeare and the Globe by Aliki. It is a really good read. The boys both wrote a little report on the Bard. I hesitate to call what we write narrations because we really do some note taking and then writing up of our papers. True narration just wouldn't work for us at this time. Last week the boys drew portraits of Shakespeare. They did a really nice job. I've been having them do a lot more drawing than ever before and it has caused some dismay in our household. Nolan has begun enjoying it, however. I don't know if Nathan will ever like it, but it is good for him to see what he is able to accomplish.
Finally, today, we worked on the cooking portion of the Young Man's Handybook. I bought aprons at the craft store and dug around in the sewing room for my fabric markers. Again, Nolan LOVED this project. He is such a hands-on kind of kid. I had them make the pizza dough for tonight's dinner AND (my most favorite part) wash and dry the dishes. Nathan and I are off to a 7th grade Confirmation retreat all day tomorrow. I still have lots of learning to do for next week's lessons so it will be a busy weekend. I bought a used book filled with ideas for Advent and I hope to use it and some other resources to come up with some lesson plans for the Advent and Christmas season. I could use about a week of uninterrupted time to work all this out! Have a great weekend.**Here's Nolan attempting to woo a new back yard kitty.