Homeschooling Brain Dump: Reuben

Alright I don't even know where to start...

Reuben just turned 11. He's on week 21 of Year 5 of Ambleside Online. We school him January to January, so he will start year 6 sometime in the next 3 months. He is brilliant in math. He really struggles with writing and spelling. He started the Barton reading program last year and started in box three to help with spelling. He's currently in box four. He's amazing at memorizing and he loves science and facts.

Here is his writing (it's a dictation) at the beginning of Year 5. I make him write three words he spelled wrong 3x each so the first line of writing below his dictation is my handwriting.

This is after Barton reading program box 4 and also 3 months of Equipping Minds: 

He still needs help with writing and spelling. He's doing so well with reading, math and memorization. He's amazing! 

Going back into homeschooling: I plan to finish out Term 2 of Year 5--we cut out Plutarch and Shakespeare due to all the Barton work. I want to add back in Plutarch and Shakespeare when we start Term 3 of Year 5. I want to finish Year 5 in November, but that will only happen if there are minimal sick days. 

Ambleside Online is going well. I read all of Year 4 to him--in the last term of Year 4 I started having him do his Bible reading on his own, once a week. In Year 5 we have worked up to him doing one reading on his own per day--usually Bible, but he has read Lewis and Clark (Of Courage Undaunted) and Abraham Lincolns World on his own, as well as a few others. I want to get him doing two readings a day by himself and that would leave me reading him 3 scheduled readings (We usually try to do 5 a day) by the time he starts Year 6.

I also want to add in map drills. We did a few of these and have not started back up in quite awhile. We do look at maps and I pull them out at least once a day, but I have not done dedicated map drills in many months. 

Reuben will be doing karate for his exercise and hopefully getting plenty of play by being outside, running, jumping on the trampoline and playing with his sisters. We struggle with getting enough outside time between my chronic issues and our busy lives.

I can't believe that he's almost halfway through all his school.

I set up this second cooking area in our home so the kids can use butter and dairy (which I am currently allergic too, thanks Alpha Gal) and they have been making their own breakfasts this week. I hope to continue having them making breakfast Monday-Thursday and that will let me focus on school prep in the morning. 

Reuben is doing origami for his handicraft next term!