Week in Review 2016: #24

While everyone else seems to have wrapped up the school year, we are still moving along. During the middle of the school year, I adjusted our school year from 36 weeks to 42 weeks, and switched from a 5-day week to a 4-day week. It's been great, but because of this, you're still going to see more homeschool posts from us and less summer vacation posts. (School ends mid-July, giving us a 2-week break before the start of 2nd grade.)

At the beginning of this week we finally finished our animals unit. (We took a 2-month break early on because my daughter was having difficulty reading, so I put all of my extra effort toward that. Science and history were put on the back burner and now we're still playing catch-up.)

In our animals unit, we built a habitat board. The children enjoyed seeing it fill up with pictures of the animals we learned about. While George is not an official student (he'll begin Pre-K with us next year), he took part in our lessons whenever the topic interested him.

Next week, we will be studying the human body, which they are both very excited about. I anticipate that we'll move through it quickly, as we have discussed the human body frequently in our everyday discussions so they are familiar with a lot of the body systems.

Last week and this week, Bridget and George were in swimming lessons. The swim school we attend does a 2-week course. It is a very busy time for us, as they meet Monday-Thursday for two weeks, and hour each day. It put our usual daily routine on hold (class was at noon each day, our usual lunch time) and Liam did not go down for a nap until much later in the day. The children had a great time and I definitely see the progress that they have made from last year.

Bridget is becoming more and more confident with putting her face in the water and not needing an adult holding on to her the entire time. She is also opening her eyes under water now. These are huge steps for Bridget, as she has major anxiety in situations like this.

George is also doing much better going all the way under the water. He doesn't enjoy it, but he's no longer crying when it happens (he cried a lot  last year). He also worked up the courage to jump into the pool (with assistance). I think a lot of George's fear of the water was influenced by his big sister. I am hoping that changes soon and that he realizes that it isn't so scary after all.

In closing, this week has been a trying week for us all as Americans and as mothers. The recent events in Orlando have weighed heavy on our hearts. I offer my prayers and condolences to the families that have been affected by these tragedies. May we all continue on, exercising kindness and compassion in all that we do. If not for us, then for our children. They are in desperate need of a ray of light in this sometimes dark and cruel world.

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