One of the things that I enjoy most about HE

is the flexiblity and the freedom it gives us. Last week for example was a pretty intense week of formal work. We sat down everyday and worked hard. We have started using a fantstic spelling book and we now do a spelling test a day. The book is called Sequential Spelling and it is great. We have started with the 'in' family and it is building from there. He has done very well, especially since he is not a keen writer. He has also started to learn cursive or joined up writing as he calls it. He is very proud of his new writing skills so maybe that will enourage him to write a bit more on his own. Anyway. last week was a pretty intense week and this week has been just the opposite. Monday was the first home ed group of the term and we spent the morning getting ready. The theme was beaches and I managed to find lots of cool experiments about currents, wave action and sand creation. At group he was very good at setting everything up and did most of the experiments and art activities. He also did lot of running around but that is all part of the experience.

Yesterday he got a first hand lesson in engineering, math and reading when he helped M to put together his new multi gym. He was in charge of ensuring M had the right parts which entailed reading packets, measuring bolts and counting out washers. He did a good job helping and is now very eager to use the machine. I shouldn't think that he will be able to lift the bar empty let alone with a few kilos on it!

Today was back to more formal work-we have now started science 3. We have started off with taxonomy so have spent most of the day trying to classify things. He seemed to grasp the concept quite easily-remembering what everything is is going to be a little harder! I think we will make a big chart of the classification of his fav plants and animals.