Week 3, Monday

Wow, it's Monday again already.  The boys are becoming more independent as they get used to their new school routines.  Nathan takes Cole to school and picks him up after school, which saves me a good 15 to 20 min each morning and afternoon.   Really all he has to do is walk him across the street, but in any case, this is a big help to me.

Ciara is now working on adding, subtracting and multiplying fractions and mixed numbers.  I think that this has been our most challenging lesson to date.  I can see how difficult it is for her to remember all the steps she needs to follow.  I am glad that we can take our time and I can explain things over again if needed.   So after lunch, we skipped gym class so that we could go back and work on math some more. One thing I loved to see was how Ciara remembered a reference she read in a book during the summer about fractions.  We had read the book together, but I had completely forgotten that in one part of the book, the protagonist is trying to do his math homework and remembers that when you see 2/3 of 5/9, 'of' means multiply.

Ciara and I started reading together before bed last year.  Ciara was having a difficult time at school and she didn't seem to have the desire or energy to read anymore.  I also felt that I needed to spend more one on one time with her.  So reading a book together was a good way to solve both problems.  I am also really enjoying the books that we read together.  I am starting to gain an appreciation for pre-teen lit.

For our science period we continued learning about levers.  I didn't know that there are 3 types of levers.  During the lesson, we stopped a lot to draw pictures of ways that we use levers and also to find actual levers that we use around the house, such as scissors, a tennis racket, even a door.

As for our struggle to continue homeschooling here, we still have no solution.  I am starting to really worry that we will have to send Ciara back to school.  I have called or e-mailed about a dozen international schools in Barcelona and Spain and still have not been able to find a school that will support us.  Tomorrow we meet with the Director of the American School, I think this may be our last hope.