Okay, we're making some progress already! SuperKid felt much better about being back "to school" today although there were a few tears while we read the Declaration of Independence. I'm not sure why that brought out his emotions; maybe he sensed the passion in the colonists' words. (I have to say, before this unit I had never read any part of the Declaration, and I am very impressed by the emotion and reasoning the colonists used. And the words are so powerful . . . ) Still, he put on a brave face and powered through it!
Overall, he did really well with his OAT practice session (got all the literal questions correct, and needed minimal help with the inferential! HUGE!!!). Also, he did that while reading silently! So, does anybody else have this problem? SK could not read silently! We have been working on that with this OAT practice booklet. When I would tell him to read silently, he would move his head back and forth like he was in a cartoon and then tell me he was done about 10 seconds later. Obviously, there was no comprehension since he clearly had not actually read the passage. We had to start with him reading one word silently, then I would cover it up and ask him what it was. When we had that mastered, we moved to two words, then a phrase . . . then a phrase with a question about comprehension. Based on recent reading exercises (including today's, which was his best!), I think we've got a silent reader on our hands!!
As an aside, he will not actually take the OAT. We just use the practice exams as comprehension and expression exercises. The school will test him in May, and this is the format they will use. I like it because we use short little readings and we answer them orally, which is more difficult for SuperKid!
He also scored a 90% on his History quiz, which was impressive since we did all but one reading for it before the Christmas break.
SportsBoy had a good day, too. He did really well on a Math exam he was concerned about (rightfully so, his study sessions leading up to it were a bit rough - so his good score was a great achievement that came with a lot of work). We began studying for his Science exam tonight (he studied by himself over break; tonight I joined in) and he seems to not only know the material but he also has some great thoughts and insights about the subject (renewable and non-renewable energy sources).
No Classical Conversations tomorrow - that starts next week. So we'll continue to get back into the swing of things slowly, which I think is just right
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