Daily flow with Pike (for Jamie)

• He will start on his own with Teaching Textbooks. He generally does at least a page of work; I shoot for 30-45 minutes of dedicated work. If he is not using the computer, but the workbook, remind him to check his answers. I am watching to see how he does with fractions and decimals to see if we're going to need the "Life of Fred" books.
  
• I then encourage him to get something to eat. He generally refuses. :)
• I then read the daily Writer's Almanac. Jesse usually likes to participate in this. If something piques my or the kids' interest, we'll investigate it further. Pike then does dictation. I use either the "I Have a Dream" speech or a piece of history from the WA or a poem he particularly enjoyed (right now, "The Raven") After dictation discuss the punctuation and any new grammar you might have come across and introduce any new punctuation and/or grammar ideas which come about from the dictation.
  
• I then encourage him to get something to eat. By now, he might entertain the idea.
• We then move to history. Right now I include both Living History and the history spine. As I read I frequently summarize and ask him questions to see if he is understanding and getting it. When something piques my interest (or his) we'll also discuss that too. Read from "Gilgamesh The Hero" (I have this book on order) and then a chapter (or whatever works, depending on him) from Susan Bauer's "History of the Ancient World". At this time I also add some world culture - we're finishing up with India and then we'll move to China. For now, finish the book, "India: The Culture". You need to prepare for both items daily. After each 5 chapters of Bauer's book do a written timeline and character summary - who was in power where and when charted and who begat whom so the history is easier to follow.
  
• By now, he will probably definitely be ready to eat something. Also encourage him to take a little lap around to get his body moving and the blood flowing.
• We then move on to Spanish. I use a number of sources for this. If he feels like a video, we pick one from Sr. Jordan. We are also working on Chapter 2 of Spanish for Children. He seems to really like this book. I am going to order it for him. I have many other resources if this doesn't seem to work for him. I am thinking of also ordering Spanish from Galore Press. We do verb conjugation and are currently working on what infinitives are. You need to prepare daily the day before. I have decided to go with SYRWTLS instead of SFC and am having him go through a Sr. Jordan video (or two) a day. He is also using LingQ to go over vocabulary and words until SYRWTLS arrives.
  
• by now he definitely needs a break.
• He will read from a book he chooses daily (right now "Eragon") and also will read a chapter from a book I pick out for him (right now "Snow Treasure"). It is getting to the point that it is rare that he actually does this.
• In the evening I read from a Living History book, right now "Yung Fu from the Upper Yangtze".
• Sunday he adds critical thinking to the mix. He has links I've sent him along with the "Red Herring" book. I am hoping to eventually add "The Art of Argument".
• Monday he and Jesse watch a lecture from "The Joy of Thinking". He also does his art project (that we started on Thursday) on this day. He applies what we talked about on Thursday. He takes this day off his daily stuff so that is all he does on Monday. You need to prepare for this the day before.
  
• Tuesdays he does Geography. Right now he is working on Asia. He picks an area of Asia and reads the information about each country and then plays the game to identify each country. Each couple weeks I have him go back a week and see if he still recognizes where that week's countries are. When he is about 1/2 way through Asia, start with the "Geography Through Art" book. This should start next Tuesday. You should prepare for this the day before.
  
• Wednesday he adds a science experiment (I have at least 4-6 books for him to choose from) and we read and discuss Sociology. He picks from the World Religion book, the "Teens with a Courage to Give" book or the "Save the Children" book. We also read one chapter from VanCleave's engineering book and discuss. We will probably add another science day in the coming months using the Usborne Science book (on order).
  
• Thursday we do Sociology (see Wednesday) and discuss an art project. Right now we're disucssing Van Gogh and a self-portrait. Sources for art projects are here, here, and here. We also have the Artistic Pursuits book. You need to prepare this the day before and the week before.
  
• Friday he takes the day off. He and Jesse watch a lecture from the "Ancient Cultures" DVD.
• Saturday he does Friday FreeWrite. We are now discussing descriptive writing and following along with the Writer's Jungle (red binder in the trailer). He also does critical thinking this day. You need to prepare for this the day before. In the next 2 weeks I would like to add reading "How to Read a Book" outloud as well as another day during the week of creative or directed writing.