I spent the day working through fifth grade Singapore math with my son and composition with my second grader. I’m beginning to see the summer break light, but I don’t want to call it just yet. This afternoon I’ve been working with my daughter on reading and phonics instruction. She’s in the stage of crying upon frustration, and she will act like she can’t do something when she can. I equate that to laziness which doesn’t sit well with me. So, she doesn’t get away with her antics. I’ll give her the fact that reading is a skill and can be quite challenging at times, especially to a young child. Reading is work. It is an active process, and that’s one reason why children reach for their technology devices versus grabbing a book. Their minds are spoon-fed visually instead of working and connecting/creating the stories and sounds.
I realized as I sat with her on the couch listening to her sound out challenging words that as a homeschooler, I have the privilege of knowing where her strengths and weaknesses are. I can quickly make the adjustments that she needs in her studies to benefit her learning environment. It’s not an easy job. Here it is already summer, and we are still in studies. Yet, it’s nice to have the facts about where they are academically. For example, I saw tonight that I need to go back to the basics with my daughter with phonetic instruction. I use SWR (Spell to Write and Read) to teach reading and spelling. I haven’t been “drilling” sounds and rules lately, so I need to pull that out again. And I was also reminded that there’s just one of me and four of them.  Sometimes, the younger children don’t get the full attention that they need because I’m being stretched in so many directions.  I’m looking forward to being able to focus a bit more on them over the summer break since the older two are showing good signs of independent study.  Whew…
Yes, it’s never ending.