Need more time
There’s just not enough hours in the day for me and cloning myself would really help in that area. We had a few activities tonight along with a crazy good gym class that I took, but still I didn’t finish academics today where I wanted to.
I spent the entire morning on math with the 3 oldest kids! Math for us, at least right now, requires complete supervision and one-on-one teaching. I’m just not comfortable letting a video teach them their basic skills. Maybe as they get older I can gravitate that way, but right now I have to work hard to keep them engaged and focused even for just short bursts of time. I can only imagine where their minds might wander if I didn’t stay zoned in with them. I’ve been doing quite a bit of research on what math programs are available in the middle school years and am still trying to decide which program(s) to purchase as our oldest progresses. I guess I want to learn along with them even though that process requires a huge amount of time and energy. I’ve learned recently that “ThinkWell” offered through Hopkin’s prestigious CTY program can be obtained independently for a fraction of the cost, so I’d like to investigate their curriculum.
It’s now 11:00 p.m., and I’m making leaded coffee. I just finished a few pages of Latin with the oldest son. I’m behind on where I want to be with this study. Nighttime seems about the only place to fit the language in with everything else going on. I’ll be up for a while prepping for the math class that I’m teaching along with going over a research paper. We are covering the 4’s times tables this week, so I’m working on a couple of games for those students that will hopefully make it more interesting for them. Don’t want to hear zzzzzz in the classroom.
I did cook tonight-fried chicken strips and macaroni shells. My daughter said the chicken was too hard to eat! The strips did look good but were bland in taste-ugh..
Less anxious, maybe
Full day of academics, but we covered almost everything that I’d hoped we would. Anytime we can do that I’m so thankful, and any anxiety that may be there is diminished. Equally important was that we enjoyed ourselves as we learned, and we enjoyed what we learned. Some days I do feel like we are just crossing things off of the checklist, and I hate that. The checklist is not what real learning should be about and how it should be done. Learning should excite them and me. Not every circumstance can be that way, but one can make a general statement regarding the learning process and environment.
Some topics we covered today: addition, cursive, SWR phonics, reading, poetry, piano, French, comprehension techniques, critical thinking skills, early explorers, landforms and rocks, fractions in word problems, HTML, possessives, plurals, letter writing, Venetian artists, spelling, and multiplication, Dr. Dolittle, Life of Fred, and the Hardy Boys.
I’m forgetting things, but that’s at least an idea.
My biggest challenge, as I’ve previously mentioned, is the time factor and getting that one-on-one with each of them. A primary goal of mine is to mold them into independent learners.
Activities for us today: 3 hours of gymnastics, 1 hour of soccer, and Scouts and in between I made it to the gym, a treat for me.
After we made it home for a late dinner around 8:30, we still had studies to finish so the kids finally made it to bed around 10:30. Now, that’s late for them, and I don’t like going that long in the day, so most likely I’ll let them sleep in:) Being able to adjust your sleep schedule is certainly a benefit of homeschooling.
Off to prep for tomorrow. Still doing research on math and what things might be of value in our home studies. There’s so much out there that it’s overwhelming at times. More work to be done!
Ivy League Homeschooling 