Holidaze

Thanksgiving just blew by us! Although, we are still working on leftovers. Today's dinner was turkey enchiladas. Hard to believe we are at December already! The kids took a coin toss to see who would start the advent calendar. #2 won and so it goes.

Today was a lazy kind of day where the kids figured out how to fill their time. Tomorrow, they have an activity to go to where they will make presents for people they choose. At the end of the week, we are taking a field trip to a local animal shelter where the challenge will be not to take anymore cats home.

There will be baking and reading and math and all sorts of other stuff. A highlight last week was them receiving activity crates from Kiwi Crate. We ordered the Tinker Crate and the Doodle Crate. The boxes came addressed to the kids and were well packed with 90%-95% of items needed. I was impressed even though the motor in the Tinker Crate didn't work as expected. Extra parts were requested and sent out quickly. Hopefully, the next one goes more smoothly.

#3 who wants nothing to do yet with traditional worksheet type stuff sat and worked on his motor for 3 hours. This included following the directions (he did need some help), watching videos and looking up more info about motors. I haven't seen him that excited about a learning activity in a long time.

#1 is at the point where we need to look at school placements for 7th grade (how did that happen). I'm also taking the opportunity to see which schools are open to homeschoolers if we decide to go that route when the time comes.

In the meantime, I need to start organizing the new curriculum. It's currently in a huge cardboard box taunting me!

What are they learning today?

The new curriculum has been ordered. Planning to kick it into gear in January.

Yet, it feels like we are busier than ever. #2 is finishing up her theater class for this semester and only has 2 more sewing classes left.

Today, they played math games on the computer, rode bikes for a brief time since it is cold today, mailed their letters to Santa, cooked and played! They are getting better at filling their free time and exploring interests! #2 filled her time with drawing pictures of elves and reindeer.

Tomorrow is homeschool day at the local trampoline park and they have their Parkour class so it will be a very physical kind of day for them!

I'm also excited to see what activities we get from kiwi crate, which is a monthly activity kit that you can subscribe. I've ordered a holiday ornament decorating kit from them as well. (No, they didn't pay me.....but I wouldn't turn it down).

#1 is doing well at school. She has to work on her math grade but overall I'm happy with her progress. It was nice to have 2 days of no school this week even if they drive me crazy!

Changing Direction

I'm in the process of planning how we are going to move forward in January. We have stopped all book work for the moment. I know many will laugh at the idea of a burnt out 8 year old but that's exactly what I feel like I'm seeing right now. Reading, music practice, cooking, shopping, field trips, science projects are all still happening. I'm also looking at ways to explore how holidays are celebrated in other countries. Funny thing is, #3 asked us how blood clots happen, then he sat and watched 5 or 6 you tube videos about blood, veins, and the clotting process. He also randomly wrote a poem while sitting at the table. So, there is hope!

While the items I have now should work for 2 kids (or more), it requires a lot more organization and planning on my part. So, I'm leaning towards a boxed curriculum. Funny thing is, I was looking at 1 and it goes by age range instead of grade level. Initially I considered the 7-9 level but we have done many of the science projects and reading projects for that level. Without realizing it, I recreated the major parts of that curriculum. So, the 8-10 range it is. I'm okay with helping with the reading and adjusting assignments,

With switching in January, that kind of puts us on a different schedule. If this curriculum works for us, then we'd either keep working through some of the summer or just pick up in the fall where we stop in June.

Mending Pieces and Starting Over

I found this written in my son's school agenda. I'm not sure when he wrote it and neither is he. We discussed it and it's clear to me that he really doesn't hate the people at his school. But, the school work, his frustration at not understanding and having to be pulled out for services were all adding up to make him unhappy. He did have good moments at school and the teachers and staff there love him. I have absolutely no doubt about this. I pointed this out to him and he smiled. He definitely wrote this hoping it would be seen. I don't know what he thought would happen and he shrugged his shoulders when I asked.

Today, #2 and #3 asked me if they could write letters to Santa. We were out and about already but I said we could definitely add this to our list of work for tomorrow or next week. #3 said "no, that can't count as work because it would be something fun." My heart broke a little when he said this. It seems I have my work cut out for me for the next few months.

I loved school as a kid even when my teachers weren't great. It was a safe haven for me when I didn't have that at home. I had hoped my kids would feel a similar way about school. Indeed #1 and #2 used to wake up excited to go and sad when there wasn't school. #1 is still happy to go but doesn't complain when there isn't school either.

Call me crazy but 8-10 year olds should not have to sit for hours at a time taking tests (some of these tests are also badly written but that's an entirely different issue). They should be moving and exploring the world around them. They should be asking questions and be given the tools to find the answer. I'm not saying everything should be glitter and rainbows all the time but maybe more than not. And I certainly have no idea how this would work in a room of 22-26 students!

In some ways, we have been homeschooling or supplementing all along: Music lessons, various trips etc. What we have lost at this point is the morning battles and the homework battles. I love not having to worry that they aren't going to get enough sleep since it can be a struggle to get my kids settled at night. #2 seems to naturally fall asleep between 10 and 11 these days and wakes up around 9. #3 settles down around the same time but wakes up around 8. In the morning,I just have to to tell my oldest to get up and she does the rest. With the other 2, it was world war 3 every morning! Not that I blame them, A 6am wake up isn't fun for most of us.

On the flip side, I'm tired at the end of the day! Like exhausted mentally. I need a certain amount of  down time every day and finding that balance while home schooling and being a single parent most weeks makes me feel like I'm walking on a tight rope made of fire. Coffee has always been my friend, now it is totally my BFF!

In the meantime, I'm setting smaller goals for the rest of this school year and rethinking curriculum choices for next fall.

Figuring out how to deschool

It sounds almost too easy, take time off from school stuff so the kids can readjust and not freak out when they do anything that looks like school work. Various sources recommend 1 month of deschooling for every year of school attended. I'm going to hold off on the math and serious writing until after the holidays with #3, unless he asks.

Yesterday, we went to the local science museum and checked out the dinosaur exhibit. The kids brought home some geodes to crack. They loved that. It took each of them a good 30 minutes to get them open. I'm sure some neighbors were wondering what the heck we were doing on our front lawn with hammers and rocks wrapped in socks!

Today, there was sewing class for #2 and the instructor was kind enough to let #3 stay as well. Then we came home and started our Greek History section. #2 did some Greek History last school year in 2nd grade so hopefully we all have a good time with it. It's always been one of my favorites! Right now, it's lunch and free time. I'm allowing them to play the Wii since it's the first week. Later on, there is music class and possibly a science experiment which involves baking.

I'm waiting to get some money together to get a new math curriculum. I love Math U See but it isn't clicking for #2. I'm hoping Teaching Textbooks is better since it's mostly computer based. Which means, I'm mostly removed from the equation (no pun intended!).

When they work together, it is awesome. When they argue, it can be epic! As long as we have more of the aweseome,, it will all work out.

And then there were 2.....

      This kitten has nothing to do with this blog post, she's just tiny and cute!

       Parent Teacher Conference for our son happened yesterday. These things always make me a bit nervous even when there isn't a concern. However, going into third grade, we knew he wasn't where he needed to be, especially with reading and writing. Yet, I was hoping he would start catching up and he hasn't. Now, a part of this may just be him wanting to be home which is understandable but it isn't the whole story.
   His grade and others also just went through 2 weeks of practice testing for the state tests in spring. My son was miserable and basically told me he was just guessing for every question because he didn't care. My oldest daughter took the practice tests in stride but also expressed frustration because she was looking at questions for work she hasn't even learned yet. That doesn't make sense! But, I digress...
    So, I listened to the teacher and knew within the first few minutes that we were bringing the boy home to school with his sister. So, he's home today and sleeping in as I write this. He will go in tomorrow to celebrate Harvest Day with his friends and say good bye and get all his stuff. Then we are off to new adventures.
   The next few months will be spent relaxing and deschooling him a bit. We'll still do experiments and play games and such. We;ll take the time to go off on tangents and see what really gets him motivated to read and learn! In the meantime, I'll keep sneaking in math with shopping lessons, cooking and so on. And when he's running his own technology firm, the boy better buy me a house in Tahiti!

Understanding and Adapting

I came across this HBO documentary this morning. I had it up on the computer while everyone finished up their morning routine. I didn't make the kids watch it with me but didn't hide it either. As I watched, #2 came up besides me and hugged me. We talk a lot about dyslexia and how her (and her brother's) brain works differently. Not stupid but different. "It isn't fair", she says. "Other kids can just read but I can't."
She's right and I tell her that this is the truth but it isn't an excuse. Everyone has something they struggle with. Then we refocus on what her strengths are: She is learning to sew. She can dance and do flips and many other things.
She becomes quiet as she watches kids on the monitor talk about their struggles and victories. Then, we moved on to doing our work. And, she did not cry when she made a mistake or squirm away when it was time to work on handwriting or phonics.
It was a good learning day for her.

Yet, I look back and wonder if we did enough. Should we have read 4 books instead of 3 at bedtime when she was 2? Instead of letting her watch cartoons sometimes, should we have just kept in on PBS all the time? Classical music instead of hip hop or rock? Would she be better off in a regular school environment? What happens if we decide to homeschool #3? Who has many of the same difficulties but a totally different personality.

I wonder.....