Well, school is back in session for the Hanley children. This year marks a number of changes, but so far mom is happy.
As long as we sort of pretend days one and two didn’t happen, that is.
Days one and two involved a young man of seven crying under the table. Over things like being asked to write the word “Geography” on a piece of paper. They involved a young lady of eleven telling me every chance she got about how boring it all was.
Her math and spelling, you see, suddenly have levels attached. And she knows the levels attached don’t correspond to 6th grade. Unfortunately, her spelling and math are a bit patchy and there are things here she really needs to know.
Days one and two also involved a young man of 18 months disassembling everything we took out as he participated with his own brand of toddler helpfulness. Which is amazingly sweet and cute for some activities, like feeding the chickens, and amazingly. . .patience testing. . .for things like school manipulatives.
But Bear was finally coaxed out from under the table with math, and the one year old finally satisfied with a bag of dominoes. Mouse failed a test, convincing her that maybe she wasn’t ready for the level 6 spelling book, and aced it after the lesson without undo copying and repeating which gave a boost to her confidence.
Even if it only expressed itself in a sly grin she wouldn’t dare admit actually had anything to do with spelling. And math got more interesting once we started playing a game. And the fact that she’s taking her current book seven lessons at a time has her figuring out just when she’ll get the level she thinks corresponds with 6th grade. Something that looks more like the algebra her friend is in.
And all the children have seen the pile of books I’m doing my planning for science from. Which has my son pouring over them, asking if we can renew them after I’m done and wondering just how many of the projects I’ll let him do.
It took three days for the children to get used to the school routine: a little bit of work, a little bit of activity, a little bit of free time.
With this being the first year we really took a whole summer off, however, I guess that isn’t too bad.
Oh, and my other two children, you ask? The five year old and the three year old? They’ve loved every minute of it. In fact, their only criticism of our school day is that I make them stop and put their books away.
How is homeschooling going on your end?
Welcome to Roscommon Acres, my little home in the country. I write here about life more abundantly, from the joy of a baby’s smile to the almost unbearable grief of losing a son. I am seeking beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, a garment of praise instead of the spirit of despair (Isaiah 61:3).
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Great job! We’ve been home-pre-schooling for about a year now and though the oldest just turned 4 I’ve been hankering to start a “real” kindergarten curriculum. My wise friends have aptly told me to cool my jets, this is my last year for likely the next 20 to NOT have to be super “with it” on the schooling front so I best enjoy it. I am. But I’m still excited to start a new part of schooling. I envy you and yet I’m grateful I get a little more time before needing to argue with a “bored” student. Thanks for sharing your life with us. :->
I like your opening lines. Classic! Hope it keeps improving from here forward.
We’re going well, using bits and pieces of every resource and home ed. philosophy, and having a lot of fun. I worry about doing too much (or much more often, not enough), but at present the kids are happy, loving learning and progressing well, so it’s all ok … Mummy just needs to do more, think less!
.-= Vanessa´s last blog ..Learning between the lines =-.
Ooh. We don’t start til after labor day, but their are going to be some big changes for my girls–more on their own/less me–and I’m a wee bit nervous. Congrats on the last day of the first week. AKA day 3.
.-= April´s last blog ..Pinky- are you pondering what Im pondering =-.
More them and less mom is wonderful. And scary. Mouse will be doing more on her own, too, but the big difference for us is going off other people’s plans. Enjoying the extra time, though. And I’m very happy with our choices though they were a bit pricier!
Great job hanging in there with them! Homeschooled kids are human, too (lol!)…as are homeschooled moms, of course. But it’s still the best thing out there for a family! :^)
.-= Tina Hollenbeck´s last blog ..Milwaukee Mini-Vacation Meditationand Then Some! =-.
We haven’t started math or spelling yet, but we spent so much time doing only math and spelling and grammar that I’m okay with waiting until next week.
This week has been great so far! (After working a bit on someone’s attitude Monday morning, and a mini-meltdown from me Tuesday afternoon.)
My little ones are really looking forward to their art project today, and my son wants to mold a pyramid or two. Oh, and it’s library day, so you know that’s good.
.-= Renae´s last blog ..Carnival of Homeschooling- Remember Summer Edition =-.
Can I play the oldest mom (and the token radical unschooler) for this conversation?
Summer is just another learning season to us to enjoy as we please. So no change of schedule or emphasis when the calendar changes, except for various “school” activities the kids have chosen in different years, out in the larger community. Dance classes and a few other organized schoolish things do run on a traditional school schedule and take the summer off, but most private tutors for things like bagpipes and fencing go right on through year-round. And of course the bookstores, libraries, movie theatres etc are always open!
Our unschooled-to college 20-year-old university senior with a perfect 4.0 average (but also a math coding disorder) spent her summer preparing and then taking the GRE; contacting potential references to request their official recommendations for her admission to a masters in library science/museum curating; and scouring the Internet for three dozen books to buy for fall term, which started Monday. She did better than nine of ten testtakers on the verbal part of the GRE but worse than nine of ten on the math part. No accommodations were allowed for her disorder and she knew that, but she also discovered that the English, religion and information science colleges don’t care one bit about the math score.
Young Son spent his summer cast in a musical theatre comedy rarely produced, “On the Twentieth Century.” He kept up his fencing, piping and French tutoring sessions, by his own choice. His vocal coaching starts back next week because his teacher performs in upstate NY every summer and just returned. His Irish and modern dancing started back August 8 so he’s well back in the swing of that already.
.-= JJ´s last blog ..Favorite Daughter Cast in First Musical Theatre Lead! =-.
This is actually a little less activity after all the work and excitement of getting ready for the fair. My little Mouse took champion on her crochet and in poultry showmanship as well as several blues and a couple reds.
Our first week is always sort of slow. Not fast enough for Mouse, and Bear loves school one minute and hates it the next. He’s a man of extremes. Every day is the best ever or the worst ever.
But he does love math and this year he likes the spelling program I bought. I chose it with him in mind and it seems a good fit. He is dying to read on his own, but has an incredibly short attention span.
.-= Dana´s last blog ..The third day of school =-.
I love reading about your schoolday. Made me laugh and remember days very similar in past years. We haven’t actually started school yet…gasp!
Next week we’ll start in with math, Bible, spelling….and I’m thinking of spending some time in the library in hopes of peaking there interest, to get them reading more or wanting to research topics of their interest.
Anyway thanks for sharing I love reading your blog.
Thanks! It got better quickly. I think part of the difficulty was starting the week after all the excitement of preparing for the county fair. Once they settled back to their normal routine, they were all much happier.
.-= Dana´s last blog ..The third day of school =-.
Ah…we haven’t started school yet (after Labor Day). I’m a bit nervous. It’s our 4th year and I feel this way every year. Knowing our goals for our children is what I think keeps me going.