Time Flying

Wow! It has been 2 weeks since my last post. Seems hard to believe that much time has gone by. I would say I am finally able to relax a bit about not being a part of the event this year. Other volunteers stepped up, and things seem to be moving smoothly along. I have continued to answer questions and offer information to the organization, with details about what I would usually do.

Mavster is doing great. We are getting into more of a rhythm with our daily schedule, and I'm working on getting him ready to take more autonomy for his learning. Now that he understands the expectations, I'll set him up with more things and let him have at it! We have been following a curriculum pretty closely for most subjects, but I really want him to find his own passions and follow them. We all know he would do that for a video game, but I'd like to see a different area of interest.

Earlier this week, I asked him what he thought about homeschooling so far, and he said that he liked it - that when he was in public school, he would spend all day just waiting to get home. Now he's home, and he's learning, and he's done before lunchtime. Once he figured out that we could get our schoolwork done in 2-3 hours, he's been on board about working to get it done with a few short breaks in the middle.

On Thursday, we were reading a poem, and talking about the poem's rhythm, and I mentioned Shel Silverstein and how his poems all have that kind of rhythm & rhyme to them. Mavster got so excited - he wanted to pick up "A Light in the Attic" right away, but I made him wait until we were done since we were so close to finishing. Yesterday he picked up the book again and was reading poems to his sister and would not put the book down so he carried it in the car over to his grandparents, still reading to his sister the whole way! It was so good to see him so focused on a book and passionate about it. Every once in a while, he finds something he really needs to do that day - whether it is reading, or building with blocks or legos, or testing something outside. I'm doing my best to make sure that if we can't stop what we are doing immediately, that I make sure I give him time to pursue his desires (sans video games) later that day.

His favorite subject right now is science - we are getting into Chemistry by Real Science for Kids, and he really loves the experiments, and is really interested in the topics and taking them a step further than the book goes. I am glad I remember more details about valence electrons and electron shells. Second favorite is Math - as you recall, he was reading his math textbook for fun. The other topics are also interesting to him - he does want to learn about history and the bible and how they fit together, and he is enjoying those topics as well.

I have been reading more about unschooling, and know that as Mavster develops or re-kindles his passions in different subjects, that we will take a more child-directed path than we are right now. I don't feel like we're quite ready for that yet. I will of course follow an interest where it goes, but I also feel the need to make sure we cover certain topics as we go. I also want to make sure that our son doesn't feel like he can do whatever he wants whenever he wants - there are still obligations that he has to the real world, and we need to see to those first.

Right now, I feel like we have a good balance and feel really good about our decision to homeschool. I am also finally relaxing a little more without so many other things on my plate, and it is overall making for a happier, calmer household. :)