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. :)

Friday

This morning we went to a local homeschooling park day - another town that is about 20 min from our home and has a huge homeschooling community. There were at least 14 families there! Mavster had a great time playing with several boys his age, and I truly enjoyed the adult conversation with other homeschooling moms! There was even one Dad there that walked through - talk about a group of protective Mama bears! When he first arrived all of the women watched him closely until they saw him sit down with one of the moms and we all relaxed. :)

Mavster said he learned that, "girls don't get very scared by dead bugs, but live ones make them scream!"

We are working on our methodology for "Friday Fun Day" for the Mavster after working hard all week. Today after lunch, he wanted to play some math games from school last year which was fine for me, and then I wanted to get a few school things done before the end of the day. We finished some artwork making our Shield of Faith, and then I asked him to do his 5 min of handwriting.

He was learning "d" today using Handwriting Without Tears, and he sometimes wanted to make an incorrect stroke which I tried to correct before he got too far, but he started to get pretty upset about it. "I hate cursive!" he said. I asked "Why?" and he got even madder. "I hate questions like that!" "Why?" I asked again and he had to take a moment to calm down. So we ended up having some philosophical discussions about schooling, and that I just want to help make cursive easier for him, and that as we reprogram his muscle memory it will get easier and easier. He also shared some more information about what he went through last year (and at the private school for K/1st) - lots and lots of erasing what wasn't good enough. His 3rd grade teacher was known for even making them start a whole page over and taking the (messed up) one and crumpling it up and throwing it away. Apparently she was also known for having a short fuse about things. So I told Mavster to let me know what things he didn't like so I could make me a "Mommy Don't Do" list. :)

So far, my list is:

1) Don't be mean
2) No erasing
3) No crumpling up work and throwing it away
4) No getting upset easily

Well, that's easy. I told him he could add to it and refer to it as necessary to remind me of my rules. Ah, perhaps I need to make a list of rules for him, too, now. :) We have been pretty clear that he needs to do what I ask, no video games during the day, and that he can disagree with something/suggest an alternative, but I have the final say.

I asked him what the best part of this week (other than our 3! playday outings) was - and he said when we looked at an example of the comics for Beast Academy (math curriculum) yesterday was the funniest part. Yesterday he was frustrated with Life of Fred. "It's not how I learn and it's confusing." It is a bit abstract - you have to actually think about the story and figure out the math yourself, although the solutions are right there if you need them. The reason I didn't get Beast Academy right away was because it is only for 3rd grade (so far) - which he just finished and I thought he would be past it. But what I'm finding is that right now he doesn't have a lot of confidence in his math skills. (Vent! Grrrr! He loved Math so much in K and the beginning of 1st!) So, I think this will be a fun and challenging way to improve that. We'll reinforce what he did learn last year, and take everything a step further. Beast Academy is not simple - and possibly a whole grade ahead of 3rd in some places. Yes, it is on it's way to arrive next week!

The other part that he enjoyed the most was "that chemical thing we did yesterday." Ah, yes, Chemistry, the Periodic Table. Yay! So, my instincts about what he would enjoy the most are pretty right on. We will plug through History/LA and follow Heart of Dakota there (he does appreciate learning about how history and the Bible work together), but there will be days where we follow our passions in Math and Science!

My favorite parts of the week were the play groups where our son was able to make real connections with other kids, and learn through experience with them. Living in the country, those play times have been somewhat limited to his sister and school. Last year, being advanced a year at school, those play times did not really happen as much as he probably needed developmentally. It just felt really good today to see him truly playing with other boys, enjoying himself, being free to experiment/learn with what was around him, and just generally learning the way kids should learn - outdoors. We do live in the country, but unlike my childhood, we don't live in a suburb with lots of other families/kids around where you could stay outside playing each evening. I am so glad to have found a way for him to have those same kinds of experiences with other kids!

My very favorite moment came at the end of our day today when we were talking about homeschooling and our goals, etc. I asked Mavster, "Why do you think we are homeschooling this year?" His answer: "Because you love me!"

AMEN!

Thursday

Thursday we had all of our studies done by lunchtime! Yay! We started learning Chemistry by Real Science 4 Kids and Mavster got a kick out of it! We introduced him to the periodic table, and then went through some food labels looking for chemicals and identifying them on the periodic table. The funniest part was when we were looking at a granola bar and we found it had iron in it! He almost panicked! I explained iron is a mineral we all need in our bodies to help produce red blood cells and he relaxed - but the look of shock on his face was priceless!

It was fun getting back to learning about protons, neutrons, and electrons for me - I always loved chemistry in high school.

Mavster then continued working on his "ScratchCraft" program. His Papa gave him some great pointers about version control this morning which he has taken to heart.

Last night he had soccer practice, and he made a great score one time (that the coach sadly missed). But at the end of practice, the coach was asking the team, "What kind of team are we?!" and he got answers such as "a passing team" but our sweet son said, "The kind of team that doesn't give up!" YAY for Mavster!