Well, a pretty cruisy day so far. As usual, it started off with Gordy spending til about 10am in bed reading (finally finished book 1 of "The 39 Clues", and with the 2nd one not being released for a few weeks at least, he's now got to find something else...oh dear! LOL!), only coming out of his room to ask a few questions in relation to the clues he was trying to solve with it. One of these questions was about trying to read the roman numerals written on a pile of skulls. Now we'd talked about them not all that long ago, but only up to the number 10 (X), but Gordy thought he needed help with it. He started off showing me which ones he remembered, and it quickly became clear that he was able to figure it ALL out by himself, and really didn't need my help after all... just needed a little confidence in himself, something that seems to be lacking with quite alarming regularity!!! Guess that's another area we're going to need to work even harder on. He's a bright, intelligent young lad, who doubts himself sooooooo much! Has it been the school system that's caused this, or me failing somewhere in his parenting? All I know right now, is that it is something I seriously need to fix in my lil man, before it causes any further damage!
But anyway... after he'd figured them out himself, I decided that that was another topic we could cover more of, and find other ways to bring it into his work. Doing times tables using Roman Numerals maybe?? Guess we'll see how that one goes.
Yesterday, 39 Clues led onto discussions on the "square root" of numbers, something I haven't worked with in YEARS! But Gordy seemed to get a reasonable handle on it pretty quickly, so that's also helped to open the door onto exploring that further. Wish they'd hurry up with the next book, as this series has already been VERY helpful in teaching him quite a bit! With his interest in puzzle solving, I've also been thinking about seeing if Sudoku catches his attention. With the way his brain works, I think it wouldn't take much for him to get a pretty good handle on it! I've just found this link - http://www.websudoku.com/ - online, so think I'll be using this to help him (and me, LOL) get into it, once his computer ban's lifted, that is!
The other thing we worked on today, was art. Having seen a couple of drawings he's done at school, I know he's quite a talented lil artist, when he's given a bit of help and he actually puts some effort into it. He also LOVES drawing (usually Ben 10 Characters, or Spiderman), but when left to his own devices, his drawins are quite rough and very much "kid-style", where as I know he's capable of a lot more, if he but tries. So with the huge stack of drawing books I've collected over the years, I decided that it was time to start working with him on his art, and show him different types of drawing. So... out came the cartoon books!! Letting him flick through the 4 cartoon dedicated books I had, I got him to pick the style that caught his interest the most, then we started working on copying the eyes and mouths in that style, and trying to get him thinking creatively, and finding other shapes etc that can be turned into cartoon mouths and eyes (all the while trying to feed a rather impatient Xani his mushed apple, which got spat over the highchair tray whenever no-one was paying him attention! Although he seemed to find it funny when his big brother turned his attention onto Xani, and started doing a drawing of him. *sigh* Little Lord Xani! LOL!). We ended up with quite a few interesting results, and I think drawing will become part of the DAILY schooling (and for me as well, since I've been wanting to get back into my art properly for the last few years, but just keep putting it off for one reason or another! There I go, stomping down barriers again! Eeek! LOL!).
Ok, so not a LOT done today, but it was fun, and it all brought good results... and so far, Gordy seems to be having fun. I dunno if I'm just wishful thinking, but he seems a happier kid in general, more relaxed, far more willing to try and think of new things, and just...well... yeah, happier, bouncier!
After reading up a lot more about "unschooling", I'm starting to think that's the way we need to head. Letting Gordy pick the topics (with maybe the occasional one thrown in by me as well, just to try and broaden things a little), and adapting his learning to use those, I think, is going to be one of the best ways to keep his interest, and get him enthusiastic about learning again. Seems to be working with 39 Clues so far!! We're also starting to find lots of other little ways as well to bring learning into every day life, and I think he's slowly starting to realise that this learning thing ain't so scary after all!! Fingers ever so tightly crossed it continues!!
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
The "S" Word!!
Ok, I'm ashamed to admit I've rather slacked off over the last week. Sure, Gordy's done a bit of "school-type" work... reading, a bit of maths thrown in, but that's really about it. I've realised I've kinda been hiding from things (NOT a good start to homeschooling *sigh*), especially when it comes to Gordy's socialisation. That dreaded "S" word! I keep saying that one of the big things I want to focus on for Gordy this term, is getting him out there making new friends, learning how to socialise. And yet, I still haven't done anything about it. Sure, I've enrolled him in the local homeschooling group's swimming lessons, But I haven't gone any further than that, nor even tried getting to know any of the other parents. Why? Well, socialising Gordy, means socialising myself! Yes, I want more friends (well, who doesn't?!), but after growing up having been a solo child for almost 10 years, with a Mother who didn't tend to socialise herself, plus being quite an outcast at school and never really having any true friends for most of my life, til just after having Gordy... being around other people is still a rather scary concept for me.
How can I socialise my son, when the mere thought of meeting new people scares me? I'm all too good at hiding away at home, finding any old excuse to stay within the safety of my own 4 walls. Ugh! Like mother like daughter?! Having grown up in that kind of environment, I certainly don't want that for my son. So somehow, I need to overcome my own fears, in order to get him out there, mixing with his peers, and teaching him how to make friends.
Lately I've been devouring articles and blogs about homeschooling as fast as possible, and one of the things I've come across CONSTANTLY, is how "outsiders" are forever asking "but what about the socialising?", and so many other homeschoolers have told stories of how their kids are, if anything, OVER socialised, and have far more friends than they did before they started homeschooling. This is something I want for Gordy as well... so I guess I'm going to have to start pushing past my own barriers, and getting out there to as many events as possible, talk to as many homeschooling parents as possible, and just beat my own fears into submission so that Gordy can have what he NEEDS. This will be a very interesting journey indeed. It makes me wonder just how many other changes both Karl and I will need to make, in order to give our sons the best possible start in life. I already have trouble knowing who I REALLY am now, but I am curious to know just who I'll be in a few years from now, heck, even a few months from now. I guess I'm actually starting to see that this journey we've started, isn't just Gordy's journey, but mine, Karl's, and Xani's. I can now see why so many claim that homeschooling is a lot about family, maybe even more so than the actual educational side of things. We'll all learn things along the way, about life, maths, science, reading, etc, but I think the biggest "thing" we'll learn about is ourselves, and who we are as a family unit that shifts and changes, reshaping time and time again. In some ways this scares me, in others it downright fascinates and excites me.
Hmm... I sure hope everyone can understand what I'm trying to get at. Lol! Just thoughts that have been spinning round in my head the last couple of days that needed to be thrown somewhere else for a little while.
As for actual schooling... well, we've found a couple of online sites with some great maths games (eg: http://www.bbc.co.uk/education/mathsfile/gameswheel.html and http://www.hbschool.com/activity/mmath/mmath_knack.html), that we started using last Friday (until Gordy earned himself a one week computer ban for lying... *sigh* when will he learn that lies just cause more trouble?!), and were a great success. Without having to write anything down, Gordy was able to give the answers a lot faster with these games, than when he's doing boring ol' math worksheets, and he was actually getting them (almost) all correct as well. So maybe games will be the better way to approach his maths.
Our mornings tend to be off to really late starts too, as it seems Gordy prefers to start his day lying in bed reading his current chapter book (he's currently reading (and almost finished) "The 39 Clues", which is a great series of books, online games, and cards that are fantastic for getting the brain working hard trying to solve a lot of puzzles - Gordy absolutely LOVES this sort of thing!), until either the grumbling of his stomach, or the call of 'the little boy's room" get too loud to ignore any more. Even then, it doesn't necessarily stop him wanting to head back to bed afterwards! LOL! I guess I've been a little lax in this area, letting him stay in bed as long as he wants to read, because until only a year or 2 ago, reading was a huge chore for him, and one that brought about many a nasty tantrum. Watching him pouring through chapter book after chapter book is such a wonderful thing (especially with Karl and I both being bookworms!), that I don't want to do anything to hold him back. Just need to find ways to thread in other bits of regular learning along the way.
Our science "plant" experiment hasn't really gotten anywhere either, other than finding a large tub where the plants that survive the experiment can be shifted to afterwards... as I said, a rather slack week. *blush*
So my aim for this week... get more done than last week! LOL!
Right, time to go drag my boy's nose out of his book, and get him busy on something else. Hmmm... there's dishes that need doing! :-P
How can I socialise my son, when the mere thought of meeting new people scares me? I'm all too good at hiding away at home, finding any old excuse to stay within the safety of my own 4 walls. Ugh! Like mother like daughter?! Having grown up in that kind of environment, I certainly don't want that for my son. So somehow, I need to overcome my own fears, in order to get him out there, mixing with his peers, and teaching him how to make friends.
Lately I've been devouring articles and blogs about homeschooling as fast as possible, and one of the things I've come across CONSTANTLY, is how "outsiders" are forever asking "but what about the socialising?", and so many other homeschoolers have told stories of how their kids are, if anything, OVER socialised, and have far more friends than they did before they started homeschooling. This is something I want for Gordy as well... so I guess I'm going to have to start pushing past my own barriers, and getting out there to as many events as possible, talk to as many homeschooling parents as possible, and just beat my own fears into submission so that Gordy can have what he NEEDS. This will be a very interesting journey indeed. It makes me wonder just how many other changes both Karl and I will need to make, in order to give our sons the best possible start in life. I already have trouble knowing who I REALLY am now, but I am curious to know just who I'll be in a few years from now, heck, even a few months from now. I guess I'm actually starting to see that this journey we've started, isn't just Gordy's journey, but mine, Karl's, and Xani's. I can now see why so many claim that homeschooling is a lot about family, maybe even more so than the actual educational side of things. We'll all learn things along the way, about life, maths, science, reading, etc, but I think the biggest "thing" we'll learn about is ourselves, and who we are as a family unit that shifts and changes, reshaping time and time again. In some ways this scares me, in others it downright fascinates and excites me.
Hmm... I sure hope everyone can understand what I'm trying to get at. Lol! Just thoughts that have been spinning round in my head the last couple of days that needed to be thrown somewhere else for a little while.
As for actual schooling... well, we've found a couple of online sites with some great maths games (eg: http://www.bbc.co.uk/education/mathsfile/gameswheel.html and http://www.hbschool.com/activity/mmath/mmath_knack.html), that we started using last Friday (until Gordy earned himself a one week computer ban for lying... *sigh* when will he learn that lies just cause more trouble?!), and were a great success. Without having to write anything down, Gordy was able to give the answers a lot faster with these games, than when he's doing boring ol' math worksheets, and he was actually getting them (almost) all correct as well. So maybe games will be the better way to approach his maths.
Our mornings tend to be off to really late starts too, as it seems Gordy prefers to start his day lying in bed reading his current chapter book (he's currently reading (and almost finished) "The 39 Clues", which is a great series of books, online games, and cards that are fantastic for getting the brain working hard trying to solve a lot of puzzles - Gordy absolutely LOVES this sort of thing!), until either the grumbling of his stomach, or the call of 'the little boy's room" get too loud to ignore any more. Even then, it doesn't necessarily stop him wanting to head back to bed afterwards! LOL! I guess I've been a little lax in this area, letting him stay in bed as long as he wants to read, because until only a year or 2 ago, reading was a huge chore for him, and one that brought about many a nasty tantrum. Watching him pouring through chapter book after chapter book is such a wonderful thing (especially with Karl and I both being bookworms!), that I don't want to do anything to hold him back. Just need to find ways to thread in other bits of regular learning along the way.
Our science "plant" experiment hasn't really gotten anywhere either, other than finding a large tub where the plants that survive the experiment can be shifted to afterwards... as I said, a rather slack week. *blush*
So my aim for this week... get more done than last week! LOL!
Right, time to go drag my boy's nose out of his book, and get him busy on something else. Hmmm... there's dishes that need doing! :-P
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Eye openings... and new ideas
Well, we all learnt something new about Gordy yesterday... it seems, like Karl and I, he learns better by reading the books himself than having them read to him. As we're studying "Jason and The Argonauts" for "History" at the moment, I thought I'd get started on reading the story to him from the book we borrowed from the library. Well, we'd barely even started when I noticed the signs that although he was listening, he wasn't really taking it on board. Now this is quite a common thing with Gordy... acting like he's listening, but not. So that when you go and ask him what we said, half the time (not THAT long ago it would have been closer to 9 times out of 10... so at least there's improvement there *s*) he can't remember, even though we've only just told him! Definite cause for the frustration levels to soar upward! Knowing, though, that he was pretty tired after a couple of really busy days (like helping a friend move house, plus having had swimming yesterday) with rather late nights, I decided to send him to bed early, but Karl suggested giving him half an hour reading as a wind down, with the "Jason and the Argonauts" book as the reading material. Half an hour passed, and we went in to say goodnight... which is when we asked him what he remembered of what he'd read so far. Now, when I'd been reading it to him before, I'd asked him the name of one of the characters from the story (Ino, step mother of Helle and Phrixus), which had been mentioned about half a dozen times in the last couple of pages. He spent half an hour trying to remember, with tears and every excuse under the sun why he couldn't remember it. How could one small word be soooooo easy to forget, especially after being mentioned so many times?? *sigh* So when we asked him what he remembered after reading it himself, I fully expected him to have not remembered much at all. But... he proved that he had actually paid attention to what he'd read. Karl then asked him if he remembered things easier when he read the book, or when he had books read to him, something I'd never even thought to check. DOH! Gordy's answer - much easier to remember it when he read the book himself! Well, at least we've learnt that now, so that if I want him to actually register what's written, it would be better to get him to read it.
This has just made me realise just how easy it is to stay painfully unaware of even the basic things about your own child when they're off at school all day, then come home tired and grumpy, so not really wanting too much of the "deep and meaningful" kind of interaction with the parent-folk. Guess that with switching to homeschooling, at least now we'll actually get to know our son properly!! Definitely a MAJOR plus in my books!!
So, lesson learnt, and now adaptions can be made to our learning/teaching style!
After a rather slow, bumpy, yet cruisy start to this whole homeschooling thing last week, I decided yesterday that we really should get started on things properly. So I was trying to figure out just how I could teach Gordy about the Sun, which is his chosen topic for Science, and make it interesting for him. With him being very much a "hands-on" kinda lad, I knew science experiments would definitely go down a treat, so that was when I came up with the following "experiment".
*Find 3 pots of the same size/style etc.
*Pick a type of plant (vege or flower probably the easiest sort to use for this) ... in this case we're using tomato plants (thanks Tania for that suggestion *s*)
*Plant the same number of seeds in each pot (how many of course depends on how big a pot you're using, but we're just going to use yoghurt pots, so about 3 seeds per pot, since quite often you get at least one seed per pot that doesn't want to "take")
*Then place one pot outside where it has access to full sunlight, one pot in a place where it doesn't get much sunlight at all, and the 3rd pot somewhere that gets NO sunlight (for this one, we're putting it in the garage).
*Each day, give all 3 pots the same amount of water (want to try and keep as many "variables" controled as possible for this experiment to get the best and most accurate results).
*Keep a daily journal of the results, noting differences in colour, the size of the resulting seedlings, IF there's any seedlings (We also plan to do another experiment, almost the same, but where we'll get the seeds going first til we have good sized seedlings, then place them in different locations), the way they grow, and any other differences you can think of.
This way, Gordy will get to see for himself how the sun affects plantlife etc. So once we have enough yoghurt pots (oh yummy... a really good excuse to eat more yoghurt!! LOL!! Not a problem since Gordy and I both love the stuff!), we'll plant our seeds and see how things go.
The other day, I came up with another idea as well (ok, coming up with the ideas seems to be the easy part so far... it's the putting them into action and keeping Gordy's interest that we need to work on, LOL!). With so many "special" days and events during the year, I've noticed how a lot of people (myself included *blush*) don't actually know the origins of many of them. This was quite clearly brought to light for me when discussing good ol' Halloween the other day with a friend. Here was me, feeling quite confident in the (supposed) knowledge that Halloween was originally an American tradition. Errr..... WRONG!! I have now learned that it originally came from IRELAND!!! Consider me corrected! LOL! But that's what got me starting to think of just how many holidays, sayings, etc that are out there that have lost their original meaning and are now just thrown about, willy-nilly, without any real knowledge about where it came from, and just what it was supposed to be for! So I've decided that in the "lead-up" to each special day/event, Gordy and I will research the origins for each one, and make something that relates to it. I'm hoping this will be a good way to provoke interesting conversation, an interest in research, a lot of fun crafty/arty stuff, and an enthusiasm for History! With Halloween only a few days away, that, of course, will be our starting point. Anyone got any pumpkins to spare?? Hehehe!
Ok, time for brekkie (yummy!! Yoghurt!!) and to see where Gordy's up to with "Jason and the Argonauts (just really glad he actually ENJOYS reading! Makes this kinda thing soooo much easier! *g*).
Laters!
This has just made me realise just how easy it is to stay painfully unaware of even the basic things about your own child when they're off at school all day, then come home tired and grumpy, so not really wanting too much of the "deep and meaningful" kind of interaction with the parent-folk. Guess that with switching to homeschooling, at least now we'll actually get to know our son properly!! Definitely a MAJOR plus in my books!!
So, lesson learnt, and now adaptions can be made to our learning/teaching style!
After a rather slow, bumpy, yet cruisy start to this whole homeschooling thing last week, I decided yesterday that we really should get started on things properly. So I was trying to figure out just how I could teach Gordy about the Sun, which is his chosen topic for Science, and make it interesting for him. With him being very much a "hands-on" kinda lad, I knew science experiments would definitely go down a treat, so that was when I came up with the following "experiment".
*Find 3 pots of the same size/style etc.
*Pick a type of plant (vege or flower probably the easiest sort to use for this) ... in this case we're using tomato plants (thanks Tania for that suggestion *s*)
*Plant the same number of seeds in each pot (how many of course depends on how big a pot you're using, but we're just going to use yoghurt pots, so about 3 seeds per pot, since quite often you get at least one seed per pot that doesn't want to "take")
*Then place one pot outside where it has access to full sunlight, one pot in a place where it doesn't get much sunlight at all, and the 3rd pot somewhere that gets NO sunlight (for this one, we're putting it in the garage).
*Each day, give all 3 pots the same amount of water (want to try and keep as many "variables" controled as possible for this experiment to get the best and most accurate results).
*Keep a daily journal of the results, noting differences in colour, the size of the resulting seedlings, IF there's any seedlings (We also plan to do another experiment, almost the same, but where we'll get the seeds going first til we have good sized seedlings, then place them in different locations), the way they grow, and any other differences you can think of.
This way, Gordy will get to see for himself how the sun affects plantlife etc. So once we have enough yoghurt pots (oh yummy... a really good excuse to eat more yoghurt!! LOL!! Not a problem since Gordy and I both love the stuff!), we'll plant our seeds and see how things go.
The other day, I came up with another idea as well (ok, coming up with the ideas seems to be the easy part so far... it's the putting them into action and keeping Gordy's interest that we need to work on, LOL!). With so many "special" days and events during the year, I've noticed how a lot of people (myself included *blush*) don't actually know the origins of many of them. This was quite clearly brought to light for me when discussing good ol' Halloween the other day with a friend. Here was me, feeling quite confident in the (supposed) knowledge that Halloween was originally an American tradition. Errr..... WRONG!! I have now learned that it originally came from IRELAND!!! Consider me corrected! LOL! But that's what got me starting to think of just how many holidays, sayings, etc that are out there that have lost their original meaning and are now just thrown about, willy-nilly, without any real knowledge about where it came from, and just what it was supposed to be for! So I've decided that in the "lead-up" to each special day/event, Gordy and I will research the origins for each one, and make something that relates to it. I'm hoping this will be a good way to provoke interesting conversation, an interest in research, a lot of fun crafty/arty stuff, and an enthusiasm for History! With Halloween only a few days away, that, of course, will be our starting point. Anyone got any pumpkins to spare?? Hehehe!
Ok, time for brekkie (yummy!! Yoghurt!!) and to see where Gordy's up to with "Jason and the Argonauts (just really glad he actually ENJOYS reading! Makes this kinda thing soooo much easier! *g*).
Laters!
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Day 4... and the happiness grows!
A nice cruisy day today... Gordy and Xani both spent most of the day off at my Mum's (their "Oma"), while Karl and I had just "US" time, but I wanted to make sure Gordy still got some work done. Now I wasn't entirely sure how things would go over at Mum's, as she's given me the very strong impression that she's not totally behind our decision to homeschool Gordy, but I sent him off with his spelling notebook, a maths book with instructions to do 2 pages, a chapter book with instructions to read it for at least half an hour, and the pages with his "brainstorming" for the designs for his "visual diaries" with instructions to use the brainstorming to start designing the covers for the visual diaries.
Picking him up from Mum's, he'd apparently had a small bit of fuss about his maths (nothing new there), but other than that, had done his work happily enough, although he had forgotten to do the designs for the visual diaries. Once we realised he'd forgotten to do those however, he happily rushed off to work on them at home, no fuss or anything. Not long after that was done, he even came and told me he was enjoying the homeschooling... here's hoping that lasts!! LOL!! But I reminded him that it wouldn't always be happy, easy, or fun... there would be rough times... but if we worked hard enough, then MOST of the time, things should be fun and happy.
So that's day 4, and Gordy and I are both feeling quite a bit better about this whole situation than we were two days ago. Can't believe week 1 is almost finished! Even with the school work thrown in, things still feel very much like the school holidays... no idea just how long that feeling will last though! Just hope I can continue to keep going, and throw in the towel! Still very much early days yet... but I'm starting to think we may just find a way to get over any hurdles thrown in our direction along this path we've chosen. Only time will tell.
Night all *s*
Picking him up from Mum's, he'd apparently had a small bit of fuss about his maths (nothing new there), but other than that, had done his work happily enough, although he had forgotten to do the designs for the visual diaries. Once we realised he'd forgotten to do those however, he happily rushed off to work on them at home, no fuss or anything. Not long after that was done, he even came and told me he was enjoying the homeschooling... here's hoping that lasts!! LOL!! But I reminded him that it wouldn't always be happy, easy, or fun... there would be rough times... but if we worked hard enough, then MOST of the time, things should be fun and happy.
So that's day 4, and Gordy and I are both feeling quite a bit better about this whole situation than we were two days ago. Can't believe week 1 is almost finished! Even with the school work thrown in, things still feel very much like the school holidays... no idea just how long that feeling will last though! Just hope I can continue to keep going, and throw in the towel! Still very much early days yet... but I'm starting to think we may just find a way to get over any hurdles thrown in our direction along this path we've chosen. Only time will tell.
Night all *s*
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
The journey begins...
Well, we've finally done it! Taken the leap and pulled our 8 1/2 (can't forget the all-important "half" ya know! *g*) son, Gordon, out of school so that we can teach him at home. Although a scary idea at first, it was one that was becoming very clearly necessary, just to get him away from the bullies, and to give him a chance to be challenged like we feel he needs to be, and like he wasn't being at school. I think this was a very big factor in his rapidly fading interest in learning - a sad thing to see in ANY child, but especially in one as bright as Gordy who shows so much potential! The more we talked about it, the more excited I became about the idea, and the more ideas that started to flow about how and what to teach him. At least this way, we could teach him how to put what he'd learned into practice in the "real world"... something that I've noticed is not a very big part of what gets taught in schools. It's still very much a scary leap for me...and for him... but one I'm gladly making if it means a happier child and a better family relationship.
I don't know if it's just coincidence, or not, but I've noticed that since Gordy was told that he DEFINITELY would be homeschooled, he seems to have settled down in many ways, and become a happier boy in general. He's a lot more willing to be a "part of the team" at home now, plus doesn't make a fuss over small things as often, and is just generally happier. Here's hoping it stays this way!
With a rather bumpy start (the first couple of days being a bit unpleasant, although a lot of that was due to heat), we're slowly starting to find things that work and keep him interested. Like playing Hangman to work out words he's having trouble spelling; doing times tables while helping me hang out the washing; watching a documentary DVD and using parts of it to write a story (ok, that didn't start off too well, but once he figured out where to start, with a rather, errr, firm nudge in the right direction...lesson learnt!! Don't give him too broad an area to get ideas from, he gets lost too easily!); and of course, good old computer games. These are all grabbing his interest, yet teaching him at the same time... but more importantly for now, it's also showing him that learning CAN be fun!! Something he seems to have forgotten after being at school, and needs a lot of work to be reminded about it. He sounds so surprised when we do something small, easy...and FUN and then I tell him that was his (fill in the blank) lesson for the day. He can't seem to get over that learning can really be THAT easy and fun. Gotta love that look!!! LOL!!
The hardest thing he seems to be having trouble dealing with at the moment, is the loneliness he's feeling. After going from a class full of kids to bounce ideas off, play with, talk to, etc, to just being at home with me... well, it's quite a shock to the system, and this time, NOT a pleasant one. But we're working on fixing that. Trying to find other kids for him to get to know and befriend, plus keeping in touch with a couple of the friends he made in school. This, for me, is by far the biggest focus for this term as we ease into a new way of life. Finding him friends, and teaching him how to have fun learning. If that's all I accomplish this term, then for me, that's still plenty!
Well, time to sign out now and go get a bit of MY work done. I'll be trying to keep this up daily, even if some of the entries end up being very brief. Please feel free to leave comments, suggestions/tips/advice, etc. All is appreciated! *s* And thanks for sharing our journey into the unknown.
Have a good night all!!
I don't know if it's just coincidence, or not, but I've noticed that since Gordy was told that he DEFINITELY would be homeschooled, he seems to have settled down in many ways, and become a happier boy in general. He's a lot more willing to be a "part of the team" at home now, plus doesn't make a fuss over small things as often, and is just generally happier. Here's hoping it stays this way!
With a rather bumpy start (the first couple of days being a bit unpleasant, although a lot of that was due to heat), we're slowly starting to find things that work and keep him interested. Like playing Hangman to work out words he's having trouble spelling; doing times tables while helping me hang out the washing; watching a documentary DVD and using parts of it to write a story (ok, that didn't start off too well, but once he figured out where to start, with a rather, errr, firm nudge in the right direction...lesson learnt!! Don't give him too broad an area to get ideas from, he gets lost too easily!); and of course, good old computer games. These are all grabbing his interest, yet teaching him at the same time... but more importantly for now, it's also showing him that learning CAN be fun!! Something he seems to have forgotten after being at school, and needs a lot of work to be reminded about it. He sounds so surprised when we do something small, easy...and FUN and then I tell him that was his (fill in the blank) lesson for the day. He can't seem to get over that learning can really be THAT easy and fun. Gotta love that look!!! LOL!!
The hardest thing he seems to be having trouble dealing with at the moment, is the loneliness he's feeling. After going from a class full of kids to bounce ideas off, play with, talk to, etc, to just being at home with me... well, it's quite a shock to the system, and this time, NOT a pleasant one. But we're working on fixing that. Trying to find other kids for him to get to know and befriend, plus keeping in touch with a couple of the friends he made in school. This, for me, is by far the biggest focus for this term as we ease into a new way of life. Finding him friends, and teaching him how to have fun learning. If that's all I accomplish this term, then for me, that's still plenty!
Well, time to sign out now and go get a bit of MY work done. I'll be trying to keep this up daily, even if some of the entries end up being very brief. Please feel free to leave comments, suggestions/tips/advice, etc. All is appreciated! *s* And thanks for sharing our journey into the unknown.
Have a good night all!!
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