It definitely feels like it is nearly the end of term! Whilst I have much more energy at this point of term than I ever did when I was teaching in a secondary school there is so much going on outwith school that it is kind of difficult for both S and I to concentrate on work!
I remember reading about homeschool mums having major confidence blips in their abilities to teach - think I'm having one of those blips! Maths is fine - for a change!! The work we've been doing on addition and subtraction is definitely paying off. He is already a bit faster after just a week of work on it and I can see his confidence improving. Through a combination of games, puzzles and a worksheet S answered 47 addition/subtraction questions without any difficulty at all. Just 2 weeks ago there would have been lots of difficulties. So far we have focussed mainly on addition. Tomorrow we are going to start to focus on subtraction which he always finds harder so I'm hoping his confidence will improve there too! Reading has been fine. There is always more we could do but I'm trying to strike the balance between helping him to develop a love of books and reading and not kill the books by doing so much work on them! He's loving the series and they are really exciting so I'm treading carefully! Language work and story writing - that's where my confidence is not so hot! S would find this area of work his weakest and it seems to be taking me a long long time to work out which level he is at and where to pitch it. Today we did more work on story writing and I feel like I could be permanently correcting it! Obviously this would be soul destroying for S but it is quite hard to know where to start to develop anything!!!
Having nearly finished our term I do feel that our "de-schooling" process is nearly finished and that we are at a point where we are getting into a routine and working out how each other work (no doubt I'll write differently in a couple of days!). I am delighted that he is already beginning to work on his own and I am not having to sit beside him for him to do any work at all. I can see that we will need to be a bit more structured in the frequency that we do some topics - not because that's how school does it but because I can see that gaps could arise if we don't start to do that. He has picked up good habits from school (like weekly spelling) which have clearly gone into his memory and served him well.
One very positive aspect that I am noticing is that S is coping so much better with mistakes than he did 2 months ago! At the beginning he would go into meltdown if he made a mistake. Now, he self corrects or accepts me correcting. He is beginning to see the glass half full instead of half empty which for him is a MASSIVE change!
Monday, 12 December 2011
Friday, 9 December 2011
Panto time!
The end of our 7th week! I can't believe how quickly this term has gone!
This week has been another week of stops and starts. Yesterday Scotland was hit by the worst storm for a decade and all the local schools were closed! After the strike day of last week I had planned on teaching all the kids if that happened again. However, the excitement of an unexpected day off is something I remember very very clearly and couldn't bring myself to dampen that down. It's nearly the end of term and quite honestly one day will not do them any harm. Instead we had a day of crafts, baking and movies. It was a very chilled day. S didn't come anywhere near the crafts or the baking but had good fun with his siblings!
Today was panto day! When S left school the panto trip was all lined up so we felt that we really needed to take him so as not to miss out. Totally unplanned we ended up sitting a few rows in front of the whole school!! I wouldn't have chosen this as I don't think it was very fair for the twins to see us so near and not to be able to sit with us and we so much didn't want to cause a bother for the school. All that considered the panto was fantastic and the whole family loved it, wherever we were sitting. It was a long panto and by the time we left, did a wee message and had lunch it was time to pick up the other three from school!
I did try the more independant learning approach with S on the Wednesday. He did plenty of protesting but actually did a LOT of work! His addition was really pushed this week and although we lost 2 days of work I feel like he has made good progress here and I think he sees that too. I'm going to persevere with assigning him "book work" every day and then we will have "together sofa time" too. On Wednesday we sat and read about the Tudors - what children would have worn, what school was like, what punishments were given by the police and some other random facts. S's reading book this week is set in the 15th century. I wasn't very sure that S would enjoy this but I was very wrong and thanks to a great kids internet search engine the information was easy to find and ideal for kids. I think S will take a while to settle into the new approach and not to have me sitting beside him the whole time but actually I think it will cut out a lot of the frustration and teach him more to work and not faff around just so much! For me it's a bit strange! I felt a wee bit like I was slacking not sitting beside him or preparing things for him! However, that's when I remember that (a) I spend hours preparing for him at night when he's not there and (b) I am not a paid employee of a school! S is obviously working and getting through a curriculum, at our own pace and I need to stop feeling like I'm about to be appraised!!!! This is quite hard to do though. My ingrained attitude and training as a teacher and in education as a whole is obviously so alien to home educating and will take more than a couple of months to relax!!
I did have a complete wobble of confidence the other day when I misread one of his maths questions. I was completely thrown and it suddenly catapulted me back 20 years to my time in my math's classroom! I was permanently misreading questions then!! It did throw me but we worked through it and got it in the end - together! Hopefully we learnt a wee bit about problem solving thrown in there too!
End-of-term-itis is now beginning to set in. We have one more week of "formal" home school. The final week of term I'm going to plan a trip every day. Not big "educational" trips but a focus for each day to get us both out. Formal learning will wind down though - ready to gear up again in the new year. This was supposed to be a short entry! So - I'm off!
This week has been another week of stops and starts. Yesterday Scotland was hit by the worst storm for a decade and all the local schools were closed! After the strike day of last week I had planned on teaching all the kids if that happened again. However, the excitement of an unexpected day off is something I remember very very clearly and couldn't bring myself to dampen that down. It's nearly the end of term and quite honestly one day will not do them any harm. Instead we had a day of crafts, baking and movies. It was a very chilled day. S didn't come anywhere near the crafts or the baking but had good fun with his siblings!
Today was panto day! When S left school the panto trip was all lined up so we felt that we really needed to take him so as not to miss out. Totally unplanned we ended up sitting a few rows in front of the whole school!! I wouldn't have chosen this as I don't think it was very fair for the twins to see us so near and not to be able to sit with us and we so much didn't want to cause a bother for the school. All that considered the panto was fantastic and the whole family loved it, wherever we were sitting. It was a long panto and by the time we left, did a wee message and had lunch it was time to pick up the other three from school!
I did try the more independant learning approach with S on the Wednesday. He did plenty of protesting but actually did a LOT of work! His addition was really pushed this week and although we lost 2 days of work I feel like he has made good progress here and I think he sees that too. I'm going to persevere with assigning him "book work" every day and then we will have "together sofa time" too. On Wednesday we sat and read about the Tudors - what children would have worn, what school was like, what punishments were given by the police and some other random facts. S's reading book this week is set in the 15th century. I wasn't very sure that S would enjoy this but I was very wrong and thanks to a great kids internet search engine the information was easy to find and ideal for kids. I think S will take a while to settle into the new approach and not to have me sitting beside him the whole time but actually I think it will cut out a lot of the frustration and teach him more to work and not faff around just so much! For me it's a bit strange! I felt a wee bit like I was slacking not sitting beside him or preparing things for him! However, that's when I remember that (a) I spend hours preparing for him at night when he's not there and (b) I am not a paid employee of a school! S is obviously working and getting through a curriculum, at our own pace and I need to stop feeling like I'm about to be appraised!!!! This is quite hard to do though. My ingrained attitude and training as a teacher and in education as a whole is obviously so alien to home educating and will take more than a couple of months to relax!!
I did have a complete wobble of confidence the other day when I misread one of his maths questions. I was completely thrown and it suddenly catapulted me back 20 years to my time in my math's classroom! I was permanently misreading questions then!! It did throw me but we worked through it and got it in the end - together! Hopefully we learnt a wee bit about problem solving thrown in there too!
End-of-term-itis is now beginning to set in. We have one more week of "formal" home school. The final week of term I'm going to plan a trip every day. Not big "educational" trips but a focus for each day to get us both out. Formal learning will wind down though - ready to gear up again in the new year. This was supposed to be a short entry! So - I'm off!
Tuesday, 6 December 2011
Strikes + Snow = Struggles!
It's been a funny week since last I wrote. There is a lot going on outwith home schooling. Everything just now is transpiring against being particularly productive!
Last week, after having such a productive day on the Tuesday the other 3 kids were off school for the strikes. I had intended doing something nice with all the kids but due to other circumstances spent the whole day cleaning! The kids were quite happy. The weather wasn't great and they spent the day playing, colouring in or watching dvds. Thursday and Friday were hard going! S was totally out of the routine and not particularly co-operative at all. Thursday was hopeless. We did make it to the library and I persevered through the tasks I wanted him to get through but it was hard going! On Friday we got a bit more done but again was hard going particularly at the start. A good part of Friday was the home ed network sports afternoon. S LOVES this and so was a good "motivational tool" to get us through the morning's work!
On Friday I assessed him in all the maths we have done over the 6 weeks. He got 77%! I am really really pleased with him. Considering the score he got on his maths assessment when he first started I think this is really encouraging. The assessment I made up myself and it covered basic fractions, time (analogue-digital), place value and addition of 2 digit numbers with regrouping. It has shown me clear areas to work on as he fell at one particular area.
The sports afternoon was great again. This month there were only 3 families there but S had a ball! I saw a big difference in how he interacted with the others this month which was encouraging too. Normally S is not willing to accommodate other people's games and has to do everything his way. On Friday though he was really enjoying playing the other boy's games and had a real twinkle in his eye at the end which was fab!
This week has had it's struggles. There is a lot going on with the house which is a big distraction! I'm having to do wee jobs here there and everywhere. At the same time the first big snow of the season arrived yesterday. This morning our drive (which is on a big hill!) was lethal and we couldn't get the 3 others to school until 10:00! S didn't get down to work until really late! He did get through all the work I wanted him to but again it was a real struggle!
Each day I seem to have to either leave the room once or twice or have to shout before he settles down to work. I'm finding this really hard and prefer to leave the room as ultimately S is still my son and I don't think shouting is the right approach with him (although the occasional shout makes the point!) I really wish we would get to the point where that is unnecessary! I have discovered though that he is beginning to be able to work independently and that the time is maybe coming for me to set him his morning's tasks and for him to work his way through them. Speaking to other mums at the home ed network they do "bookwork" and then together time for reading on the sofa at the end of the morning. I can see this work with S with a bit of together time to play a warm up game at the beginning of the day too.
It continues to be such a learning curve! He definitely is learning things and that is great. We also see a big difference in S which is great. He is definitely more content within himself and life in general. He is sleeping better (today he broke his record and slept until 7:45am!!!!!), eating better, not stuttering and in general our wee S back to how he should be! That for me is the biggest marker to know that we must be doing something right!
Last week, after having such a productive day on the Tuesday the other 3 kids were off school for the strikes. I had intended doing something nice with all the kids but due to other circumstances spent the whole day cleaning! The kids were quite happy. The weather wasn't great and they spent the day playing, colouring in or watching dvds. Thursday and Friday were hard going! S was totally out of the routine and not particularly co-operative at all. Thursday was hopeless. We did make it to the library and I persevered through the tasks I wanted him to get through but it was hard going! On Friday we got a bit more done but again was hard going particularly at the start. A good part of Friday was the home ed network sports afternoon. S LOVES this and so was a good "motivational tool" to get us through the morning's work!
On Friday I assessed him in all the maths we have done over the 6 weeks. He got 77%! I am really really pleased with him. Considering the score he got on his maths assessment when he first started I think this is really encouraging. The assessment I made up myself and it covered basic fractions, time (analogue-digital), place value and addition of 2 digit numbers with regrouping. It has shown me clear areas to work on as he fell at one particular area.
The sports afternoon was great again. This month there were only 3 families there but S had a ball! I saw a big difference in how he interacted with the others this month which was encouraging too. Normally S is not willing to accommodate other people's games and has to do everything his way. On Friday though he was really enjoying playing the other boy's games and had a real twinkle in his eye at the end which was fab!
This week has had it's struggles. There is a lot going on with the house which is a big distraction! I'm having to do wee jobs here there and everywhere. At the same time the first big snow of the season arrived yesterday. This morning our drive (which is on a big hill!) was lethal and we couldn't get the 3 others to school until 10:00! S didn't get down to work until really late! He did get through all the work I wanted him to but again it was a real struggle!
Each day I seem to have to either leave the room once or twice or have to shout before he settles down to work. I'm finding this really hard and prefer to leave the room as ultimately S is still my son and I don't think shouting is the right approach with him (although the occasional shout makes the point!) I really wish we would get to the point where that is unnecessary! I have discovered though that he is beginning to be able to work independently and that the time is maybe coming for me to set him his morning's tasks and for him to work his way through them. Speaking to other mums at the home ed network they do "bookwork" and then together time for reading on the sofa at the end of the morning. I can see this work with S with a bit of together time to play a warm up game at the beginning of the day too.
It continues to be such a learning curve! He definitely is learning things and that is great. We also see a big difference in S which is great. He is definitely more content within himself and life in general. He is sleeping better (today he broke his record and slept until 7:45am!!!!!), eating better, not stuttering and in general our wee S back to how he should be! That for me is the biggest marker to know that we must be doing something right!
Tuesday, 29 November 2011
Phew! We are learning!
Today, I'm very relieved to say - was a good day! After a week of ups and downs today I felt was a bit of a breakthrough! In fact over the past couple of days I am beginning to see signs of change with S and the feeling that actually we've done a lot of learning and he's beginning to settle into a routine. A drastic change I realise from what I wrote the other day but then I suppose that's life with kids!
For the past couple of days we've begun the day with Social Skills board games. I thought S would not actually enjoy these much but I have been proved very wrong! This is actually really important for him and it has gone down really well as a way to start the day! We've had a lot of laughter and some serious thinking points too. The games are not so much about winning and losing than about completing them which is great as we don't start the day with strops about losing! They have been a great way to "warm up" for both of us! The danger is now that I get into the habit of doing them too much and killing off a good beginning activity! I think though now I need to think of more "game" type activities to start the day.
The past 2 days have had the normal reading and maths but we have finally done a bit more spelling and this time without protest! With both the penny finally dropped that I have been overloading him with "stuff". I have been laminating like it's going out of fashion and filling the desk with lovely plastic cards! Whilst it looks productive - for S I think it has been far far too much for him. When this finally dawned on me I literally halved what was in front of him and it was almost like watching a light being switched on in his head! He got the hang of what I was asking him to do straight away and we flew through the tasks! I need to remember this!
My final highlight (if I can speak in such terms) was when we went onto Education City. At the weekend I moved him up a level in maths. Whilst I know there are areas in the level he was on that he still had to learn we were at that funny in between bit that I was teaching him things beyond what the computer was offering him. Today he agreed to try out some of the activities on the harder level to do with time which I have been teaching him. The first activity he tried he got 100%. The following activity was more challenging and had 3 questions that we haven't really covered properly yet which he got wrong but he still got 70% so I was so so chuffed with him!
I think we were both quite proud of ourselves! We are being able to see now that we are progressing and whilst we have our moments we are having plenty happy times of learning and seeing the penny drop for both of us is lovely!
One last wee thing - I am so much appreciated folks encouraging me - by either commenting on the blog or just through chatting. Every single time a comment has been made it has come at a perfect time when I have felt a wee bit discouraged or flat about the whole thing. It has really made me think about how much I could be encouraging other people! Thank you to all who are encouraging me!
Right - off now to do some wrapping!
For the past couple of days we've begun the day with Social Skills board games. I thought S would not actually enjoy these much but I have been proved very wrong! This is actually really important for him and it has gone down really well as a way to start the day! We've had a lot of laughter and some serious thinking points too. The games are not so much about winning and losing than about completing them which is great as we don't start the day with strops about losing! They have been a great way to "warm up" for both of us! The danger is now that I get into the habit of doing them too much and killing off a good beginning activity! I think though now I need to think of more "game" type activities to start the day.
The past 2 days have had the normal reading and maths but we have finally done a bit more spelling and this time without protest! With both the penny finally dropped that I have been overloading him with "stuff". I have been laminating like it's going out of fashion and filling the desk with lovely plastic cards! Whilst it looks productive - for S I think it has been far far too much for him. When this finally dawned on me I literally halved what was in front of him and it was almost like watching a light being switched on in his head! He got the hang of what I was asking him to do straight away and we flew through the tasks! I need to remember this!
My final highlight (if I can speak in such terms) was when we went onto Education City. At the weekend I moved him up a level in maths. Whilst I know there are areas in the level he was on that he still had to learn we were at that funny in between bit that I was teaching him things beyond what the computer was offering him. Today he agreed to try out some of the activities on the harder level to do with time which I have been teaching him. The first activity he tried he got 100%. The following activity was more challenging and had 3 questions that we haven't really covered properly yet which he got wrong but he still got 70% so I was so so chuffed with him!
I think we were both quite proud of ourselves! We are being able to see now that we are progressing and whilst we have our moments we are having plenty happy times of learning and seeing the penny drop for both of us is lovely!
One last wee thing - I am so much appreciated folks encouraging me - by either commenting on the blog or just through chatting. Every single time a comment has been made it has come at a perfect time when I have felt a wee bit discouraged or flat about the whole thing. It has really made me think about how much I could be encouraging other people! Thank you to all who are encouraging me!
Right - off now to do some wrapping!
Friday, 25 November 2011
One month in...
Today was a milestone! Exactly one month ago today we started the home schooling journey. This journey has been an interesting one so far! You know that excitement you get when you are going on holiday and beginning your journey? Well, that is exactly how I felt (and I think S too) as we started a month ago. Like the clothes all neatly packed in the suitcase all fresh and ready to go all our resources were ready to go, jotters were new, books crisp and unused and there was a definite excitement about stepping into the unknown. Now, almost 5 weeks on we are definitely into the nitty gritty of the journey! The novelty is gone, the reality of the journey is sinking in and our sleeves are rolled up ready for hard work!
The last 2 days since I wrote have been good. After some frank talking and slight changes in approach along with a bit of fresh air and a change of scene, our productivity got back on track! Yesterday S's speech and language therapist came to visit. I was explaining to her some of the things I was struggling with when teaching S and some of his attitudes to his work that I found difficult (basically he doesn't want to learn like me!!) and she told me that that is exactly what she found when working one-to-one with him. That was SUCH an encouragement to me! To know that this was not just special "mum" treatment was a boost. I think, and have to remember, that every weekend or every time I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed with it all I discover that the things I am struggling with are totally normal and that S is behaving normally for what is expected of him!
Anyway, yesterday for our change of scene I took S to Tesco! Exciting trip I don't think but decided to incorporate a bit of SaLT (speech and language therapy) into the trip. S's knowledge of vocab is ropey so I gave him a shopping list made up of things I knew he would know along with some "new" items too. He was so good! We actually had quite a good shopping trip! We had good chat along the way about what some of the things were and picked up a couple of extra things that he asked about (NO idea what I do with a marrow!!!!) which I hadn't planned for. The change of scene did us a lot of good. Alongside that I took a more game like approach to maths and we looked at time and fractions. He did really well on his fractions - time is going to take a bit longer to sink in! S enjoyed the speech therapist's visit. He really likes her and although we didn't do formal therapy as such he enjoyed showing her all the nuts we'd chosen at Tesco and made up some games for us all to play!
Today has been fine too. I started working with him mid morning instead of first thing which actually worked well. He definitely is not good first thing but by mid morning he seemed happier to settle down. I have ordered a special game for the wii for him to use as "motivation" for him. If he manages to complete the tasks I'd like him to each day I'm going to let him play for an hour at the end of the day. He is liking this idea so far! The game was supposed to arrive today so S managed to complete his maths, reading, language and story writing task! Unfortunately the game didn't arrive!!
So, thankfully a better end to the day! Almost took the blog off this week. My husband and I were reading about a family who were home schooling and who were reported to the authorities for not doing any teaching with their child! Quite a thought! I hope through my blog folks are seeing the variety involved in teaching at home and the complexities of it too! I'm certainly learning how many opportunities for learning there are in every part of the day; in fact I sometimes have to stop myself from "teaching" the kids about things that are happening all the time and let them simply play, relax and be kids! Anyway, if the blog suddenly disappears you'll know I've had a wobble and decided to pull it off!!
The last 2 days since I wrote have been good. After some frank talking and slight changes in approach along with a bit of fresh air and a change of scene, our productivity got back on track! Yesterday S's speech and language therapist came to visit. I was explaining to her some of the things I was struggling with when teaching S and some of his attitudes to his work that I found difficult (basically he doesn't want to learn like me!!) and she told me that that is exactly what she found when working one-to-one with him. That was SUCH an encouragement to me! To know that this was not just special "mum" treatment was a boost. I think, and have to remember, that every weekend or every time I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed with it all I discover that the things I am struggling with are totally normal and that S is behaving normally for what is expected of him!
Anyway, yesterday for our change of scene I took S to Tesco! Exciting trip I don't think but decided to incorporate a bit of SaLT (speech and language therapy) into the trip. S's knowledge of vocab is ropey so I gave him a shopping list made up of things I knew he would know along with some "new" items too. He was so good! We actually had quite a good shopping trip! We had good chat along the way about what some of the things were and picked up a couple of extra things that he asked about (NO idea what I do with a marrow!!!!) which I hadn't planned for. The change of scene did us a lot of good. Alongside that I took a more game like approach to maths and we looked at time and fractions. He did really well on his fractions - time is going to take a bit longer to sink in! S enjoyed the speech therapist's visit. He really likes her and although we didn't do formal therapy as such he enjoyed showing her all the nuts we'd chosen at Tesco and made up some games for us all to play!
Today has been fine too. I started working with him mid morning instead of first thing which actually worked well. He definitely is not good first thing but by mid morning he seemed happier to settle down. I have ordered a special game for the wii for him to use as "motivation" for him. If he manages to complete the tasks I'd like him to each day I'm going to let him play for an hour at the end of the day. He is liking this idea so far! The game was supposed to arrive today so S managed to complete his maths, reading, language and story writing task! Unfortunately the game didn't arrive!!
So, thankfully a better end to the day! Almost took the blog off this week. My husband and I were reading about a family who were home schooling and who were reported to the authorities for not doing any teaching with their child! Quite a thought! I hope through my blog folks are seeing the variety involved in teaching at home and the complexities of it too! I'm certainly learning how many opportunities for learning there are in every part of the day; in fact I sometimes have to stop myself from "teaching" the kids about things that are happening all the time and let them simply play, relax and be kids! Anyway, if the blog suddenly disappears you'll know I've had a wobble and decided to pull it off!!
Wednesday, 23 November 2011
Mummy needs time out!
So today didn't get much better from yesterday! I think we are both suffering from too much of each other and lack of fresh air! We did get some work done today but the atmosphere was rubbish and there were many points I did consider just leaving it all and starting afresh! Tomorrow the speech and language therapist is coming to discuss how that will now work which will be good. I'm tempted to take him out and do something COMPLETELY different simply to take the pressure off both of us for a morning and refocus!
I'm not going to go into the details of today simply because I'm needing a break too. I got zumba for the wii for my birthday and have hardly used it so going to try to switch off and exert some energy! Really hoping that tomorrow will be more positive! Once I've bounced about for a while I'm going to try to do some reading of how I can try to improve some of the difficulties that we are now running into! Off to zumba! :0)
I'm not going to go into the details of today simply because I'm needing a break too. I got zumba for the wii for my birthday and have hardly used it so going to try to switch off and exert some energy! Really hoping that tomorrow will be more positive! Once I've bounced about for a while I'm going to try to do some reading of how I can try to improve some of the difficulties that we are now running into! Off to zumba! :0)
Tuesday, 22 November 2011
Time out!
Not one of our best days today! Either I have been to slack until now or my patience is disappearing but I found today really quite hard work and frustrating! As long as we are doing something active and non-desk-related S is quite happy. As soon as we mention writing or something that is not active or not involving a computer then the silly noises begin, the flopping around begins and the battle begins! Today I'd had enough! I gave him plenty of chances and then decided to put the first "Time out" into action.
I think it had an effect! I got a lot of wee jobs done in 8 minutes and S actually did sit in the one spot for the time and wasn't daft for that time! I wouldn't say he was a reformed character at the end but I think he realised that I was being serious about his behaviour and was not going to tolerate the messing around.
My big dilemma is that I'm finding it really really difficult to work out whether or not S is finding the work too hard or whether he really is playing me! When he understands what to do he sails through the tasks but getting over that initial hurdle of knowing whether or not he is grasping the concepts is a big problem. Today in the end he did work hard and we did a fair amount although I have scaled down quite significantly the maths when for the first time he actually did say, "Mum, this is far too hard!"
Today was maybe the first day that I did find myself thinking that I would be quite happy of a wee break and for someone else to teach him! One of my problems is getting him going to start with! The next problem is then maintaining the motivation from subject to subject and being productive. I am so aware that many homeschoolers would think I am trying to be too structured and should take the foot off the gas and relax but I am finding that is going completely against my nature and am scared that if I do that it will become far too easy to not actually teach S what he needs to learn and for him to fall academically behind his peers. I think I will check out some other home schoolers for some advice!
The positives - since home schooling I've had to cut out a lot of extra things that I do. As a result of that I've done more than half my Christmas shopping which is unheard of at this time of year! Because of that I'm going to try really hard to get myself sorted so that maybe for the first time ever I won't be running around like a headless chicken in the week running up to Christmas and be able to enjoy the excitement building with the kids.
I think it had an effect! I got a lot of wee jobs done in 8 minutes and S actually did sit in the one spot for the time and wasn't daft for that time! I wouldn't say he was a reformed character at the end but I think he realised that I was being serious about his behaviour and was not going to tolerate the messing around.
My big dilemma is that I'm finding it really really difficult to work out whether or not S is finding the work too hard or whether he really is playing me! When he understands what to do he sails through the tasks but getting over that initial hurdle of knowing whether or not he is grasping the concepts is a big problem. Today in the end he did work hard and we did a fair amount although I have scaled down quite significantly the maths when for the first time he actually did say, "Mum, this is far too hard!"
Today was maybe the first day that I did find myself thinking that I would be quite happy of a wee break and for someone else to teach him! One of my problems is getting him going to start with! The next problem is then maintaining the motivation from subject to subject and being productive. I am so aware that many homeschoolers would think I am trying to be too structured and should take the foot off the gas and relax but I am finding that is going completely against my nature and am scared that if I do that it will become far too easy to not actually teach S what he needs to learn and for him to fall academically behind his peers. I think I will check out some other home schoolers for some advice!
The positives - since home schooling I've had to cut out a lot of extra things that I do. As a result of that I've done more than half my Christmas shopping which is unheard of at this time of year! Because of that I'm going to try really hard to get myself sorted so that maybe for the first time ever I won't be running around like a headless chicken in the week running up to Christmas and be able to enjoy the excitement building with the kids.
Friday, 18 November 2011
The end of another week!
I can't believe that it is the end of our 4th week of home schooling! I had imagined that by this stage I might have been having major regrets or been totally exhausted and am so pleasantly surprised that I'm neither exhausted (well no more than usual!) and have absolutely no regrets with what we have done for S.
This week has been a different week in working with S. It has become more and more apparent that S is at his least motivated and productive first thing in the morning and that to sit and do structured work is daft! For the last 3 days we have started the day doing Education City on the computer which has been great to warm him up. Discovering "Live Maths" on Education City has been great! Today S sat for a whole hour doing "Live Maths" whilst I prepared the tea and cleared up a bit. At first I was feeling bad that we were not sitting "working" and then I realised how stupid a thought that was! Here was my son (who up til now has found mental arithmetic a real challenge) loving doing mental arithmetic and excitedly challenging and pushing himself to answer more and more questions! By the end of his session today he'd answered over 3 days 601 maths questions!! He has reached the top of the leader board today and is over the moon!
We did eventually sit down at the desk and started to try to do some of the tasks that I'd prepared. We read our daily Bible story which led to S asking where Jerusalem was. We got the atlas out and tracked down where Israel was, where we were and chatted about how long it would take to get there. We then looked at some of the other countries and ended up in the United Kingdom. From there S wanted to know where all the cities in Scotland were who had football teams so we toured the country! This led on very easily to getting the football stadium book that I gave S's dad for Christmas last year. We looked up all the football stadiums that S wanted to see. Rather than missing an opportunity we looked up the capacity for each stadium. One of the maths targets for this age is to be able to read and understand big numbers in the 10000 + category - so this was perfect!! S quickly enjoyed reading out the number of seats in each stadium and then we guessed whether or not the next stadium would have more or less seats in it than the one we were looking at! It was so good to see the benefit of being able to go completely off in a tangent and to have S learning without even realising it!
Following that we looked at days, months, 6 + 7x table revision, (we'd done our reading earlier) and we designed and made our own football strip on a plain t-shirt.
This week has been yet another learning curve for me. The claustrophia has not been so bad for me this week with plenty other things going on and to see that I am beginning to loosen up and not have the intense need to be sitting at a desk doing "work"! I still think it is important for S to learn that he does need to do tasks that are maybe not his first choice all the time and that it is important to sit still sometimes and concentrate but it has been great to begin to understand and see how to sneak learning opportunities into so much!
We did discuss discipline today and I have told S that as of Monday we will be having a yellow and red card system with "time out". Whilst we are learning a lot S complains a lot about doing the work and wastes a lot of time being daft! I find this quite hard to deal with and am losing patience with it. I am aware as well that we might not home school for S's entire education and we need him not to develop bad habits and be able to respect elders whoever they are! Don't think he's overly impressed with the thought of time outs but I think it will be a necessary deterrent! We'll see....
So I'm motivated to face the next week. I think we are at the stage of revising the maths we've done so far and I'm going to give him an assessment of sorts next Friday to see if he is retaining the learning. It's 5 school weeks until Christmas now. I've agreed with S that if he works hard for the next 4 weeks we will stop then. At school they don't seem to do very much structured learning and I think it is only fair to him to give him a bit less pressure then too!
We have folks staying this weekend which is lovely and which has been good to encourage me to stop thinking about things to do and to be prepared for Monday today and not have it to prepare tomorrow. I am beginning to appreciate my weekends so much again!
This week has been a different week in working with S. It has become more and more apparent that S is at his least motivated and productive first thing in the morning and that to sit and do structured work is daft! For the last 3 days we have started the day doing Education City on the computer which has been great to warm him up. Discovering "Live Maths" on Education City has been great! Today S sat for a whole hour doing "Live Maths" whilst I prepared the tea and cleared up a bit. At first I was feeling bad that we were not sitting "working" and then I realised how stupid a thought that was! Here was my son (who up til now has found mental arithmetic a real challenge) loving doing mental arithmetic and excitedly challenging and pushing himself to answer more and more questions! By the end of his session today he'd answered over 3 days 601 maths questions!! He has reached the top of the leader board today and is over the moon!
We did eventually sit down at the desk and started to try to do some of the tasks that I'd prepared. We read our daily Bible story which led to S asking where Jerusalem was. We got the atlas out and tracked down where Israel was, where we were and chatted about how long it would take to get there. We then looked at some of the other countries and ended up in the United Kingdom. From there S wanted to know where all the cities in Scotland were who had football teams so we toured the country! This led on very easily to getting the football stadium book that I gave S's dad for Christmas last year. We looked up all the football stadiums that S wanted to see. Rather than missing an opportunity we looked up the capacity for each stadium. One of the maths targets for this age is to be able to read and understand big numbers in the 10000 + category - so this was perfect!! S quickly enjoyed reading out the number of seats in each stadium and then we guessed whether or not the next stadium would have more or less seats in it than the one we were looking at! It was so good to see the benefit of being able to go completely off in a tangent and to have S learning without even realising it!
Following that we looked at days, months, 6 + 7x table revision, (we'd done our reading earlier) and we designed and made our own football strip on a plain t-shirt.
This week has been yet another learning curve for me. The claustrophia has not been so bad for me this week with plenty other things going on and to see that I am beginning to loosen up and not have the intense need to be sitting at a desk doing "work"! I still think it is important for S to learn that he does need to do tasks that are maybe not his first choice all the time and that it is important to sit still sometimes and concentrate but it has been great to begin to understand and see how to sneak learning opportunities into so much!
We did discuss discipline today and I have told S that as of Monday we will be having a yellow and red card system with "time out". Whilst we are learning a lot S complains a lot about doing the work and wastes a lot of time being daft! I find this quite hard to deal with and am losing patience with it. I am aware as well that we might not home school for S's entire education and we need him not to develop bad habits and be able to respect elders whoever they are! Don't think he's overly impressed with the thought of time outs but I think it will be a necessary deterrent! We'll see....
So I'm motivated to face the next week. I think we are at the stage of revising the maths we've done so far and I'm going to give him an assessment of sorts next Friday to see if he is retaining the learning. It's 5 school weeks until Christmas now. I've agreed with S that if he works hard for the next 4 weeks we will stop then. At school they don't seem to do very much structured learning and I think it is only fair to him to give him a bit less pressure then too!
We have folks staying this weekend which is lovely and which has been good to encourage me to stop thinking about things to do and to be prepared for Monday today and not have it to prepare tomorrow. I am beginning to appreciate my weekends so much again!
Wednesday, 16 November 2011
Home schooling's not a good thing for an ego trip!!!
Well according to S today I'm the bottom of the pile when it comes to good teachers as all his other teachers can teach 25 pupils but I have only got him! Just as well we are not doing this to boost my self esteem and to give my parenting skills a pat on the back!! If that was my motivation I think I would be failing every assessment and evaluation!
Fortunately though there are very other motivations going on just now and today was another day to confirm our decision to have S at home and a day full of ups and downs but a good amount of learning too.
The computer programme worked really well to start the day again. The interaction with the screen he really enjoys. As long as I pick something that will result in minimal if any failure, he loves it and seems to warm up. The desk work is still a hurdle to overcome but today I presented a couple of tasks and then got on with my own wee tasks alongside him. I'm really hoping we can get to the point where I can leave him to learn independently but for now he really needs me to be sitting next to him pretty much all the time.
This is going to be a short entry tonight. I'm not at all prepared for tomorrow! My house is a mess, my prep is not done and I'm trying hard to gradually get myself in gear for Christmas shopping!! Cards are going out the window I think this year. I have to somehow hold on to a little bit of sanity and I am barely fitting normal life into the 24 hours I have each day without trying to write Christmas cards and all that goes with it!! I hope folks understand!
Fortunately though there are very other motivations going on just now and today was another day to confirm our decision to have S at home and a day full of ups and downs but a good amount of learning too.
The computer programme worked really well to start the day again. The interaction with the screen he really enjoys. As long as I pick something that will result in minimal if any failure, he loves it and seems to warm up. The desk work is still a hurdle to overcome but today I presented a couple of tasks and then got on with my own wee tasks alongside him. I'm really hoping we can get to the point where I can leave him to learn independently but for now he really needs me to be sitting next to him pretty much all the time.
This is going to be a short entry tonight. I'm not at all prepared for tomorrow! My house is a mess, my prep is not done and I'm trying hard to gradually get myself in gear for Christmas shopping!! Cards are going out the window I think this year. I have to somehow hold on to a little bit of sanity and I am barely fitting normal life into the 24 hours I have each day without trying to write Christmas cards and all that goes with it!! I hope folks understand!
Tuesday, 15 November 2011
A Good Day!
I made it out tonight so feel a bit like a new person - having had grown up conversation outwith the four walls of our house! That combined with a trip to the park with the 4 kids after school has made it a lovely day.
On Saturday I asked S what he wanted to learn in maths this week and he requested the 6 and 7 times table so today I was all prepared! Unfortunately S's enthusiasm wasn't quite so hot! I'm definitely picking up that S is not a morning person and takes a good while to warm up! Rather than have a huge battle to begin the day I suggested we started with Education City - a computer programme we are using which he loves! This went down really well. Thankfully I'm getting to know it pretty well and directed him to a game on "time" that I knew he would manage and would be good revision for what we covered last week. He then wanted to do more so I moved him onto a game on multiples. He still wanted to do more so I picked what i thought would be a really basic game on vowels and consonants to discover that he didn't know the difference! I'm sure he would have been taught this but think it has been lost with his memory difficulties! Whatever - he loved the games and it certainly worked to warm him up.
We ended up having a really productive morning with reading, language work, maths (6x table sorted!) and then science where we made a volcanic eruption (or "interruption" as he insisted in calling it!). I wouldn't say S was on the most co-operative form but we actually got through a lot of learning and were able to stop at lunchtime which I am really pleased about!
So hopefully tomorrow will be another positive entry! It would be so good to think we were beginning to settle into a routine. I certainly don't feel quite as exhausted just now and am speeding up in my preparation and more aware of what is and isn't going to work with him without having to trawl through resources for hours! I am aware there are some big big gaps but have got some ideas tonight from a teaching friend and am inspired to put some into action!
Off to watch some Lost before calling it a day!
On Saturday I asked S what he wanted to learn in maths this week and he requested the 6 and 7 times table so today I was all prepared! Unfortunately S's enthusiasm wasn't quite so hot! I'm definitely picking up that S is not a morning person and takes a good while to warm up! Rather than have a huge battle to begin the day I suggested we started with Education City - a computer programme we are using which he loves! This went down really well. Thankfully I'm getting to know it pretty well and directed him to a game on "time" that I knew he would manage and would be good revision for what we covered last week. He then wanted to do more so I moved him onto a game on multiples. He still wanted to do more so I picked what i thought would be a really basic game on vowels and consonants to discover that he didn't know the difference! I'm sure he would have been taught this but think it has been lost with his memory difficulties! Whatever - he loved the games and it certainly worked to warm him up.
We ended up having a really productive morning with reading, language work, maths (6x table sorted!) and then science where we made a volcanic eruption (or "interruption" as he insisted in calling it!). I wouldn't say S was on the most co-operative form but we actually got through a lot of learning and were able to stop at lunchtime which I am really pleased about!
So hopefully tomorrow will be another positive entry! It would be so good to think we were beginning to settle into a routine. I certainly don't feel quite as exhausted just now and am speeding up in my preparation and more aware of what is and isn't going to work with him without having to trawl through resources for hours! I am aware there are some big big gaps but have got some ideas tonight from a teaching friend and am inspired to put some into action!
Off to watch some Lost before calling it a day!
Monday, 14 November 2011
Days off!
It has been such an encouragement to hear folks speaking about the blog! It helps me to be accountable if nothing else and it's so good to hear other people's ideas and take on what we are doing! Don't know how tricky it is to sign up to be a "follower" but if anyone can crack that then let me know as it seems to be a bit difficult.
Not much to write today as S has not been so well this weekend. All the kids have been attacked by their first winter cold which has been accompanied by a sore tummy. I reckoned it wasn't even worth trying to teach S anything today so we had a "sick day". I have to admit that for probably the first time since having the 4 kids I really enjoyed today's "sick day"! It happily coincided with my husband's day off which meant I could get little jobs done which included posting various things around the town too. Not having to phone people to say where S was was so nice and he had a really good chance to rest.
Over the weekend we chatted a wee bit though and S has decided he would like to learn the 6 and 7 times table this week so that's great! So I have spent tonight printing off numbers, number squares and multiplication tables, laminating and cutting and am all set! On Saturday I sat and wrote out the maths curriculum for his level to get it into my head once and for all. Interestingly enough there were several things I didn't have a clue about. What for example is a Venn diagram, a carol diagram, the difference between a pictograph and pictogram, an R90 (and it's not an angle).... ? I've done a wee survey of everyone who has come into the house over the weekend and not one person has been able to tell me what they all are - including our eldest who just completed that level of maths last year!!! So - I'm not going to lose too much sleep over not teaching the names and labels of things! Obviously I will find out what they all are and will teach the concepts but all the technical names that were scaring me somewhat I'm going to not be so phased about!!
So, we're all set now for another week. After last week's experiments S and I have agreed that we will try to have "desk time" up until snack time where we will get things like reading, language work and maths done and then after that we will do "active learning" which are all the things he loves! I've had a good few days off now and feel motivated again to get back into the preparation and the work with him. Let's hope he is too!
Not much to write today as S has not been so well this weekend. All the kids have been attacked by their first winter cold which has been accompanied by a sore tummy. I reckoned it wasn't even worth trying to teach S anything today so we had a "sick day". I have to admit that for probably the first time since having the 4 kids I really enjoyed today's "sick day"! It happily coincided with my husband's day off which meant I could get little jobs done which included posting various things around the town too. Not having to phone people to say where S was was so nice and he had a really good chance to rest.
Over the weekend we chatted a wee bit though and S has decided he would like to learn the 6 and 7 times table this week so that's great! So I have spent tonight printing off numbers, number squares and multiplication tables, laminating and cutting and am all set! On Saturday I sat and wrote out the maths curriculum for his level to get it into my head once and for all. Interestingly enough there were several things I didn't have a clue about. What for example is a Venn diagram, a carol diagram, the difference between a pictograph and pictogram, an R90 (and it's not an angle).... ? I've done a wee survey of everyone who has come into the house over the weekend and not one person has been able to tell me what they all are - including our eldest who just completed that level of maths last year!!! So - I'm not going to lose too much sleep over not teaching the names and labels of things! Obviously I will find out what they all are and will teach the concepts but all the technical names that were scaring me somewhat I'm going to not be so phased about!!
So, we're all set now for another week. After last week's experiments S and I have agreed that we will try to have "desk time" up until snack time where we will get things like reading, language work and maths done and then after that we will do "active learning" which are all the things he loves! I've had a good few days off now and feel motivated again to get back into the preparation and the work with him. Let's hope he is too!
Thursday, 10 November 2011
Great day! So excited!
Well today was fab! After the frustrations of yesterday the contrast couldn't have been bigger! It could have been quite different. S's big brother was off school today. Both the girls have been off and that's been ok. Ultimately what they watch on tv is not really going to be a problem for S to miss as it's way to "girlie" for him. With his brother though it could have been very different. S adores his brother and likes watching, doing, thinking about anything he does! It was great though! S is clearly getting used to home school and is understanding that even with other people at home there is an expectation that he will be learning. Phew!
Having abandoned my prep last night I felt really quite apprehensive this morning when we sat down at the desk! One of my books on home schooling suggested letting the child along with you choose the topics that you look at so I gave it a go! S chose ICT, then I chose maths, S chose topic work and I chose library and then S chose music. We've agreed we will try to go for 5 things a day.
ICT just now is teaching S to touch type. I still reckon that was the most useful thing I learnt at school! If he could get the hang of that now that would be amazing. I picked up a "Teach yourself touch typing" CD Rom last week and so we loaded it up and registered him. It was great! He did the first lesson and then went on to play one of the typing games. He loved it!
Following that we did maths. He moaned! He complained at how hard he found maths and the addition and started showing signs that he'd forgotten some of the things we'd done already! So, we went outside and did our counting up and down the garden path. He loved it! He ran up and down the path, happily filling in the path. He wanted me with him all the time but hey - if I've a problem with that then what am I doing!!!! From that we went inside and looked at "time" again using the clocks I'd made and stuck on the back of the door! Again as soon as he saw the pencil and paper he made moves to go loopy so we abandoned them and did everything with our hands and movement. And so the day went on!
We went to the church coffee morning for coffee where S politely spoke to some of the ladies and we also had a trip to the local library (which to my shame I'd never been in!!). For topic work we read "The Frog Prince" which he thoroughly enjoyed. I read it to him but we discussed it too (sneaking in some reading comprehension too!!)
The highlight of my day was overhearing S telling his big brother all about what he'd learned about clocks! He proceeded to explain all the different numbers! I was so chuffed! He was so chuffed!
So I've done nothing for tomorrow! We will learn together! S has transformed over these past 3 weeks. These past 2 days alone I've learnt how active S needs to be to learn. I'm quashing all the preconceptions I have about education. We all talk about how good "active learning" is and it is such a big buzz word in education just now but I wonder just how many people are like me and who deep down think that the REAL learning happens sitting at a desk with a book, a pen and paper. S is teaching me just now how wrong I am and how different we all are! S will take me way beyond my comfort zone and I am excited to see that! The buzz I get from seeing him understanding new concepts and learning things whilst having fun is worth more than any salary or money I could be getting working somewhere else!
So after today - Bring on tomorrow!!
Having abandoned my prep last night I felt really quite apprehensive this morning when we sat down at the desk! One of my books on home schooling suggested letting the child along with you choose the topics that you look at so I gave it a go! S chose ICT, then I chose maths, S chose topic work and I chose library and then S chose music. We've agreed we will try to go for 5 things a day.
ICT just now is teaching S to touch type. I still reckon that was the most useful thing I learnt at school! If he could get the hang of that now that would be amazing. I picked up a "Teach yourself touch typing" CD Rom last week and so we loaded it up and registered him. It was great! He did the first lesson and then went on to play one of the typing games. He loved it!
Following that we did maths. He moaned! He complained at how hard he found maths and the addition and started showing signs that he'd forgotten some of the things we'd done already! So, we went outside and did our counting up and down the garden path. He loved it! He ran up and down the path, happily filling in the path. He wanted me with him all the time but hey - if I've a problem with that then what am I doing!!!! From that we went inside and looked at "time" again using the clocks I'd made and stuck on the back of the door! Again as soon as he saw the pencil and paper he made moves to go loopy so we abandoned them and did everything with our hands and movement. And so the day went on!
We went to the church coffee morning for coffee where S politely spoke to some of the ladies and we also had a trip to the local library (which to my shame I'd never been in!!). For topic work we read "The Frog Prince" which he thoroughly enjoyed. I read it to him but we discussed it too (sneaking in some reading comprehension too!!)
The highlight of my day was overhearing S telling his big brother all about what he'd learned about clocks! He proceeded to explain all the different numbers! I was so chuffed! He was so chuffed!
So I've done nothing for tomorrow! We will learn together! S has transformed over these past 3 weeks. These past 2 days alone I've learnt how active S needs to be to learn. I'm quashing all the preconceptions I have about education. We all talk about how good "active learning" is and it is such a big buzz word in education just now but I wonder just how many people are like me and who deep down think that the REAL learning happens sitting at a desk with a book, a pen and paper. S is teaching me just now how wrong I am and how different we all are! S will take me way beyond my comfort zone and I am excited to see that! The buzz I get from seeing him understanding new concepts and learning things whilst having fun is worth more than any salary or money I could be getting working somewhere else!
So after today - Bring on tomorrow!!
Wednesday, 9 November 2011
Aaargh!
What a frustrating day! S was not in the mood! I got frustrated! He got frustrated!
We had a big chat (another one!) and tonight S told me he is finding the work too hard. So, I need to take that on board. Tonight I was about to sit down to another night of prep when I realised that this is ridiculous really! The whole point of whole schooling is to try to take the pressure off S not pile it onto the child! My targets for each day are really MY targets for my pride and to know that he's doing something. I think it is quite obvious he is learning. We've done heaps. But if he is playing up because it is too hard and stressing him out then that's useless! He could be at school to have that going on!
So tomorrow I'm going to try very hard to loosen my control freak tendencies and see what S thinks we should do. I'm going to keep our maths in as I've planned as we are learning to tell the time this week and I think he's doing really well. I'd really like him not to lose the idea on this just now. After maths though - it's all over to him! We need to go to the supermarket to get some food so I'll maybe try and sneak some speech and language therapy into that visit and maybe he can write on a clock what time we get there and leave??? (Is that too contrived??)
Let's see what happens...
We had a big chat (another one!) and tonight S told me he is finding the work too hard. So, I need to take that on board. Tonight I was about to sit down to another night of prep when I realised that this is ridiculous really! The whole point of whole schooling is to try to take the pressure off S not pile it onto the child! My targets for each day are really MY targets for my pride and to know that he's doing something. I think it is quite obvious he is learning. We've done heaps. But if he is playing up because it is too hard and stressing him out then that's useless! He could be at school to have that going on!
So tomorrow I'm going to try very hard to loosen my control freak tendencies and see what S thinks we should do. I'm going to keep our maths in as I've planned as we are learning to tell the time this week and I think he's doing really well. I'd really like him not to lose the idea on this just now. After maths though - it's all over to him! We need to go to the supermarket to get some food so I'll maybe try and sneak some speech and language therapy into that visit and maybe he can write on a clock what time we get there and leave??? (Is that too contrived??)
Let's see what happens...
Monday, 7 November 2011
That Sunday night feeling!
For the first time in years I got that Sunday night feeling! You know that feeling? When the freedom of a weekend of no alarms and relatively little structure is at an end and responsibilities are back! That liberating feeling of the benefits of home schooling from Friday afternoon with the other home schooling families has faded and the reality that I have to teach S is back!
Today was definitely at a slower pace and went well. S's dad was on his day off so took him out first thing for some messages and then later in the morning did some P.E with him (football in the garden!). We punctuated this in the house with some spelling, reading and maths but took our maths outside today to do some addition and subtraction up and down the garden path! I had planned to do something artistic and crafty in the afternoon but the morning's maths session flagged up quite a difficulty with telling the time so I spent the time making clocks!!
Not to keep complaining about it but I am so tired once again!! I am so hopeful that soon I will be able to prepare for S quickly, tidy my house quickly and manage to either properly relax or maybe catch up with some other people! Just now I have a pile of books waiting to be read, thank you letters waiting to be addressed and posted (story of my life really!!), various piles of stuff to be sorted in the house and people to get in touch with! My eyes sting and my head is buzzing in a very busy type of a way! It reminds me of an illustration given when I started teacher training - of a person in the sea in a rubber ring; looking quite calm on the outside but under the water the person's legs are going ten to the dozen in order to keep afloat!
However in the middle of the day I had some real calming moments. S is definitely beginning to become more content within himself. The pressure is disappearing of having to go to school each day and survive the demands of the classroom and the playground. That contentment is lovely to see. I also put some music on today and listened twice to "Amazing Grace". It is hard not to feel calm hearing that song! It is stunning! It puts everything into perspective for me even when I am so tired; when things can look very out of perspective!
Today was definitely at a slower pace and went well. S's dad was on his day off so took him out first thing for some messages and then later in the morning did some P.E with him (football in the garden!). We punctuated this in the house with some spelling, reading and maths but took our maths outside today to do some addition and subtraction up and down the garden path! I had planned to do something artistic and crafty in the afternoon but the morning's maths session flagged up quite a difficulty with telling the time so I spent the time making clocks!!
Not to keep complaining about it but I am so tired once again!! I am so hopeful that soon I will be able to prepare for S quickly, tidy my house quickly and manage to either properly relax or maybe catch up with some other people! Just now I have a pile of books waiting to be read, thank you letters waiting to be addressed and posted (story of my life really!!), various piles of stuff to be sorted in the house and people to get in touch with! My eyes sting and my head is buzzing in a very busy type of a way! It reminds me of an illustration given when I started teacher training - of a person in the sea in a rubber ring; looking quite calm on the outside but under the water the person's legs are going ten to the dozen in order to keep afloat!
However in the middle of the day I had some real calming moments. S is definitely beginning to become more content within himself. The pressure is disappearing of having to go to school each day and survive the demands of the classroom and the playground. That contentment is lovely to see. I also put some music on today and listened twice to "Amazing Grace". It is hard not to feel calm hearing that song! It is stunning! It puts everything into perspective for me even when I am so tired; when things can look very out of perspective!
Friday, 4 November 2011
Mummy's learning curve!
We were so excited about today! Another trip and a chance to meet some new friends. The plan had been to do just a wee bit of work before heading up to the Burrell Collection for our workshop on Ancient Egypt with the home school network. So, S was working away, I did the dishes and cleared up from breakfast and things were going great! I decided to check the computer to confirm the time we were to meet assuming it was just before 10:30. However, it was 10:00 it started with the families to meet 10 minutes earlier. So, in a slight panic we dropped everything, grabbed the packed lunch and bombed out the door. The traffic was not on our side but we made it into the Burrell around 10:10am.
The assistants at the Burrell were very twitchy when we arrived and quickly told us the museum was closed today until 11 o'clock. I told them what we were there for and they insisted no-one was there. They then checked with their organiser to see if there was anything written in for the home schooling network and returned quickly to tell me it was YESTERDAY!!!!!!!
So - I was left to break the news to my not particularly flexible, very excited son that I had big time goofed! Not only were we 10 minutes late but a whole 24 hours on top of that!
So, not the best start! The plan had been to go and get S new trainers after the workshop and so I decided we'd do this straight away. I knew the home school network were doing their monthly games afternoon today and because S didn't have trainers that were fit for anybody's eyes I had decided we wouldn't be going until he had suitable footwear. However, he was so gutted not to meet new friends at the museum I offered him the chance to go there. Personally, after mucking the days up, the last thing I felt I had the nerve to do was to turn up at a sports afternoon but this was one of those occasions when I felt I had to swallow my pride and really put S's best interests in front of my own!
So, we trainer shopped (and sneaked in a handbag shop too - thanks to my sister's lovely birthday voucher to me! :0) ) and then headed home again where I could check my e-mail and actually get to the right thing, at the right place, on time!
We made it to the sports afternoon and it was great! It was so good to meet other mums who were doing the same thing (although who had been at it for so much longer than me!!) and S had a fantastic time! We met lovely mums and lovely kids who all made us feel so welcome and so part of the group! S had a great time playing football and has been so excited to make friends that it completed our week so perfectly!
Meeting the mums was really good for me. I am so aware I am still very much in the "teacher" mentality of being very structured with S and setting quite high targets for myself and S and really treating home schooling like school at home. Meeting these mums was really refreshing to see how positive they all were about education and how laid back they were - and seeing how happy their kids were! Whilst I don't think S is the sort of child who could cope with a very relaxed home schooling experience; he needs a certain element of routine that he knows and can learn - I definitely feel that home schooling will become more positive and more enjoyable if I stop putting so much pressure on myself and then by default on S! This combined with coming back from our October family holiday in Skye, where life is at such a different pace, has really made me question why we put so much pressure on ourselves and our lifestyles! Why do we do it? Why do we work ourselves into the ground? Why do we feel we need to reach perfection at every level (speaking for myself anyway!!) Every night since we started I have been preparing until after 11 at night and fitting in normal household chores and giving time to the other children. S has had the most successful learning days when we have done fewer tasks and the pressure has been off him! I don't regret anything we have done these past couple of weeks but I can so see how things will change quite a lot over the next few weeks. More and more we see the benefit of having S at home and I want us to enjoy this experience and not feel that we are "ticking the boxes" to appease other people. That is so not what it is all about and if anything that is what I learnt today. I want a happy child who is content within himself!
The assistants at the Burrell were very twitchy when we arrived and quickly told us the museum was closed today until 11 o'clock. I told them what we were there for and they insisted no-one was there. They then checked with their organiser to see if there was anything written in for the home schooling network and returned quickly to tell me it was YESTERDAY!!!!!!!
So - I was left to break the news to my not particularly flexible, very excited son that I had big time goofed! Not only were we 10 minutes late but a whole 24 hours on top of that!
So, not the best start! The plan had been to go and get S new trainers after the workshop and so I decided we'd do this straight away. I knew the home school network were doing their monthly games afternoon today and because S didn't have trainers that were fit for anybody's eyes I had decided we wouldn't be going until he had suitable footwear. However, he was so gutted not to meet new friends at the museum I offered him the chance to go there. Personally, after mucking the days up, the last thing I felt I had the nerve to do was to turn up at a sports afternoon but this was one of those occasions when I felt I had to swallow my pride and really put S's best interests in front of my own!
So, we trainer shopped (and sneaked in a handbag shop too - thanks to my sister's lovely birthday voucher to me! :0) ) and then headed home again where I could check my e-mail and actually get to the right thing, at the right place, on time!
We made it to the sports afternoon and it was great! It was so good to meet other mums who were doing the same thing (although who had been at it for so much longer than me!!) and S had a fantastic time! We met lovely mums and lovely kids who all made us feel so welcome and so part of the group! S had a great time playing football and has been so excited to make friends that it completed our week so perfectly!
Meeting the mums was really good for me. I am so aware I am still very much in the "teacher" mentality of being very structured with S and setting quite high targets for myself and S and really treating home schooling like school at home. Meeting these mums was really refreshing to see how positive they all were about education and how laid back they were - and seeing how happy their kids were! Whilst I don't think S is the sort of child who could cope with a very relaxed home schooling experience; he needs a certain element of routine that he knows and can learn - I definitely feel that home schooling will become more positive and more enjoyable if I stop putting so much pressure on myself and then by default on S! This combined with coming back from our October family holiday in Skye, where life is at such a different pace, has really made me question why we put so much pressure on ourselves and our lifestyles! Why do we do it? Why do we work ourselves into the ground? Why do we feel we need to reach perfection at every level (speaking for myself anyway!!) Every night since we started I have been preparing until after 11 at night and fitting in normal household chores and giving time to the other children. S has had the most successful learning days when we have done fewer tasks and the pressure has been off him! I don't regret anything we have done these past couple of weeks but I can so see how things will change quite a lot over the next few weeks. More and more we see the benefit of having S at home and I want us to enjoy this experience and not feel that we are "ticking the boxes" to appease other people. That is so not what it is all about and if anything that is what I learnt today. I want a happy child who is content within himself!
Thursday, 3 November 2011
Day 8
Was trying to think of a title to sum up today and my brain seems to have stopped functionning! For the first time since we started I am finished preparing for tomorrow, have been to Tweenagers, have spoken to my sister on the phone and feel like I've had a bit of an evening! That is mainly thanks to the fact that tomorrow is our first trip with the local home schooling network and so there is not much time to do anything at home!
The last couple of days have gone quite well I think. Monday and Tuesday were hard days and S does continue to push the boundaries but I hope is beginning to work out who really pulls the strings! I got his school work home yesterday which was actually a real encouragement. It showed me that I'm pretty much doing the right things according to how much and what he was doing at school and that the effort he is giving me is probably the same as at school (although I guarantee the attitude was not so evident at school!). At nearly the end of another week I think we have achieved a fair bit of learning (and here comes the boring bit!):
In maths he's learnt about "place value" - about units, tens and hundreds. (He had done this at school but we have revised and extended this learning).
In reading he's learnt that stories have beginning, middles and ends. We've looked at "wow" words and have looked at the characters.
In spelling we've sussed "ch" and "sh" words.
In science we've learnt that oil and water don't mix.
In language work we've worked on identifying when question marks and full stops are needed.
In topic work we've learnt more about poisonous frogs and how and what a frog eats.
We've started to learn the basics of touch typing, we've started looking at using a compass, we've finished another reading book, we've looked at newspapers and he's done football training!
I think that's this week summed up really.
Going on his reluctance to write I scribed for him at story writing time. He had a great time coming up with a storyline and frantically drew pictures to go with the story. It was lovely seeing him so animated and for the first time I had to stop the activity as I needed a break more than him! He has hated story writing, so hopefully today has been a positive step.
I've adapted the reward system. Up until now he has been given a smiley face if he completes the activity. Now however I am rating each activity according to how difficult I think it is. He can now get the maximum of 3 smiley faces per activity. This seemed to have an immediate result as his work was neater from the start (he earns a smile for neatness - something I don't think he has bothered about since we started!) and in his competitive spirit didn't want to let any smiles away! Once he reaches 30 smiles he gets to choose something (very small treats) from the "treasure chest". We'll see if this lasts...
Socially things are hard just now! S (for lots of reasons) struggles in this area and since being at home more seems to be struggling even more despite the fact we are still frequently with lots of other children/people and he has 3 siblings at home. I am finding the intensity of home schooling quite a different pressure from being at home with pre-schoolers all the time. This weekend I don't feel nearly as caged as I did last weekend but I feel very much that I need a bit of personal space to have adult thinking time. Thankfully my husband is very aware of the pressures that home schooling is placing on me and understands that I will need a bit of escape time each week. I hate feeling that I'm needing away from the kids (particularly when I don't see 3 of them for most of the day) but I think I make a much better mum when I get a little bit of space!
So - hopefully tomorrow will go well and we will meet some folks that S clicks with and is happy to be with! Hopefully I will too!
The last couple of days have gone quite well I think. Monday and Tuesday were hard days and S does continue to push the boundaries but I hope is beginning to work out who really pulls the strings! I got his school work home yesterday which was actually a real encouragement. It showed me that I'm pretty much doing the right things according to how much and what he was doing at school and that the effort he is giving me is probably the same as at school (although I guarantee the attitude was not so evident at school!). At nearly the end of another week I think we have achieved a fair bit of learning (and here comes the boring bit!):
In maths he's learnt about "place value" - about units, tens and hundreds. (He had done this at school but we have revised and extended this learning).
In reading he's learnt that stories have beginning, middles and ends. We've looked at "wow" words and have looked at the characters.
In spelling we've sussed "ch" and "sh" words.
In science we've learnt that oil and water don't mix.
In language work we've worked on identifying when question marks and full stops are needed.
In topic work we've learnt more about poisonous frogs and how and what a frog eats.
We've started to learn the basics of touch typing, we've started looking at using a compass, we've finished another reading book, we've looked at newspapers and he's done football training!
I think that's this week summed up really.
Going on his reluctance to write I scribed for him at story writing time. He had a great time coming up with a storyline and frantically drew pictures to go with the story. It was lovely seeing him so animated and for the first time I had to stop the activity as I needed a break more than him! He has hated story writing, so hopefully today has been a positive step.
I've adapted the reward system. Up until now he has been given a smiley face if he completes the activity. Now however I am rating each activity according to how difficult I think it is. He can now get the maximum of 3 smiley faces per activity. This seemed to have an immediate result as his work was neater from the start (he earns a smile for neatness - something I don't think he has bothered about since we started!) and in his competitive spirit didn't want to let any smiles away! Once he reaches 30 smiles he gets to choose something (very small treats) from the "treasure chest". We'll see if this lasts...
Socially things are hard just now! S (for lots of reasons) struggles in this area and since being at home more seems to be struggling even more despite the fact we are still frequently with lots of other children/people and he has 3 siblings at home. I am finding the intensity of home schooling quite a different pressure from being at home with pre-schoolers all the time. This weekend I don't feel nearly as caged as I did last weekend but I feel very much that I need a bit of personal space to have adult thinking time. Thankfully my husband is very aware of the pressures that home schooling is placing on me and understands that I will need a bit of escape time each week. I hate feeling that I'm needing away from the kids (particularly when I don't see 3 of them for most of the day) but I think I make a much better mum when I get a little bit of space!
So - hopefully tomorrow will go well and we will meet some folks that S clicks with and is happy to be with! Hopefully I will too!
Tuesday, 1 November 2011
No permission slips needed!
My days just now seem to swing from highs to lows! I'm writing this early tonight so that perhaps I can get a night off as I so badly need to sit and think of nothing at all for a little while! To get 5 minutes peace to write this could be wishful thinking with the 4 kids still well and truly up and about and tired thrown into the bargain!
Home schooling today was fun after an initial stand off. S is hating spelling! He is hating writing! The beginning of the day seemed to be going in the same direction as yesterday went which was a bit depressing! So, after we'd done Click'N'Kids, reading and our treasure hunt with the compass we downed tools and went for a walk. It was a rare beautiful morning here and so I reckoned the sunshine would do us some good! We walked into the town and back, running some of the way (by S's request!) and got a good bit of fresh air! It helped so much! We had a wee chat when we got back about our attitude to the next piece of work and got our heads down and got on with it!
After our walk S completed a maths assessment (VERY interesting for me as a parent to see exactly where he is in maths in comparison to what officially he is supposed to be at!) and had great fun doing a science experiment to find out whether or not oil and water mix. This took us nicely up to lunch.
After lunch I did a wee bit of prep while he had some time to himself and then he came outside to help me clear some leaves before a quick game of football! Both the walk and the football game were a lovely reminder to me of the flexibility of home schooling. We can do that! If we need fresh air - we take it! If we want to go out - we go out! No consent forms, no permission slips, no counting children to check they are all there! It was great! We both benefitted from these breaks - a big learning curve! On the way to collect the other 3 we chatted about what we'd been doing today and even did some spelling whilst walking! He learnt to spell "oi" words! I don't think you'll find that strategy of spelling words in many textbooks!
I do have lots to prepare AGAIN now that I'm a bit clearer on where he is with maths but for the first time since we started I feel like there is light at the end of the tunnel and I should be able to have some more time back for other things. Tonight I'm going to try to nail our maths programme.
From 3-9pm is hard work with 4 kids and to throw home schooling into the pot is definitely adding to exhaustion levels! To not get 5 minutes without constant interaction with children I find exhausting and today I was seriously craving a dark room with some soothing piano music! Anyway, I think all in all I will say that today was a useful day if nothing else! I don't think S learnt a huge amount but I learnt quite a bit about him and that surely will not be a bad thing!
Home schooling today was fun after an initial stand off. S is hating spelling! He is hating writing! The beginning of the day seemed to be going in the same direction as yesterday went which was a bit depressing! So, after we'd done Click'N'Kids, reading and our treasure hunt with the compass we downed tools and went for a walk. It was a rare beautiful morning here and so I reckoned the sunshine would do us some good! We walked into the town and back, running some of the way (by S's request!) and got a good bit of fresh air! It helped so much! We had a wee chat when we got back about our attitude to the next piece of work and got our heads down and got on with it!
After our walk S completed a maths assessment (VERY interesting for me as a parent to see exactly where he is in maths in comparison to what officially he is supposed to be at!) and had great fun doing a science experiment to find out whether or not oil and water mix. This took us nicely up to lunch.
After lunch I did a wee bit of prep while he had some time to himself and then he came outside to help me clear some leaves before a quick game of football! Both the walk and the football game were a lovely reminder to me of the flexibility of home schooling. We can do that! If we need fresh air - we take it! If we want to go out - we go out! No consent forms, no permission slips, no counting children to check they are all there! It was great! We both benefitted from these breaks - a big learning curve! On the way to collect the other 3 we chatted about what we'd been doing today and even did some spelling whilst walking! He learnt to spell "oi" words! I don't think you'll find that strategy of spelling words in many textbooks!
I do have lots to prepare AGAIN now that I'm a bit clearer on where he is with maths but for the first time since we started I feel like there is light at the end of the tunnel and I should be able to have some more time back for other things. Tonight I'm going to try to nail our maths programme.
From 3-9pm is hard work with 4 kids and to throw home schooling into the pot is definitely adding to exhaustion levels! To not get 5 minutes without constant interaction with children I find exhausting and today I was seriously craving a dark room with some soothing piano music! Anyway, I think all in all I will say that today was a useful day if nothing else! I don't think S learnt a huge amount but I learnt quite a bit about him and that surely will not be a bad thing!
Monday, 31 October 2011
Day 5
Today's going to be one of those days that you move on from and hope to learn from mistakes made! Not one of our best!
After 5 days it is quite clear that whole mornings spent sitting at a desk is a bad move! S hates writing! He is a hands on learner (I'm sure there is some sort of educational jargon for that!) and to sit still with a pencil in hand and paper on the desk is asking a huge amount! I'm realising now how different one-to-one teaching is compared to a whole class situation. In a classroom the pupils on the whole learn to conform to the group. If the task is not done in their learning style whilst very dull it is accepted and the task is completed. On a one-to-one basis though it is so much more apparent when something quite simply is not going to work and where the motivation is struggling! S will have to do tasks that involve him sitting concentrating for long spells but at this early stage I am so aware of the need to try and keep things positive and to foster a positive learning environment between him and myself and I really don't want him scunnered!
I'm also beginning to learn just where he is in terms of his abilities. As a parent you place a massive amount of trust on what the school tells you. In the main most of us parents don't really have to question too much the levels which the children are working at because there is an element of trust that the teachers do know best and that they will be working to push your child on. I am quickly finding gaps in S's understanding of topics and realising that a fair bit of revision is needed before we can introduce new topics. S is swaying from being bored with too easy work to being frustrated if he makes any mistakes. A balance is proving difficult to find! Tomorrow I'm going to do a math's assessment with him (on the computer) to find out just exactly what we should be looking at.
The balance between mum and teacher was hard today. I was becoming increasingly frustrated with S when he was not in the mood to give his best. I so much don't want to be shouting at him and be frustrated at him. During his spelling work today I had to leave the room! I think he realised that I was frustrated as he quickly did try to finish the task and seemed to settle down! Hopefully as I find the right level of work for him and work out a balance of types of activity then he will settle down.
After an emotion filled weekend for me and S I think both of us are now tired and beginning to settle down into this new life. Whilst today has been a hard day for us both in terms of learning I am already seeing a calmer child emerge. We had another of the girls off school today. That's both the twins now been off. To be honest I am convinced in both cases they were wanting to find out exactly what was going on at home! Having done that now I hope they will settle down back at school. Their homework alone took 45 minutes (between the 2) so I was telling them that that is their home schooling bit!!!
Anyway, the computer has been on again for most of another night. I am really hoping that tomorrow I can try to have things all sorted and to take the evening off!
After 5 days it is quite clear that whole mornings spent sitting at a desk is a bad move! S hates writing! He is a hands on learner (I'm sure there is some sort of educational jargon for that!) and to sit still with a pencil in hand and paper on the desk is asking a huge amount! I'm realising now how different one-to-one teaching is compared to a whole class situation. In a classroom the pupils on the whole learn to conform to the group. If the task is not done in their learning style whilst very dull it is accepted and the task is completed. On a one-to-one basis though it is so much more apparent when something quite simply is not going to work and where the motivation is struggling! S will have to do tasks that involve him sitting concentrating for long spells but at this early stage I am so aware of the need to try and keep things positive and to foster a positive learning environment between him and myself and I really don't want him scunnered!
I'm also beginning to learn just where he is in terms of his abilities. As a parent you place a massive amount of trust on what the school tells you. In the main most of us parents don't really have to question too much the levels which the children are working at because there is an element of trust that the teachers do know best and that they will be working to push your child on. I am quickly finding gaps in S's understanding of topics and realising that a fair bit of revision is needed before we can introduce new topics. S is swaying from being bored with too easy work to being frustrated if he makes any mistakes. A balance is proving difficult to find! Tomorrow I'm going to do a math's assessment with him (on the computer) to find out just exactly what we should be looking at.
The balance between mum and teacher was hard today. I was becoming increasingly frustrated with S when he was not in the mood to give his best. I so much don't want to be shouting at him and be frustrated at him. During his spelling work today I had to leave the room! I think he realised that I was frustrated as he quickly did try to finish the task and seemed to settle down! Hopefully as I find the right level of work for him and work out a balance of types of activity then he will settle down.
After an emotion filled weekend for me and S I think both of us are now tired and beginning to settle down into this new life. Whilst today has been a hard day for us both in terms of learning I am already seeing a calmer child emerge. We had another of the girls off school today. That's both the twins now been off. To be honest I am convinced in both cases they were wanting to find out exactly what was going on at home! Having done that now I hope they will settle down back at school. Their homework alone took 45 minutes (between the 2) so I was telling them that that is their home schooling bit!!!
Anyway, the computer has been on again for most of another night. I am really hoping that tomorrow I can try to have things all sorted and to take the evening off!
Sunday, 30 October 2011
S's take on week 1.
I found it quite hard. Science. I have to do science every Tuesday. I liked the trip to Amazonea. I loved the bit where I got to touch a frog. I liked looking at the ants and looking at the tadpoles.
I liked the Mr Flinch book. I liked cooking frog biscuits. I got to stick the frog cutters in the dough I learnt how to make. I liked going on the computer.
I liked the Mr Flinch book. I liked cooking frog biscuits. I got to stick the frog cutters in the dough I learnt how to make. I liked going on the computer.
Friday, 28 October 2011
Freedom!
I can't actually believe it's only been 4 days since we started home schooling! This has been a long week!
Today S and I had a great day! We did click'n'kids, reading, spelling and maths (quickly becoming our morning routine) and then headed out! We both so much appreciated getting out and about and the sunshine added to our moods and the whole excitement!
We went to Amazonia today in Strathclyde Country Park. It is meant to be Scotland's largest (or only - I can't remember) indoor rainforest and has a great number of animals/insects to look at. I found a Tesco Days out token which expires on Monday so decided it would be perfect to tie in on our project on frogs! I took all 4 kids last summer and we had fun there although zoomed round it then. Today we stayed for nearly 2 hours and listened to talks, handled a snake, frog and millipede (well S did - there is absolutely no chance I would!!), took part in an interactive display on the rainforest and looked around all the enclosures. S was great! He asked appropriate questions and took an interest in it all. It was so quiet and reminded me very quickly of one of the major benefits of home schooling. For a child like S who struggles with big groups and noisy places this was just perfect. It was quiet and our group for the animal handling was just 4! Nobody else to feel embarrassed in front, nobody else to compete with, nobody else to feel intimidated by just us and some tourists! It was such a good day! Definitely a "high" in the parenting and home school stakes.
After school I was all ready to put my feet up for a little while! Without going into all the details we ended up having a major craft session, tea and then an ad hoc Halloween party (I HATE Halloween but then that is a whole different topic in itself!!) followed by a movie! My feet are now up but my eyes are struggling to stay open!
The day was not all highs and we had a good share of lows. I would share these but to be honest for S's sake I think I will keep these just between us!
I am glad we have got to the end of the first week of home schooling. I was worried that by this stage I would have been having major regrets! I was worried that I would have been losing the plot! I was intrigued as to how being mum and teacher would work! I am realising that actually in so many ways informal education is happening all the time! Tomorrow I am going to Edinburgh on my own for the day. I am so looking forward to getting away and the trip couldn't have come at a better time! I am also looking forward to all that next week holds too. There are definitely things we need to look at. Socially we really need to try to find ways for S to mix with other people his own age and both S and I agreed that we need to make a bigger effort to getting out and about. Next week we are going on another trip this time with other home schooled families from the region and we are both really looking forward to that!
For now though our school working week is over and I can be pure mummy for the next couple of days!
Today S and I had a great day! We did click'n'kids, reading, spelling and maths (quickly becoming our morning routine) and then headed out! We both so much appreciated getting out and about and the sunshine added to our moods and the whole excitement!
We went to Amazonia today in Strathclyde Country Park. It is meant to be Scotland's largest (or only - I can't remember) indoor rainforest and has a great number of animals/insects to look at. I found a Tesco Days out token which expires on Monday so decided it would be perfect to tie in on our project on frogs! I took all 4 kids last summer and we had fun there although zoomed round it then. Today we stayed for nearly 2 hours and listened to talks, handled a snake, frog and millipede (well S did - there is absolutely no chance I would!!), took part in an interactive display on the rainforest and looked around all the enclosures. S was great! He asked appropriate questions and took an interest in it all. It was so quiet and reminded me very quickly of one of the major benefits of home schooling. For a child like S who struggles with big groups and noisy places this was just perfect. It was quiet and our group for the animal handling was just 4! Nobody else to feel embarrassed in front, nobody else to compete with, nobody else to feel intimidated by just us and some tourists! It was such a good day! Definitely a "high" in the parenting and home school stakes.
After school I was all ready to put my feet up for a little while! Without going into all the details we ended up having a major craft session, tea and then an ad hoc Halloween party (I HATE Halloween but then that is a whole different topic in itself!!) followed by a movie! My feet are now up but my eyes are struggling to stay open!
The day was not all highs and we had a good share of lows. I would share these but to be honest for S's sake I think I will keep these just between us!
I am glad we have got to the end of the first week of home schooling. I was worried that by this stage I would have been having major regrets! I was worried that I would have been losing the plot! I was intrigued as to how being mum and teacher would work! I am realising that actually in so many ways informal education is happening all the time! Tomorrow I am going to Edinburgh on my own for the day. I am so looking forward to getting away and the trip couldn't have come at a better time! I am also looking forward to all that next week holds too. There are definitely things we need to look at. Socially we really need to try to find ways for S to mix with other people his own age and both S and I agreed that we need to make a bigger effort to getting out and about. Next week we are going on another trip this time with other home schooled families from the region and we are both really looking forward to that!
For now though our school working week is over and I can be pure mummy for the next couple of days!
Thursday, 27 October 2011
Day 3 - A New Dimension
I think we must be trying to cram in every new challenge into the first week. Last night one of the twins was up twice with sore head, back and tummy. My first real challenge was upon us - how to home school with a sick child. Not being used to broken nights (it's so good to be able to say that!) I lay awake for hours after being up working out in my head how the day ahead was going to work. M was tired not surprisingly when we all got up and I agreed to keep her off. Once the other 2 were out to school it quickly became very evident that M was really fine! Her request for snack at 9:10 am followed by a request for lunch at 10:00 betrayed her wellbeing!! Whilst delighted that we didn't have he onset of some horrible but it made things a lot more tricky to have a tired but well 5 year old competing for my attention with S! How mummies home school with babies or toddlers in tow I have no idea - major respect!
My time with S went really well today on the whole. It's becoming very clear now the tricks used by S to avoid work that he finds difficult. Now I'm beginnning to see a pattern in this I will hopefully become more patient with him and we can take the stress out of things a bit more. Language barriers are massive with a lot of the work and an area that I don't feel I have a huge amount of expertise. Having said that when S has success it is so rewarding! He is loving the reading book and we are having lots of fun discussing what might happen next. I feel like I'm getting a good grasp on simple fractions - hopefully S is too!! We attempted doing some baking today which was not a great success. Although we did produce a final product which was edible I'm not sure that I've got a mini Jamie Oliver in the making! His stamina for seeing it through to the end was very dubious and my patience was running thin by that stage! Again though we persevered! S lost his smiley face (he's given one for every task he completes well. When he reaches 30 he will receive a "reward") which was a huge deal for him but hopefully a lesson learnt!
I am very very tired! We didn't manage to get out today apart from our walk to school. Having M at home complicated it all a bit more. I made it to our Tweenagers (primary school group at church) tonight but feel already like I've been starved of adult company! Tomorrow we are both very excited as we are going to go to Amazonia at Strathclyde Country Park. S's project on frogs is perfect for this trip so we're going to use up a Tesco Days Out token to get us both in for free! I think the change of scenery will do us both good and this is afterall meant to be one of the benefits of home schooling.
Word is definitely getting out about what we are doing. At Tweenagers the kids are beginning to ask what we are doing. The kids are all very positive about it which is lovely. Tonight to be honest I'm not feeling particularly excited about it all - just tired and the responsibility of what we've taken on is really beginning to sink in. With lots of other things going on in our family just now my head feels very very full and I am looking forward to this initial settling in period finishing! Any regrets - none at all!
My time with S went really well today on the whole. It's becoming very clear now the tricks used by S to avoid work that he finds difficult. Now I'm beginnning to see a pattern in this I will hopefully become more patient with him and we can take the stress out of things a bit more. Language barriers are massive with a lot of the work and an area that I don't feel I have a huge amount of expertise. Having said that when S has success it is so rewarding! He is loving the reading book and we are having lots of fun discussing what might happen next. I feel like I'm getting a good grasp on simple fractions - hopefully S is too!! We attempted doing some baking today which was not a great success. Although we did produce a final product which was edible I'm not sure that I've got a mini Jamie Oliver in the making! His stamina for seeing it through to the end was very dubious and my patience was running thin by that stage! Again though we persevered! S lost his smiley face (he's given one for every task he completes well. When he reaches 30 he will receive a "reward") which was a huge deal for him but hopefully a lesson learnt!
I am very very tired! We didn't manage to get out today apart from our walk to school. Having M at home complicated it all a bit more. I made it to our Tweenagers (primary school group at church) tonight but feel already like I've been starved of adult company! Tomorrow we are both very excited as we are going to go to Amazonia at Strathclyde Country Park. S's project on frogs is perfect for this trip so we're going to use up a Tesco Days Out token to get us both in for free! I think the change of scenery will do us both good and this is afterall meant to be one of the benefits of home schooling.
Word is definitely getting out about what we are doing. At Tweenagers the kids are beginning to ask what we are doing. The kids are all very positive about it which is lovely. Tonight to be honest I'm not feeling particularly excited about it all - just tired and the responsibility of what we've taken on is really beginning to sink in. With lots of other things going on in our family just now my head feels very very full and I am looking forward to this initial settling in period finishing! Any regrets - none at all!
Wednesday, 26 October 2011
Day 2 - Reality check no.1!
If day 1 was fantastic day 2 was a real reality check!
Breakfast was a nightmare! One of the other kids got to the Sugar Puffs first so S had a meltdown! So a time out was issued and eventually complied with! Now normally on a school day, we would deal with this, move on and then eventually I would sigh a huge sigh of relief to get them all packed off to school and enjoy the peace for a while. This morning though I felt a real sense of doom that this was the mood being set for a morning's work!
Today was hard work! We did get a lot done but S was definitely wanted to push the boundaries and to determine just who was in charge for the day! His desire to get all his smiley faces for his task was big but he didn't seem to realise that he had to put in the effort in the tasks to get them in the first place! We still managed all that I'd planned to do and more which I feel is quite a major achievement bearing in mind the attitude that went into the day! We did have to finish the session with a wee chat about who actually is the boss in this situation. This is a real steep learning curve for both of us! S announced that he didn't realise home school teachers were strict! For me the blend of mum and teacher is a hard one to do and I don't want to have to nag him all the time!
Despite all of that there were plenty glimmers of just how fab home schooling can be. S's reading comprehension today was about apples and how apple orchards are dealt with. I remembered half way through that there is an apple tree at the end of our garden. Admittedly it is not a very impressive one (our last house had 3 trees laden with apples every year) but it has produced a wee crop of apples this year. So, after we'd read the passage and answered the questions I took S outside and we picked some apples, discussed the tree and what stage it was at, took some photos of the apples and then came back inside and worked on our fractions using the apples we'd just picked! How's that for cross-curricular teaching!! Another lovely time was tonight. S's topic is frogs! He LOVES frogs! Today as part of our topic work we watched a dvd about "friends and foes" in the frog world. S watched a cobra snake eat a frog and a water scorpion catch a tadpole. He loved this and was so excited to tell his brother and sisters all about it later on over tea. So, tonight just before bed we all sat down to watch this part of the documentary again. They all loved it so much that we sat watching more! I never really imagined my 4 very active kids sitting watching a nature documentary at bedtime!!
So it's been a very mixed day. Planning is taking me ages just now. Each day brings lots of ideas for me to work on and seeing how S learns and how I teach (particulary new things like "fractions"!!) leads me to need to work out just exactly what I am doing the next day in detail. I am learning I need to be much more organised. Tomorrow we will need to get out. I could see how in home schooling you could feel completely caged in very quickly so must sort that quickly! Thankfully the kids have been really good at helping to keep the house tidy. "Mummy dustbin" now comes to our house every evening and puts anything and everything that is on the floor that shouldn't be in the bin! "Mummy dustbin" has definitely helped my sanity as the kids are taking her very seriously (finally!!!!). Long may that continue!
Right - I think that is enough for now! I'm not intending all my posts to be long. But I suppose at this beginning phase there is lots to write about! Any advice would be so welcomed!!
Breakfast was a nightmare! One of the other kids got to the Sugar Puffs first so S had a meltdown! So a time out was issued and eventually complied with! Now normally on a school day, we would deal with this, move on and then eventually I would sigh a huge sigh of relief to get them all packed off to school and enjoy the peace for a while. This morning though I felt a real sense of doom that this was the mood being set for a morning's work!
Today was hard work! We did get a lot done but S was definitely wanted to push the boundaries and to determine just who was in charge for the day! His desire to get all his smiley faces for his task was big but he didn't seem to realise that he had to put in the effort in the tasks to get them in the first place! We still managed all that I'd planned to do and more which I feel is quite a major achievement bearing in mind the attitude that went into the day! We did have to finish the session with a wee chat about who actually is the boss in this situation. This is a real steep learning curve for both of us! S announced that he didn't realise home school teachers were strict! For me the blend of mum and teacher is a hard one to do and I don't want to have to nag him all the time!
Despite all of that there were plenty glimmers of just how fab home schooling can be. S's reading comprehension today was about apples and how apple orchards are dealt with. I remembered half way through that there is an apple tree at the end of our garden. Admittedly it is not a very impressive one (our last house had 3 trees laden with apples every year) but it has produced a wee crop of apples this year. So, after we'd read the passage and answered the questions I took S outside and we picked some apples, discussed the tree and what stage it was at, took some photos of the apples and then came back inside and worked on our fractions using the apples we'd just picked! How's that for cross-curricular teaching!! Another lovely time was tonight. S's topic is frogs! He LOVES frogs! Today as part of our topic work we watched a dvd about "friends and foes" in the frog world. S watched a cobra snake eat a frog and a water scorpion catch a tadpole. He loved this and was so excited to tell his brother and sisters all about it later on over tea. So, tonight just before bed we all sat down to watch this part of the documentary again. They all loved it so much that we sat watching more! I never really imagined my 4 very active kids sitting watching a nature documentary at bedtime!!
So it's been a very mixed day. Planning is taking me ages just now. Each day brings lots of ideas for me to work on and seeing how S learns and how I teach (particulary new things like "fractions"!!) leads me to need to work out just exactly what I am doing the next day in detail. I am learning I need to be much more organised. Tomorrow we will need to get out. I could see how in home schooling you could feel completely caged in very quickly so must sort that quickly! Thankfully the kids have been really good at helping to keep the house tidy. "Mummy dustbin" now comes to our house every evening and puts anything and everything that is on the floor that shouldn't be in the bin! "Mummy dustbin" has definitely helped my sanity as the kids are taking her very seriously (finally!!!!). Long may that continue!
Right - I think that is enough for now! I'm not intending all my posts to be long. But I suppose at this beginning phase there is lots to write about! Any advice would be so welcomed!!
Tuesday, 25 October 2011
Day 1
My husband and I have pondered over the whole subject of home schooling for years now. With our eldest child now 10 and our baby twins now 5 we have had many opportunites to see the highs and lows of school. We've seen many times where the kids can thrive and we've seen times where school is quite simply one of the hardest places to be!
This summer we took the decision to take one of our children out of mainstream schooling and to teach him at home. I am a qualified teacher but am qualified to teach Religious and Moral Education to secondary school pupils! Quite a different area from primary 4! However, surely the skills of teaching are the same across the board. The knowledge base is different but I am motivated! I want to give my son the best education that I can and am determined to put in the effort that I need to! I have spent the last 9 weeks reading, researching, speaking to teachers and other home schoolers and preparing and planning for what lies ahead.
So today arrived! Over 10 years after I left the classroom I returned to a somewhat different classroom situation. Actually I feel very privileged! What better pupil could I ask for but my own son! My nerves and apprehension seems totally ridiculous when faced with his excited little face sitting at the desk!
For the last few years S (I'm going to keep certain details private for his sake) has hated going to school. Getting dressed in the morning has been a battle in itself. This morning though, S was dressed and ready to go before I was even out of bed! This motivation continued all morning. We tackled so much - reading, spelling, atlas work, maths and science. S learnt today new words - "neighbour", North, South, East and West, the meaning of an acid and the names of scientific equipment, fractions (although that's going to need a bit more work!!!!) and what an atlas is. That was just our mornings work!
I'm going to keep this blog for many reasons. There are so many folks who have followed S since he was born and prayed for him for years. That concern has been so much appreciated by all of us in the family. There will be things I won't share in the blog about him that I feel are for him to share himself or for us to share in a more personal setting - but I thought it might give folks an insight into what we are doing. I don't know many people who home school. I'm hoping that will change. Maybe if you are reading this you think what we are doing is completely bonkers. Maybe you'd like to do it yourself and are reading this to see how we get on! Whatever the reason, I think that diaries + blogs are great things to get thoughts down and to share to improve situations.
I hope I can keep this blog up. I'm not going to write every little detail down and it might be that life might get so frantic during the days that the last thing I can face is the computer to blog but hopefully it will track our path through this new adventure!
So, on this the night of my birthday and the start of a new year for me in so many ways I will sign out!
This summer we took the decision to take one of our children out of mainstream schooling and to teach him at home. I am a qualified teacher but am qualified to teach Religious and Moral Education to secondary school pupils! Quite a different area from primary 4! However, surely the skills of teaching are the same across the board. The knowledge base is different but I am motivated! I want to give my son the best education that I can and am determined to put in the effort that I need to! I have spent the last 9 weeks reading, researching, speaking to teachers and other home schoolers and preparing and planning for what lies ahead.
So today arrived! Over 10 years after I left the classroom I returned to a somewhat different classroom situation. Actually I feel very privileged! What better pupil could I ask for but my own son! My nerves and apprehension seems totally ridiculous when faced with his excited little face sitting at the desk!
For the last few years S (I'm going to keep certain details private for his sake) has hated going to school. Getting dressed in the morning has been a battle in itself. This morning though, S was dressed and ready to go before I was even out of bed! This motivation continued all morning. We tackled so much - reading, spelling, atlas work, maths and science. S learnt today new words - "neighbour", North, South, East and West, the meaning of an acid and the names of scientific equipment, fractions (although that's going to need a bit more work!!!!) and what an atlas is. That was just our mornings work!
I'm going to keep this blog for many reasons. There are so many folks who have followed S since he was born and prayed for him for years. That concern has been so much appreciated by all of us in the family. There will be things I won't share in the blog about him that I feel are for him to share himself or for us to share in a more personal setting - but I thought it might give folks an insight into what we are doing. I don't know many people who home school. I'm hoping that will change. Maybe if you are reading this you think what we are doing is completely bonkers. Maybe you'd like to do it yourself and are reading this to see how we get on! Whatever the reason, I think that diaries + blogs are great things to get thoughts down and to share to improve situations.
I hope I can keep this blog up. I'm not going to write every little detail down and it might be that life might get so frantic during the days that the last thing I can face is the computer to blog but hopefully it will track our path through this new adventure!
So, on this the night of my birthday and the start of a new year for me in so many ways I will sign out!
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