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!

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