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!
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