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!
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