I can't believe it is so long since I last wrote! The days are flying! I also can't believe it is the holidays again although at the same time I am so thankful they are hear and so much looking forward to 2 weeks of no lesson planning or teaching!
Things have been going well since I last wrote. The new regime is definitely working and I feel that we have found the way of working that works for both S and I. Preparation is not taking nearly as long and more importantly I am beginning to see results from S, he is happier and we are definitely making progress. I do have to continually give myself a wake up call as whenever things go well I have a tendancy to immediately increase the work load which is not good and I almost immediately get a reality check as S tires very quickly and the co-operation disappears!
This term has been a good term for really getting to terms with basics! We have worked hard on mental arithmetic and basics of spelling and grammar. When we first began our home schooling journey I was disappointed at how slow S was with his mental arithmetic. Having grown up in a schooling culture where we were drilled in mental arithmetic daily I have taken it for granted how helpful that is in life! While S is only 8 just now I was disappointed at how slow he was even with the most basic mental arithmetic questions. Since February we have been working through a book where everyday S answers 15 questions. Ideally these are supposed to be timed but that was proving to be too stressful for S so we took the timed element away. At first S relied on my numberline on the bookshelf for every single question. I decided that I would let this happen as I wanted his confidence to build first rather than me stressing him out over something he clearly found difficult. Over the last 4-5 weeks it has been great watching his confidence build. Without the timer it would take him 3-4 minutes to complete the sums and gradually his accuracy was improving. Yesterday he completed all 15 sums in probably just over a minute and got 14 correct. More encouragingly, as I told him, I watched him (he didn't know this) and he didn't once look at the number line! I was so so happy for him! We are calling this his warm up every day and we will continue it next term as I see the value of this so much! Next term we are going to work on S's times tables and include the mental arithmetic of his tables too.
Spelling likewise has become an easy part of each day which before February we really were not getting on top of. Again we have found material which helps both of us to work consistently through blends and spelling rules and S seems to be enjoying doing the work and achieving success.
This term the focus has definitely been on maths and english (including within that arithmetic, problem solving, reading, spelling, comprehension, story writing, grammar) and I am very aware that we have not done much formal science, geography, history etc. Having said that it is amazing what comes out of his reading books! This term they have included Leondardo Da Vinci, Shakespeare, Scientific discoveries and Elizabethan England to name just a few! Naturally we have found ourselves having discussions about all of those things. We have also been following the growth of the frog spawn which our neighbour gave us. As I type we have a flora tub full of tadpoles in the back garden. As these grow legs we will return them to the pond and hopefully see little frogs before long. The same neighbour has got us involved in weather tracking for the met office which has been great. It has linked well with our maths on measuring and on data handling as we have charted the maximum and minimum temperatures and looked for rainfall and hours of light. Luckily for us this has been a record breaking week for sunshine and temperatures so that has added excitement.
This term has also seen more obstacles for us. The summer is definitely going to be trickier to sit and concentrate when the weather is so good. S is not so good at working outwith a routine and so I don't see a huge future in learing outside or messing up the routine we have very much. Alongside that the family have had a couple of weeks of bad colds where the twins have been off a fair bit and that has made things far more complicated. Despite all that we've done a lot this term and once again at the end of the term I am very happy with how S's doing and that we are still doing the right thing having him at home. Next term I would really like him assessed in some way. I need to encourage him to work more independantly, which with his language difficulties is actually beginning to prove quite difficult even with maths, as his language processing skills are being utilized more. I need though to constantly remind myself of how far we have come and what obstacles we have overcome to get where we are and put everything into perspective!
For now though Happy Easter everyone and see you for the summer term!
Thursday, 29 March 2012
Friday, 16 March 2012
Old Habits Die Hard!
What a difference a couple of weeks can make! Dare I say it, after nearly 6 months of home schooling I feel that we have finally started to settle into a routine. The "new" way of working seems to be a success. S is happier and I am getting less frustrated! We have learnt many new things over the last fortnight and only the one day of stand offs that I wrote about before!
Using all the new material has made planning a lot easier for me and has made the lessons a lot simpler. S now knows that there is a routine we will follow and that once he's completed all his "jobs" his time is his own.
Both of us so easily can slip into bad habits. For S, the habit of moaning about even beginning to work is a habit that will be hard to break. I'm hoping that eventually that does disappear but am beginning to accept that that is S and that if I don't react to it then it is fairly short lived!
My habit is to pile on far too much work to him! Because things are going well my tendancy is to push him further! In turn that makes him uncooperative and stroppy! In turn that makes me frustrated and grumpy. On Wednesday I had to give myself a wake up call when I looked at what I had planned for the following fortnight! There was FAR too much Maths! So, thankfully, I realised BEFORE the term began and have revised my plans for him that should lead to a happier term! My desire to "complete" workbooks and to have a sense of satisfaction is a really big temptation for me to overcome when I am teaching him. Actually, to have a happier, more content son who is enjoying learning is ultimately far more rewarding but in my perfectionist tendancies I like to have completed workbooks and a sense of completion by certain dates! I think I will have to continue to strive to lose that desire!!
Over the past few weeks we have been looking at punctuation marks; commas, question marks, capitilisation, full stops and exclamation marks. We have also started writing stories on the laptop. What a big hit! S loves it! He has started writing a story about ghosts and is enjoying letting his imagination run away with him. I am thoroughly enjoying watching this process. As I write S is acting out his story with his sister (who is off again with the cold!) and is so excited. When we began home schooling S HATED story writing and hated writing. To see him so enthusiastic about his stories is lovely. The word processor encourages him to correct his stories with all the red, green and blue underlining (those bits that normally are such a pain!) and I have started encouraging him to read his stories out aloud at the end which is working well as he can hear any more mistakes.
The other big success is that this week he asked me if he could do the reading comprehension card, because, wait for it... he loves them! Again, 5 months ago this was a dread and a real low point but he loved it. He loves it when I read it to him and he then answers the questions. It has become very apparent to me this week that his language difficulties are beginning to impact more and more on other curricular areas. In comprehension he does really well if he listens and then answers the questions but if he is left to read on his own it's a different story. In maths as well, if I sit and read the question to him he often finds the answer really quickly and easily but if left to his own devices he is stuck straight away! Problem solving is very hard for him - far too much language to decipher. With all these in mind I am so relieved to have him at home and am slowly beginning to relax and feel happy that we can use freely things like the laptop, me or any other thing that helps him to work through his work. At school I would imagine now he would be needing a laptop and later on a scribe so I am hoping that I can equip him with the skills and strategies needed to get the tasks done.
This week on the BBC a programme started following children at a High School in Edinburgh. It featured a boy on the autistic spectrum with Aspergers. If there was ever a programme that would make me certain not to have S in mainstream then that was it! I could have wept! What the producers of the programme and the teachers of the school considered to be him "settling in" and coping I saw as a little boy being subtly bullied and really not coping. It was horrible to see him having to eat his lunch on his own in a quiet corner of the school. It is the worst feeling in the world to feel lonely in a school and when a child has difficulties of his own then this is so much more exagerrated! If I can save S from having to deal with all this at a time when he is going through adolescence then I will do all I can to do that!
One last wee thought! I realise some folks reading this blog will not be religious and this all might sound a bit odd to them but a real step forward for me has been that I have timetabled in for me half an hour before I start teaching every day to sit and read my Bible and to pray. Having this in my day has made a massive difference. I cannot get over how practical a book the Bible is and how appropriate it ALWAYS is to life whatever stage or situation it is. I have had the opportunity every day now to hand the day over to God and to rely on Him rather than my own impatience and struggles. Funny then when after praying for patience S has asked if we can fall out today cos he'd like to fall out!! But, what a difference!
Anyway, must go prepare the lunch. Our home school week is finished and it's time for a break!
Using all the new material has made planning a lot easier for me and has made the lessons a lot simpler. S now knows that there is a routine we will follow and that once he's completed all his "jobs" his time is his own.
Both of us so easily can slip into bad habits. For S, the habit of moaning about even beginning to work is a habit that will be hard to break. I'm hoping that eventually that does disappear but am beginning to accept that that is S and that if I don't react to it then it is fairly short lived!
My habit is to pile on far too much work to him! Because things are going well my tendancy is to push him further! In turn that makes him uncooperative and stroppy! In turn that makes me frustrated and grumpy. On Wednesday I had to give myself a wake up call when I looked at what I had planned for the following fortnight! There was FAR too much Maths! So, thankfully, I realised BEFORE the term began and have revised my plans for him that should lead to a happier term! My desire to "complete" workbooks and to have a sense of satisfaction is a really big temptation for me to overcome when I am teaching him. Actually, to have a happier, more content son who is enjoying learning is ultimately far more rewarding but in my perfectionist tendancies I like to have completed workbooks and a sense of completion by certain dates! I think I will have to continue to strive to lose that desire!!
Over the past few weeks we have been looking at punctuation marks; commas, question marks, capitilisation, full stops and exclamation marks. We have also started writing stories on the laptop. What a big hit! S loves it! He has started writing a story about ghosts and is enjoying letting his imagination run away with him. I am thoroughly enjoying watching this process. As I write S is acting out his story with his sister (who is off again with the cold!) and is so excited. When we began home schooling S HATED story writing and hated writing. To see him so enthusiastic about his stories is lovely. The word processor encourages him to correct his stories with all the red, green and blue underlining (those bits that normally are such a pain!) and I have started encouraging him to read his stories out aloud at the end which is working well as he can hear any more mistakes.
The other big success is that this week he asked me if he could do the reading comprehension card, because, wait for it... he loves them! Again, 5 months ago this was a dread and a real low point but he loved it. He loves it when I read it to him and he then answers the questions. It has become very apparent to me this week that his language difficulties are beginning to impact more and more on other curricular areas. In comprehension he does really well if he listens and then answers the questions but if he is left to read on his own it's a different story. In maths as well, if I sit and read the question to him he often finds the answer really quickly and easily but if left to his own devices he is stuck straight away! Problem solving is very hard for him - far too much language to decipher. With all these in mind I am so relieved to have him at home and am slowly beginning to relax and feel happy that we can use freely things like the laptop, me or any other thing that helps him to work through his work. At school I would imagine now he would be needing a laptop and later on a scribe so I am hoping that I can equip him with the skills and strategies needed to get the tasks done.
This week on the BBC a programme started following children at a High School in Edinburgh. It featured a boy on the autistic spectrum with Aspergers. If there was ever a programme that would make me certain not to have S in mainstream then that was it! I could have wept! What the producers of the programme and the teachers of the school considered to be him "settling in" and coping I saw as a little boy being subtly bullied and really not coping. It was horrible to see him having to eat his lunch on his own in a quiet corner of the school. It is the worst feeling in the world to feel lonely in a school and when a child has difficulties of his own then this is so much more exagerrated! If I can save S from having to deal with all this at a time when he is going through adolescence then I will do all I can to do that!
One last wee thought! I realise some folks reading this blog will not be religious and this all might sound a bit odd to them but a real step forward for me has been that I have timetabled in for me half an hour before I start teaching every day to sit and read my Bible and to pray. Having this in my day has made a massive difference. I cannot get over how practical a book the Bible is and how appropriate it ALWAYS is to life whatever stage or situation it is. I have had the opportunity every day now to hand the day over to God and to rely on Him rather than my own impatience and struggles. Funny then when after praying for patience S has asked if we can fall out today cos he'd like to fall out!! But, what a difference!
Anyway, must go prepare the lunch. Our home school week is finished and it's time for a break!
Thursday, 8 March 2012
I'm getting better - apparently!
It's been a big week for me in the world of home schooling! Our learning curve has gone steeply up but I am feeling we have finally made some significant progress!
Last week the ed psych came to visit us. Since coming out of the "system" we don't have formal visits anymore but thankfully the ed psych agreed to continue to work with us, giving me some very valuable professional advice if and when I need it. Thursday's visit was such an encouragement and helpful visit. She agreed to look at some of S's work and gave me some pointers as to the quantity of work and simple things as to the presentation of his tasks. I wasn't overly surprised when she told me I was doing too much with him and that I was putting far too much on a page for him. It seemed so obvious when she pointed it out that I felt a bit daft but was immediately quite motivated to do something about it!
The way I have always taught, whether that be in a formal classroom set up or in a Sunday school set up or anywhere, is to produce my own materials. I work at my best when I know exactly what is behind a question and understand the logic behind the topic. I've carried this on with S but am beginning to have to admit that this is not working for him! My mind doesn't work like his! My learning style is not his! My strengths are not the same as his and likewise my weaknesses are not his! I feel like I have had quite a significant wake up call in how to teach! Again, you can get away almost with teaching a large class in a certain way. There are bound to be a certain number of pupils who click with your particular style of teaching and learning. On a one-to-one basis though there is no hiding! After chatting with the ed psych I have decided to take a different approach and have ordered in some new text books which are well written and look attractive and mean that I can pace the work far more appropriately!
So, this week our new approach started! What a difference! Please don't get me wrong - it's not been plain sailing! It'll take a while for S's negativity towards any sort of "work" being mentioned to be changed but our actual time learning has been really quite good! He has really enjoyed the drop in the amount of work I am asking him to do (not surprisingly really!) and is finding the level far more appropriate! He said to me yesterday (completely unprompted), "mum, you are getting to be a better teacher! At first you were a good teacher. The second day you were not so good, the third day even more not so good and by the fifth you were rubbish! You are getting better now!" and then today he offered me one of his special sweets as a reward for becoming a "better teacher"! Fortunately, I learned fairly early on in the home schooling process to develop a thick skin! I have to laugh!
So this week we've done a fair bit of learning even though he thinks he's done less! We've benefitted hugely from the flexibility of home schooling. We've started to look at measuring - length, mass and volume and have had great fun measuring things from all over the house and finished by making custard creams - when S got to measure all the ingredients. We've done some reading, looked at commas, studied the sun, looked at spelling -ing words, worked on mental arithmetic and plenty more!
One thing I am really struck with now is how much I really KNOW my son. We as parents pride ourselves, and rightly so, on the fact that we "know" our children best! I've been really challenged by how little I did really know my son. When it came to learning I knew so little about S! I have realised that for all those hours when he was packed off to school I handed over such a big chunk of his time to other people! I am really having to work hard at learning just what does go on in his head! I'm learning what and who S really is in EVERY aspect of his life and am valuing him more and more every day! I feel that I am beginning to really KNOW my son! It makes me feel quite guilty that with my other 3 I quite happily open the door in the morning and hand them over to other people for really quite a significant part of each day and for these people to take on quite a significant part of their learning and life! I don't ever want to become one of these home educators who insists everyone should be home schooling because I don't believe that. School is definitely the right place for my other 3 children to be but I have been really challenged to look at what it is I really value about my children and what it is I really want to encourage them to be. Do I want them to do well academically for my pride or is it for their well being? Do I want them to cope at school because I want people to think I'm a good parent or is it because I want them to "fit in" or is it because I want them to be happy? Of course I want them to be happy - but how much of parenting is really tied in with me? How much do I insist on with my children because of what it makes me look like rather than what is for their well being and their development? I don't think I am maybe expressing myself very well here but I'm sure you are getting the idea! The joys of blogging!
Anyway, all in all I'm feeling very positive about home schooling just now. I cannot believe we are only 3 weeks away from the end of another term! If we can really get into a "new" way of working it will be so good! I'd better stop now! Well done if you've made it to the end of today's ramble!
Last week the ed psych came to visit us. Since coming out of the "system" we don't have formal visits anymore but thankfully the ed psych agreed to continue to work with us, giving me some very valuable professional advice if and when I need it. Thursday's visit was such an encouragement and helpful visit. She agreed to look at some of S's work and gave me some pointers as to the quantity of work and simple things as to the presentation of his tasks. I wasn't overly surprised when she told me I was doing too much with him and that I was putting far too much on a page for him. It seemed so obvious when she pointed it out that I felt a bit daft but was immediately quite motivated to do something about it!
The way I have always taught, whether that be in a formal classroom set up or in a Sunday school set up or anywhere, is to produce my own materials. I work at my best when I know exactly what is behind a question and understand the logic behind the topic. I've carried this on with S but am beginning to have to admit that this is not working for him! My mind doesn't work like his! My learning style is not his! My strengths are not the same as his and likewise my weaknesses are not his! I feel like I have had quite a significant wake up call in how to teach! Again, you can get away almost with teaching a large class in a certain way. There are bound to be a certain number of pupils who click with your particular style of teaching and learning. On a one-to-one basis though there is no hiding! After chatting with the ed psych I have decided to take a different approach and have ordered in some new text books which are well written and look attractive and mean that I can pace the work far more appropriately!
So, this week our new approach started! What a difference! Please don't get me wrong - it's not been plain sailing! It'll take a while for S's negativity towards any sort of "work" being mentioned to be changed but our actual time learning has been really quite good! He has really enjoyed the drop in the amount of work I am asking him to do (not surprisingly really!) and is finding the level far more appropriate! He said to me yesterday (completely unprompted), "mum, you are getting to be a better teacher! At first you were a good teacher. The second day you were not so good, the third day even more not so good and by the fifth you were rubbish! You are getting better now!" and then today he offered me one of his special sweets as a reward for becoming a "better teacher"! Fortunately, I learned fairly early on in the home schooling process to develop a thick skin! I have to laugh!
So this week we've done a fair bit of learning even though he thinks he's done less! We've benefitted hugely from the flexibility of home schooling. We've started to look at measuring - length, mass and volume and have had great fun measuring things from all over the house and finished by making custard creams - when S got to measure all the ingredients. We've done some reading, looked at commas, studied the sun, looked at spelling -ing words, worked on mental arithmetic and plenty more!
One thing I am really struck with now is how much I really KNOW my son. We as parents pride ourselves, and rightly so, on the fact that we "know" our children best! I've been really challenged by how little I did really know my son. When it came to learning I knew so little about S! I have realised that for all those hours when he was packed off to school I handed over such a big chunk of his time to other people! I am really having to work hard at learning just what does go on in his head! I'm learning what and who S really is in EVERY aspect of his life and am valuing him more and more every day! I feel that I am beginning to really KNOW my son! It makes me feel quite guilty that with my other 3 I quite happily open the door in the morning and hand them over to other people for really quite a significant part of each day and for these people to take on quite a significant part of their learning and life! I don't ever want to become one of these home educators who insists everyone should be home schooling because I don't believe that. School is definitely the right place for my other 3 children to be but I have been really challenged to look at what it is I really value about my children and what it is I really want to encourage them to be. Do I want them to do well academically for my pride or is it for their well being? Do I want them to cope at school because I want people to think I'm a good parent or is it because I want them to "fit in" or is it because I want them to be happy? Of course I want them to be happy - but how much of parenting is really tied in with me? How much do I insist on with my children because of what it makes me look like rather than what is for their well being and their development? I don't think I am maybe expressing myself very well here but I'm sure you are getting the idea! The joys of blogging!
Anyway, all in all I'm feeling very positive about home schooling just now. I cannot believe we are only 3 weeks away from the end of another term! If we can really get into a "new" way of working it will be so good! I'd better stop now! Well done if you've made it to the end of today's ramble!
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