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!
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