This morning we were able to do what I hope becomes our regular daily work schedule. We opened again with a prayer by Will, had our Bible time, studied about nomads and the Fertile Crescent in history, studied about classification of animals in science, broke for tea, practiced tens and ones place in math with manipulatives, then went on to folder work. Everything went great all morning. Boys using their balls during Bible time and history (Will fatigued during history and switched to chair). They love the math computer program! It's by Teaching Textbooks and I highly recommend it. It explains every problem and has lots of exciting sound effects that encourage the boys. I did have to supplement the program with manipulatives for understanding tens and ones place because that tripped up both the boys but once they worked it out hands-on, they really seemed to get it! Graham redid that lesson but Will only did the 3 he missed yesterday before going on to lesson 3. He really struggled with even and odd numbers so I again had to give an alternate explanation that was different than the program. He needs to see it to get it and I was able to get him to understand by saying that even numbers are numbers that he and Graham can share evenly: If he has 4 cookies they can each have 2 but if he has 7, they can't share evenly therefore 7 is an odd number. LOVE to see the "Aha" look on his face! And leave it to food to make everything clear to Will!! He went on to complete the lesson, missing only one. I am curious to see how Graham comprehends the same lesson tomorrow.
Nani has started doing the math program "for fun" to keep her satisfied since she is not doing homeschool. She frequently tells me she wants to but I think she'd be way too bored and, honestly, she's way more high maintenance than the boys. She's capable of doing much on her own but would be so emotionally demanding, I couldn't give the boys what they need. Plus, she is way too social to be content to be home all day with us and, though I can't get her to understand that, she'd figure it out fast enough and her homeschooling career would be short-lived. Also, I'd need to do another exemption application and I'm still waiting for approval of the boys'. Technically, they are supposed to still be enrolled and attending a school but, ummm, they're not. Shouldn't be arrested though, since neither of their schools are expecting them to report them missing. LOL. I had received a letter from the Ministry of Education 2 days before the start of school saying they needed more details about their days and individual curriculum to grant them certificates to be home schooled. It also said that, until we receive certificates, they are to be in school. That would be too disruptive for the boys and a complete and total waste of time that they can be working on their individual needs with me here.
So the boys are currently napping (I need to get them up) because evidently today's work was more taxing than Monday's, as I had one very irritable boy and another about to fall asleep by lunchtime. I'm adjusting accordingly for tomorrow. They each only have 2 more worksheets to do and then some reading but I do want them done by the time Nani gets home. (Though if they're still working when she gets home, she may not be so keen to homeschool anymore!)
I've found my house a little tidier, laundry a little more caught up and even more time for me to blog or read since we started (a whole 3 days now!). And I'm not near as lazy or depressed as I had been. Having a schedule has been fantastic for me!! Now if I can just get my Joe here I'll be able to utilize my new found organizational and efficiency skills to steal away for some horse time!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment