Today is Friday, and strangest bit of today was waking up and realizing that this Friday had no particular weight to it. I was not exhausted from a long stressful week of commuting children to and from school and activities. I was not elated that tonight would be the first of the only two nights of the week that we did not have to fight over homework assignments. I was not concurrently craving and dreading the upcoming weekend for both the time we'd get to spend together as a family as well as myriad of activities we usually felt we had to cram in to two days. It was just Friday, the day that came after yesterday and before tomorrow.
The week has gone well. I had read a homeschooling blog a while back written by a mother of 5 homeschooled children. One of her tips for starting a new (sane) school year was to start with a plan for two basic subjects and let the rest come naturally. All for sanity, I had decided that our two core subjects would be language arts and math. For language arts we are using First Language Lessons for the Well-Trained Mind. This is a 'classical' approach. We started at level one for both Sports Nut and Drawing Diva. The lessons are very concise and require the student to answer questions in full sentences. I consider this to be an important skill and was surprised that both of my kids lacked the ability to take my question and turn the words around into a responding statement. By today they are getting better at it, and have memorized the first short poem. I was a little concerned they would think this book dry, but the short length of each lesson lends itself to likability.
Our math plan, conversely, has gone out the window. Those worksheets they had begged for were pointless. Sports Nut completed his in 10 seconds and handed them to me. The majority of the answers were wrong. One page was all subtraction yet he added half of them. Prior conditioning has taught him to finish as fast as he can, answer accuracy be damned. This is not news to me; every teacher for the past 5 years has told me Sports Nut needs to slow down. I was stupidly optimistic that taking him out of a classroom setting would change this behavior. Sports Nut clearly needs time to decompress, so standard math work for him is out at this point.
Instead, we have switched to Building Critical Thinking Skills. The lessons are far more entertaining and actually require thought. The same company makes a math curriculum that we'd like to try, so stay tuned.
I am learning a lot about my children as learners. Sports Nut, for instance, must try something before he believes it to be true. On Wednesday morning he came into my room and said, "Just in case you are ever playing my trumpet, make sure you don't bash the mouthpiece into place. Mr Band Teacher said it will get stuck and you won't be able to take it apart again. So only twist it, 'k Mom?"
Uh, ok, Son. If I ever get the hankering to play your trumpet, I will most certainly take care so as not to permanently lodge the mouthpiece into the instrument.
Time lapse of 15 minutes.
Me to Sports Nut: "Where did you go? It's time to head out the door to band."
Sports Nut to me: "I can't get my trumpet in it's case."
Me: "Why not?"
Sports Nut: "The mouthpiece is accidentally stuck so it won't fit."
Me: "Accidentally?! What did you do?"
Sports Nut: "As soon as I did it I knew it was a terrible idea, but I bashed the mouthpiece in!"
Me, muttering in my head, as I try unsuccessfully to wrench the two brass pieces apart: No, you knew BEFORE you did it that it was a terrible idea! Mr Band Teacher already announced that, and you felt it important enough information to share with me, yet not valid enough information to not test it yourself.
Yesterday we attended a homeschool field trip to the movie theater to watch an undersea IMAX movie. The kids loved it, and now know more about the mating habits of cuttlefish than perhaps necessary. After band, the movie, schooling and a nap for Mini Marvel, we still had enough time while picking up our CSA share to take a leisurely stroll to the back of the farm where the U-Pick garden is. All three children picked vegetables and flowers until their bags were full. In the past we've had to rush in, grab our share, and rush off. This was far more enjoyable. In the evening we were able to go listen to the marching band a the university. We picnicked with friends, listened to the band, played football, and took a walk. Never before have we been able to have such nice family time on a school night. Mostly our evenings revolved around homework fights, angry words, frustration and exhaustion. Driving home at 8:30pm I had that giddy feeling that it was OKAY to be out late. The kids were tired but happy after having a great evening together.
Today we attended a science class at a local nature center. The instructor was amazing and we all learned a lot about insects and then got to run off and catch some. Sports Nut was puzzling over the dichotomous key he was given but once he understood the process, he was figuring out the names of all the bugs the kids were catching. I LOVE to see him truly interested in learning. On the way home he said he wants to construct a similar key for wars. Sweet. There's our first history lesson handed to me on a platter.
My favorite part of today was cooking with Sports Nut. Sports Nut loves to cook, but it has often been hard for me to find the time and patience to let him cook with me. In the old days, school nights were so hectic that if any child stepped into my kitchen while I was preparing dinner he could expect a scene reminiscent of Carrie. But today Sports Nut and I put together quinoa corn chowder for the crockpot, this yummy oatmeal casserole for weekend snacking, and he made two fabulous loaves of whole wheat bread with toasted sunflower and flax seed. We invited another homeschooling family for dinner and Sports Nut was so proud of his creations and so happy to share them with others.
So far, in the writing of Mini Marvel, "iLovHOMSCOLEN"
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