So this is the first year I don't have a picture of my kids on the first day of school! What is the matter with me??
I made the plunge and decided to go for home schooling. I wrote up a letter of intent and Naomi delivered it to the school office today (I'm a little chicken, but I really would have done it except I was busy with lessons!).
I think it went pretty well for the first day. Our subjects each day are:
Math
Reading
Spelling
Language
Writing
Handwriting
Each week we will also have lessons in Science, History, and Art. Two lessons each in science and history, and one structured art project each week.
I started with science today because the boys love science and love experiments. We had a lesson on density, and then compared the density of various objects/substances to water. Who knew that hand sanitizer floats? Or that milk sinks?
Then we had math, the tail end of which we had a little trouble with Joseph. Naomi would probably say big trouble with Joseph.
I had to take Mosey to the doctor (I drove! Hurray!) for his preschool checkup, and made the mistake of leaving instructions with Naomi to make him sit at the table until he finished his last problem.
Long story short, he was still in the midst of the biggest tantrum I've ever seen him in when I got home an hour and a half later. Good thing Naomi's already pregnant or she might have decided then and there never to have children!
We got the situation solved, though, and I have some good ideas of how to avoid/defuse a situation like this next time. And Joseph and I had a good talk about home schooling and expectations, and all that.
And he was good as gold for the rest of our lessons, he couldn't have been better. So I am hopeful.
I wanted Mosey to join in our lessons, too, and he did participate in our experiment, but other than that he wasn't too interested. Too bad, because he's totally smart enough to start on lessons himself. But I won't push him, he is only four. It's probably a good thing two days a week he'll have preschool during the boys' lessons. And I'll make sure to do special Mosey and Mom activities every day after lessons.
So that's the report. Overall, I'm pretty pleased at what we accomplished, and I expect things will get a lot better over time.
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3 comments:
Note from Naomi: So it turns out that moms are just better at some things than aunts are--like parenting! It took all of 10 minutes for Gabrielle to diffuse the situation with Joseph and get him smiling, laughing, and cooperating. And I think it's a testament to Joseph's innate good nature that he seemed to have no recollection of my Mean Teacher act after Gabrielle had talked to him. All in all, it was rather humbling to me, since, after all, I've taught in some form for the past 5 years and I'm now working in a research center that specializes in improving teacher practice! I kept thinking "Consistently enforce rules," and "Display low reactivity," but unfortunately none of the behavior management resources at my office say, "Talk about something else until the child calms down," and "Make the child laugh." Sigh. Turns out you can't learn everything about being a parent from research centers, I guess.
Good for you, Gabby! I think you'll be their favorite teacher ever. How nice that you can have two students in your class at once, and sometimes three. I hope it goes well.
You will find you have so much flexibility which is very nice when getting the children up in the morning and to bed at night! Good move Gabby!
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