How is the year going?

[trid]

I finally have a night off. The boys are all at a Halloween party at the neighbor's. So, I have some free time.

I am curious how Josh is doing now. Does he still hear birds, or is he listening for snow to fall already? Are you going to be able to substitute this year? Have you found a way to make math more fun?

I was having a terrible time with the boys, getting them started this year. Having my oldest home now, since he has finished high school, is really tough. He thinks it is still summer time, and he can interrupt, take the younger ones shopping in the middle of the day, play his radio, generally be difficult, and keep them up all night playing video games.

Anyway, I was searching for new ideas, and I discovered, "The Life of Fred". It is a math series, and I ordered the whole set! I was mesmerized reading the excerpts online, and couldn't stop myself. Fred math is fun. It is a story about a 6 yr. old college math professor, telling how he encounters math everywhere he goes (although, he is not a typical 6 yr. old and some of his stories are really beyond credibility) and the way the math is explained, actually makes sense.

I always liked math, but I don't feel ready to teach advanced algegra, geometry, trig. and calc. this book series can do it for me. And it is fun, he also includes some English, German, history, science, and geography in the stories, so on those days when you can't get through all the subjects, it is probably covered in Fred.

As for our other subjects, the boys still refuse to do any formal writing assignments, so I am still having them write to me every day on the computer, so I know that they can communicate. Government is easy, all we need to do is evaluate the daily mail literature sent to us, and listen to the nightly news. They have found some cool websites discussing the electoral college, with interactive maps to see different scenarios.

Since it is the end of the month, I am doing my summary of what we have accomplished, and I can see that we have gone pretty far in some areas, and need to refocus on others.

I hope you all are having a good year, too.

[misty]

Well, Shannon was off to a rocky start but mostly it was her inability to organize that was giving her a lot of grief. Because she's not inany virtual class rooms, she can work at her own pace & she couldn't figure out just how much & what of each subject she should be doing each day. Add to that the fact that her computer has been sent back to the school twice, which means she is missing math tutoring because you need the school's software to get into the tutoring room. Well, her teacher called me yesterday & we made up a great schedule for Shannon & wrote exactly which lessons she should be doing in each class each day right in her planner. She is very relieved! Her teacher is going to do that ever Friday for the following week until we get feel for it ourselves. Her computer came back today so we will be on track in no time!

[trid]

hey, if the school computer doesn't work right this time, let me know. I'll send you this one, since we withdrew from the school, and they haven't sent me return shipping labels for this one yet. Of course, I don't mind having the laptop, but I really do want to clear the clutter.

I like the idea of splitting up the classes into blocks. Mon/Wed. for 1/2 the courses, Tue/Thurs for the other 1/2, and using Friday to clean up anything left over.

I was checking the Grade Book every night to see how they were doing. We just had gotten into the routine (freedom?) of going off on tangents when we found an idea in the text that we found more interesting than the next page of the book.

And, since the boys struggle with writing so much, they weren't getting their notes done. Now we are more creative. One of the boys witnessed a pedestrian vehicle accident in Valley Forge Park, so I had him write up a very detailed report, complete with pictures of cars, trees, and the little squirrel. Told what he saw, what he heard, what he did, what he thought, etc. and then had him make "legal" corrections just like we used to do on the ambulance. When there is a real purpose, they will write much better than when told to express their impressions of a Monet painting.

This week we have discovered the joys of working with contractors and town permits. Nobody wants to work with the pHILLIES winning the series.

At least we are studying about thermodynamics, air pressure for our tires, and stuff.

I always liek to hear how others succeed, because I don't like being out in left field.

[bugsmom]

Hi, Trid...it's nice to see you on tonight. Thanks for asking about us. We're trekking along and learning new ways to "learn" everyday.

After a great start to the year, we're really starting to settle into a routine. It's so different and new. I worry if I'm doing enough. By selecting all his curriculum on my own, I wonder if I'm making the right choices, or if we're putting in enough hours. I really need to just need to break out of the "traditional" way of teaching and let it roll. I do think I'm getting better though. I've become much more relaxed, and of course that makes Josh more relaxed.

Everything I "thought" we'd do has kind of gone by the wayside. I had this vision in my mind that we'd start by "this time of day" and have "this done by...whatever". Now, I just let him guide us. If he wants to sleep in one day, I let him. If he's rested, I'm going to get more out of him. I'm actually loving the ebb and flow of our days.

We've pretty much stuck with the traditional subjects for now. We're doing Math, Reading, Life Science, Language Arts, Spelling, and Early American History. We just completed an Election Unit Study that Josh loved. (You should go check out his project in the Photo section, I posted it there.) He has read two 300 page books already for his private reading time. He was so proud of himself. He has always hated reading and now he realizes that it's enjoyable when it's not forced. I can't tell you what it's like to see him go off to his room, with book and in hand, and watch him come out excited to tell me what he just read. It's priceless.

As for the substituting, I'm still able to squeeze it in. I'm subbing once a month for my favorite class while their teacher attends a monthly meeting, and they call me when their in a pinch. The one teacher that I subbed for weekly was really upset about my not being able to help her out anymore, but I have to put Josh's interests first.

I'm going to check out your Math suggestion. I've seen it in a catalog before, but never visited their site. It sounds really cool. I'm ok with the Saxon, but it is a little boring. The repeditive stuff is good for Josh, but I think he's even getting tired of it.

I'm glad your boys are doing well. I love the way you approach your learning. The stuff you do with your boys sounds so creative. I wish you were closer so I could send Josh your way. Maybe I'll get there too...I just need a few more years! Hee Hee.