Oops, another adjustment

Maybe there is never a "Aah, this is it, now we'll do this for the rest of the year." moment in homeschooling. Maybe there shouldn't be. Like all things, there is a balance point between the extremes of "This is what we decided and we're doing it no matter how bad the fit!" to "Oh, you don't like that, let's change it."

The secret is finding that balance.

Math balance: Sam is required to keep trying the internet math program for the rest of the month before deciding he wants to go back to the textbook. Then we can discuss it and decide which works best for both of us.

Writing balance: Like many things, the writing started with willingness, but I think I moved too fast or pushed things to my way of thinking rather than letting Sam think like Sam thinks. So, I'm stepping back. For the rest of the year we are only practicing handwriting (copy work). I am not going to assign any creative writing unless he is open to the idea of a journal with occassional entries. Something that will not be corrected or graded, just a place for him to put pencil to paper on a weekly basis maybe.

Science balance: Stop expecting lab reports to look like an 8th grader made them. Just because he can understand the material doesn't mean he can produce that level of material--this is the most common error that all educators make with gifted kids. "If he can understand pre-algebra, his work should look like an older pre-algebra students would look."

They call these kids twice-exceptional. Sometimes it is self-created (this dichotomy between strengths and weaknesses). They soar quickly through the material they love and are good at, but drag their feet in the subjects tehy are poor in. Guess what happens--they get stronger in their area of strength, but they don't even progress on grade level in their areas of weakness.

I remember in first grade, Sam was average in his weak area on testing and way above grade level on his areas of strength. Now he is below grade level in his weak areas and even farther above in his areas of strength.

According to our pastor, this kind of tension is what God uses to grow us and mature us. So, no complaints here. Just a prayer that God will use this to refine both Sam and I while we struggle together to get him through school.

Compromise isn't always the answer

I invented a new bedsheet. This wonderful, simple invention provides my husband and I with what we want. When I got rid our our waterbed and bought an electric blanket--it just isn't the same kind of warmth. I have been shivering through the warm-up time in my bed remembering the cozy feeling of the waterbed. Then I recalled the one time I had flannel sheets--they feel much warmer than typical cotton sheets.

Poor husband would sweat to death in flannel sheets, and so I shivered...Then it occurred to me that there was something I could do about this that would make both of us happy. I bought a set of flannel sheets and cut them in half long-ways. I also cut a set of "regular" sheets the same way, a little sewing and now we have 2 sets of hybrid sheets and I'm not shivering and my darling hubby is not sweating.

The added bonus is that I no longer claim the center half as my half of the bed--I stay on the warm, flannel side now.

The martial arts weekend went well, therapy is doing wonders for my ankle.

Sam has decided he doesn't like the new math program, but I'm making him keep doing it for a month. It takes longer than we expected and so one morning I put to much on his morning assignment list. Once we adjusted his morning workload he's really fine with it, but still says he wants to quit. But we aren't seeing melt-downs--he sees that we can tweak the schedule to fit whatever is going on.

In fact, physical therapy takes about 2 hours out of the school day twice a week--this would be unbearable if we didn't flex things. It is working well because several of the books we were assigned to read were at the library on tape or CD. This makes the book much faster to "read" since we take it in the car and Sam also likes to listen for a while at night. So, even though our schedule is crowded--we are actually ahead a little. Isn't God great? He knew we were going to need that boost.

Praying for Dave and the rest of the Flora family--give them all my regards.

Are you a smart alek?

We are trying a new math curriculum. It is on line and costs about $18 per month. Sam likes that he doesn't have to write and I like that it is the computer and not me telling him that "almost isn't good enough."

We had a tough martial arts weekend. It was six hours worth of instruction of which I was able to do two. It was good getting instruction from the grand master of our style. He's funny, silly and very friendly. At the end of the time our friend, Sheri was surprise promoted up two ranks. She was so shocked. She teaches our kids and rarely has time to train for her own rank promotion. She had been the same rank for about 10 years.

Now our future days look relatively normal (if there is such a thing), except for twice a week visits to the physical therapist. I keep seeing improvements in the strength of my ankle, but I did not participate in the kicking (balancing on one leg is too much) or sparring (the adreniline and bouncing is too much).

We have been borrowing all the books on tape that they have at our local libraries that go with out history curriculum. This is speeding up things--we all like being read to and so listen to them in the car and at bedtime. I think we may finish this curriculum about when school would normally be over (I was thinking it would fill the whole summer). No complaints here. Right now we are listening to "Old Yeller" next it is "Caddie Woodlawn" which I've never heard of. We rarely dislike a book that Sonlight includes and so approach each book with eagerness, ready to be entertained and educated.

With gas prices predicted to rise and rise again, we are not planning any trips to far away places this summer. There is a seed in my head of going to visit the Smithsonian in DC. We have friends that moved there and so could do it relatively cheaply. They keep begging us to come visit and they are the kind of folks that mean what they say.

So fun it seems easy

I love God's blessings. Even with spring fever hitting us full force (today was shorts weather!!). We are still loving homeschooling. It is hard to concentrate when there are so many birds to watch in the back yard, and the weather is so balmy...

Of course, with the flexibility of home schooling, we can take some of our spring break now--do school lite, and do heavier academic days when the weather turns nasty again. In fact, we can even borrow from summer vacation since we do school lite all summer long!! Aah, freedom, it feels scary when you first see it on your horizon. There were so many questions and no feeling of "I can do this because I've done it before."

But the freedom in homeschooling is like the freedom we have in Christ. Christ's freedom is not license to sin, but freedom to enjoy him forever. Homeschool's freedom is not license to goof off all day, but make the most of every educational opportunity and fine tune my son's education to fit him perfectly (there is no "one size fits all" in home school).

Hope you all are able to enjoy some spring fever, too.

The computer dance

Dwight bought a new computer. In this family, the most useful ratio of computers to people is 1:1. Each computer also needs to be up to date. So, at first Sam was saving up to buy a new computer. We realized it was going to take him too long, so I was considering buying a new computer and selling mine to him. Then we were discovering that it was a little too expensive for me (my business) to afford a new computer. Dwight started thinking about the uses for a DVD burner...and Dwight has the new computer, I paid him $500 for his not very old computer and Sam paid me $200 for my slightly older computer.

This means that no one has the same computer as last week. All our favorites, emails, documents and software need to be moved around. So far, the documents and email stuff is moved, but not much else.

And another dinosaur of a computer goes to live in our attic. Aah, but Sam having a usable Windows xp computer is so nice. I can't wait until all his software is moved over, too. Then my computer will be MY computer almost all the time!!

All things going well, considering. Just adjusting to gimp-style living and hoping that it is very temporary.

School: Wonderful. No news is good news!!