Random Thoughts on the first 4 weeks of homeschooling this year

This week marked the end of 4 weeks of homeschooling for this school year.

How has it gone?  I will give it a qualified, "It's going well".  Qualified because I am still not as organized as I would like to be.

I'm doing something new for the older 3 children this year. I am making a calendar for each week for each child, with the assignments listed for each day. So Naomi, Lydia, and Isaac merely have to look at what has to be done on Monday (or Tuesday, etc.) and do each assignment, crossing it off as they go.

Sounds simple, right?  Well, we're learning some new skills here.  Sometimes not everything does get done. Sometimes things are crossed off that have not yet been completed.  In that case, the child in question ends up doing work when he or she would rather be doing something fun, like computer game time.

Joseph doesn't read well enough yet to have a checklist.  He also requires more one on one teaching.  We don't spend a great deal of time working together but we are getting the basics in each day.  He and Isaac are also doing Five in a Row unit studies with me, and are listening to the Story of the World on CD after lunch.

Joseph is an interesting little character. I wondered if he was dyslexic, but I don't think he is.  He is making very good progress with reading and doesn't seem to struggle too much with phonics rules.  He is a long way from fluent, but he is learning steadily.

Math is, so far, a challenge. I have used Miquon with the older 3, but decided that Joseph needed a more linear path than Miquon easily provides.  So I'm going with MathUSee for Joseph, starting with Alpha.

Lesson 2 or Lesson 3 (I can't remember which) is about learning how to count to 20.  This boy can count to 20 out loud so I thought, NO PROBLEM.  He has his number stamps and we are going to breeze through this. 

NOT true.  He has a terrible time with switching numbers, so for example he wants to write "31" for "13".  He asked me why we can't put the 3 first.  We talked about place value and I was outwardly patient, but inwardly distressed.  Why is he struggling with such a simple thing?

Kevin pointed out later that day (when I was muttering worriedly) that this question of his is a good one. Truth is, we COULD write the number 13 as "31" if we used a different system for numbers.  If we were using a binary number system, 13 would be...well, I don't remember. Something weird like 1110.  We use a number system based on 10, and we write left to right with the higher place values to the left.  We could have switched it around and it would work. This is just the construct we chose to use.

So maybe Joseph is just a different kind of thinker and needs to understand that some things are just "done a certain way" but it is just a construct, a way for us to communicate.  It is like letters...no particular reason that "A" looks like it does.  Someone came up with it.  If we used a different alphabet, the sound made by "A" would be represented by a different symbol.  I don't know, maybe we are reading way too much into his question.  It did help me realize he may think differently than I do and I need to be patient.

What else?  Well, Miriam is technically old enough to be in kindergarten, but I've not done a lot with her so far this year. She and Angela play very well together and I usually don't pull them away from their play for school.  I will try to do a bit more as the year goes by.  Miriam is a "math girl" and is doing CRAZY things with math.  A couple of days ago she was playing with one of the 100 blocks for MathUSee.  It is a 10 by 10 grid of squares.  She asked me, "Mom, what is 10 10's?"  Then she immediately went on to ask, "What is 10 + 10 + 10 + 10 + 10 + 10 + 10 + 10 + 10 + 10?"  I said to her, "What is it, Miriam?"  Without a pause, she yelled, "100!" with a big grin on her face.

That's abstract thinking for a 5 year old girl!  2 of her older sibs are major "math kids" so it is not too surprising but wow, fun.  I think math is going to come very easily to that girl, as it has for Isaac and Naomi.

Speaking of Naomi, she is toiling away at fractions and they are a bit hard for her.  A challenge is a good thing. Right now we are reviewing the rules for multiplying and dividing and adding and subtracting.

I'm pleased with how Naomi and Lydia are doing with writing.  Lydia has made substantial progress with putting her thoughts down on paper.  Naomi is writing like a beautiful maniac.  Check out her blog if you have any questions about that.  She wrote a LONG, involved, and interesting fairy story for her newsletter and posted it on her blog.  It is quite amazing for a girl her age, I think.

Isaac continues to do very well in math and reading, with writing being a challenge.  We are doing writing eight exercises, a form of midline exercise, to help him with letter reversals.  Isaac and Joseph are also doing other daily midline exercises from Dianne Craft's book.

In the middle of all this activity is of couse baby Sarah, who is 9 months old. I took her in for a well child checkup, and was shocked and dismayed to find that she had plummeted in the weight chart in the last 3 months.  At 6 months, she was on the 40th percentile weight line for her age group.  Yesterday, she had dropped to the 5th percentile.  The practical upshot is that only gained a little more than a pound in 3 months and is still well under 16 lbs.  Her height and head circumference grew as expected so we think she just hasn't been eating enough.  I feel terrible for not noticing, but we've never had a hungry baby who was so chipper. She has slept beautifully and is usually a content child, so really did not act like a baby who wasn't getting enough to eat.  However, I've been supplementing with formula after nursing her, and she has been attacking the bottle.  It is no huge surprise, but my milk supply is inadequate.  This has happened before but I thought I was doing better this time around.  Nope.

So, I'm going to feed this girl up and she is going to be drinking a lot of formula.  I'll take her back in the month and I hope we'll see better weight numbers.

There is never a dull moment around here. I've thought more than once that if I could JUST focus on homeschooling and the house, I could keep my head above water, so to speak.  It's the extra stuff -- the doctor's appointments and the people coming to check the roof and the need to take cars in for maintenance and so on that seem to be the "straw that break the camel's back."

BUT, we have so many blessings that I take for granted.  I can turn a handle, and water runs out of pipes into our house.  We can drink clean water whenever we want. We have a washer and dryer for our clothing. We have grocery stores to buy food so I don't have to have a giant vegetable garden and can tons of veggies.

I know if I had to do any of those things, my life would be truly overwhelming. As usual, I'm praying for wisdom to prioritize my life, and evaluate how I AM spending my time.  There is limited time and limited energy here, and I must allocate my resources wisely.

And I must trust my precious Lord and Savior.  Yahweh gave us these children and He led us to homeschooling. He WILL make a way for us to do what we should do.  He will not provide the strength to do what is extraneous and outside His will.  May we have the wisdom to discern what His particular will is.