Subtitled: Dogs and Brothers are Fun
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| A Baby Brother Trap- By S |
I'm slowly, but surely getting the older boys working independently on their schoolwork. As much as I love the idea of being the one and only person to spoon feed my babies until they are adults...wait a second. I don't love that idea at all. Who wants a 40 year old son lying on the couch asking for a sandwich? Not me.
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| Sharing the Sunny Spot (with me too) |
This second half of the school year, I am focusing on helping IJ achieve scholarly independence. It started with the chart that I mentioned in this post. I also bought him some curriculum that is written to the student with notes to the parents in the back. One might think I'm doing this only because I have my hands full and I can't possibly do it all. While I can't do it all is true, it is not my only reason. One of the reasons we've decided to homeschool is so our kids will learn how to learn. Not only do I not want a 40 year old son lying on the couch asking for a sandwich, I do not want a 40 year old son (or daughter for that matter) that is dependent on hiring an "expert" to solve every problem.
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| "Are you sure you're allowed to do that?" |
While in college, both M and I took a class that was required for our degrees. We took the class in different years, but the professor and book were the same. This professor would lecture for an hour, assign some reading from the text book, and test us twice throughout the quarter. The tests never seemed to have anything to do with the lectures or the reading. Luckily the professor graded on the curve and my 50/100 points ended up being a B or so. We (that would be myself and my friends-not M) constantly complained that the tests had nothing to do with the lectures and he was so unfair. When I met M and we talked about this class, he said this professor was a great professor and he actually made his students think instead of spoon-feeding every test question to the students. Can you guess who got a real A in that class? I bet the rest of the students in his class hated M for setting the curve so high! I know I'm glad God waited to bring M and I together and he wasn't in my class.
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| "Let's see if it really burns. I'll let you know when it gets hot." ~S |
One homeschool subject I've needed to be in control of is science experiments. I've always thought my kids couldn't possibly do any by themselves and there is no way my precious D will let us do anything experiment related. There are no such things as naps that last long enough to get anything done! Experiments are often put off for another day and then forgotten. For a week now I've let IJ follow the directions of this curriculum using this kit himself. It is sometimes scary. Like when IJ started asking where I keep the vinegar and baking soda so he could use chemical energy to blow up a balloon. And when he informed me he was going to convert light energy to heat energy with that magnifying glass. He even made a fly wheel generator all by himself! So for the most part, I'm really enjoying watching him create and learn!
