School can sometimes be a drag. I have to really push my kids to do what they are supposed to do. Some of them think that math lessons should be all games, all the time. They don't have the patience to learn the game before they play, which ends up in us arguing. It's exhausting to work with this one particular child I am writing about. All they ever do is sneak away and play instead of waiting for me to have time to answer their questions. Today when I went to get started for school, some of my kids were less than organized. One in particular couldn't find her geography book nor her science workbook. I gave her her two quizzes without letting her study because of that. I graded her Latin quiz and she got 100% plus the bonus. She finished up Chapter 6 in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe and filled out the workbook. She worked on her composition re-writing fables. Another student sighed over a math workbook with calendar questions. She can't remember calendar anything to save her life. I checked a few boxes in my teacher's guide and...
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| "Go see how many different kinds of grass you can find in the pasture." She's supposed to be doing her schoolwork. "This is schoolwork." |
Dear Leadership Education Diary,
Today was awesome. In fact, this whole week has been pretty great! Shane hit a wall in algebra, but he refused to give up or take a break until next fall and kept right at it. He got all the answers right on the second set of questions. He knows why he struggles in algebra and he is working on what he needs to do: simply write slower and bigger and waste paper! He decided to further work on his fine motor skills playing the violin. He asked me to print off the sheet music for Mario Brothers theme music. When he couldn't figure out what the different symbols meant, I spent some time explaining 8th rests and 16th rests, natural notes vs flats and sharps, and how E and F are a half step apart and E# is F and Fb is E. He figured out the fingering on his own from there; my knowledge begins and ends with the piano. I bought Q*bits the game this week and the older kids have been having a great time playing it. Shane says that it helps him with fine motor skills and Genna likes how it helps with her memory. Fiona is really working on pattern recognition. It's a great game! Daniel was busy reading one of The Magic Treehouse books when I called him to learn a new math game: Addition War. He and Fiona played one round before Genna joined them. While they mobbed the kitchen for lunch, I showed Genna the edge I'm knitting onto a shawl and the complicated math I had to use to perfectly center the pattern with increases on each corner. The calculations kept me awake for a few minutes last night... The rest of the day they spent outdoors: riding bikes, crushing leaves in water to make "scented waters," playing catch with Jason, building a fort with a swing in the woods, and finding owl feathers that matched exactly one other owl feather in our collection. I taught Fiona the difference between a barred owl call and a mourning dove call. I played sound clips of owl calls for Genna and Daniel. Based on what I've read in the online groups of homeschoolers, my kids have a pretty sweet life. Fifteen acres in the beautiful Pacific Northwest and a mom that will let them play? And then stay up late reading in bed with their flashlights? They will be strong and healthy and ready to buckle down and study hard when they are no longer children. They will grow and have strong relationships with their siblings. They will know who they are, what they believe, and that they are loved.
