The Saturday morning following the last Friday of the month comes entirely too early.
Last night was the local Homeschool Parents' meeting. The format for this tends to go like this:
7p-8p: Arrival and introductions
8p-9p: Topic Discussion
9p-10p: Free chat
10p-11p: Stand outside and continue to chat in the winter weather.
The chats are usually held at Chapter's, and they close at 10, hence the last item on the agenda. Last night's topic was games and their uses in homeschooling. Our speaker covered games like Axis and Allies and Assyria (both history focused), as well as Ticket To Ride (trains and expansion), and a couple zombie games. It was a lot of fun, and I think I found more than a few games I'd like to get for LP as opportunity arises.
I spent the free chat end of the evening talking with a mom who is homeschooling her 13yo daughter, and we talked about all sorts of things. Not the least of which being to follow one's gut... and that the Elgin County Home Learners were going to be going on a field trip to their farm soon. They have a farm. I could die of jealousy. Anyhow, I'm emailing her today, as they have chicks due for hatching, and LP just covered eggs in preschool, so... perfect dovetail. Plus, they have chickens (duh), goats, and an orchard. So, a great time to visit, and a very educational visit at that.
I will probably do another quick bunch of reading assessments today. We'll see what LP is able to do, and what he isn't, and then I can try to catch up with him again. In the meantime, it is once again COLD outside, which shoots the idea of going out to play right to the ground. Ah, well. I have potato salad to make, a call with Hammie and Bupba to expect, and a whole load of other things to do, so that's probably not for the bad after all.
Saturday, March 31, 2012
Friday, March 30, 2012
Back to "work."
So it's been about a month since we've done any formal reading work. Five weeks, in fact. We've been working with BOB Books, sure, and we bought the LeapFrog DVDs for reading - talking letters, talking words, and complex words (Word Caper), and he has watched them mildly incessantly, but we haven't sat down and done much in the way of "sit and read" type focused lessons. In fact, we left off with that at Lesson 42 on 2/20. That lesson was "ck," and the next bunch of lessons are all blends.
Now, I have a mild problem with the reading program, which is that the student and the teacher sections are in one book, on one page, all merged. This is awful for LP, who is easily distracted. He tries to read ALL THE WORDS and not just the ones he should. So, I got some composition books for grades 1-3, and I copy out his words for him to read. It works out a lot better. Anyway, I'd only copied out to lesson 42, so I needed to do some more work if I wanted to get back to the program. So, off I went this morning. I put the LeapFrog DVDs in to occupy LP and keep his mind active, and went to work. I copied out the next two lessons, then realized, I didn't know if we'd need to review the last bunch of lessons - double letters (ss/ll/zz/ff, etc) and that "ck" sound - so I put together a tiny review on a 3x5 index card. He still has his double letters, he still has his ck sound, and he blew through the sample words from the next two lessons with ease. I was astounded. So, I had him do a few more from further along. He's gone through the next four lessons in sample words without a problem.
Once again, I'm astounded, and am stumbling over my own feet to keep up with my preschooler. He may be as far as 10 lessons from where he left off, but he was losing focus, so I opted to set aside the review rather than push it along. Now, truth be told, I'm hesitant to skip the lessons, as he still has major fluency issues, but he can sound out these words. Given that everything up through Lesson 53 is blends, and he's been sounding them out perfectly so far, I don't expect him to have any problems with the remaining lessons. But, he does still sound everything out - and slowly - one letter at a time. So, he can read "fast" and "help," but he reads them /f/-/a/-/s/-/t/... fast, and /h/-/e/-/l/-/p/... help, rather than combining the blend, or anything else faster, but fluency will come with time. I have to remind myself of that one, as it's been so long since I've sounded out any words in my general reading that I tend to forget that fluency is a process.
Anyhow, the general long-story-shorter... I'm going to copy out the next bunch of lessons, teach him the blends as their blended sounds (bl as opposed to b-l), and see where that goes. In the meantime, I'll end up copying more and more as we go, and I can try to put in some time trying to build fluency. The problem I have, though, is that LP gets bored with repetition, so I have to come up with some ideas for continued practice without complete repetition, and hope it works. I have my work cut out for me, I think.
Now, I have a mild problem with the reading program, which is that the student and the teacher sections are in one book, on one page, all merged. This is awful for LP, who is easily distracted. He tries to read ALL THE WORDS and not just the ones he should. So, I got some composition books for grades 1-3, and I copy out his words for him to read. It works out a lot better. Anyway, I'd only copied out to lesson 42, so I needed to do some more work if I wanted to get back to the program. So, off I went this morning. I put the LeapFrog DVDs in to occupy LP and keep his mind active, and went to work. I copied out the next two lessons, then realized, I didn't know if we'd need to review the last bunch of lessons - double letters (ss/ll/zz/ff, etc) and that "ck" sound - so I put together a tiny review on a 3x5 index card. He still has his double letters, he still has his ck sound, and he blew through the sample words from the next two lessons with ease. I was astounded. So, I had him do a few more from further along. He's gone through the next four lessons in sample words without a problem.
Once again, I'm astounded, and am stumbling over my own feet to keep up with my preschooler. He may be as far as 10 lessons from where he left off, but he was losing focus, so I opted to set aside the review rather than push it along. Now, truth be told, I'm hesitant to skip the lessons, as he still has major fluency issues, but he can sound out these words. Given that everything up through Lesson 53 is blends, and he's been sounding them out perfectly so far, I don't expect him to have any problems with the remaining lessons. But, he does still sound everything out - and slowly - one letter at a time. So, he can read "fast" and "help," but he reads them /f/-/a/-/s/-/t/... fast, and /h/-/e/-/l/-/p/... help, rather than combining the blend, or anything else faster, but fluency will come with time. I have to remind myself of that one, as it's been so long since I've sounded out any words in my general reading that I tend to forget that fluency is a process.
Anyhow, the general long-story-shorter... I'm going to copy out the next bunch of lessons, teach him the blends as their blended sounds (bl as opposed to b-l), and see where that goes. In the meantime, I'll end up copying more and more as we go, and I can try to put in some time trying to build fluency. The problem I have, though, is that LP gets bored with repetition, so I have to come up with some ideas for continued practice without complete repetition, and hope it works. I have my work cut out for me, I think.
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
Monday, March 26, 2012
One Day...
One day, I will remember that I have this blog, and update it regularly.
As it stands, I tend to back-burner this place, and I really shouldn't. And so, I'm going to take a step in trying to update more frequently. I'm going to try to be here at least once a week. Wish me luck, 'cause sometimes that doesn't happen.
Anyhow!
Many things are changing in our house. First, I'm waiting for a rheumatologist referral to get a diagnosis for a near-endless litany of things that are wrong with me. I also have an appointment for an MRI, just to make sure I haven't completely screwed up my back. I wonder, and will talk to my doctor about, whether or not my screwed-up knees also factor into this.
Now, the less "hurry up and wait" thing. My Little Prince is... odd. Apparently, he is significantly odd as compared to other three year olds. I've been running to catch up with him for the last year and a half or more, and now we know why. LP is gifted. That's just the sum of it. Now, there's a whole load of BS baggage attached to the term "gifted," but I do mean it in the clinical sense. He is extremely advanced (he is reading CVC words, and is capable of grade 1 math) in some areas, and has the corresponding asynchronous development - he is very behind on his fine motor skill development. He also displays a whole lot of overexcitabilities. He may come out to be twice-exceptional, combining gifted with ADHD, but it is still far too early to tell for sure.
In practical application, this means that LP is neither emotionally nor physically ready to start a full-day junior kindergarten (that's right, 6.5h of school at 3.5-4 years old) in the fall. I'm fine with that, as I've been planning to home school him all along. But in the meantime, I also cannot sit by and neglect my son's very real need for input. Just like when he is dirty, I don't let him stay covered in schmutz, or when he was in diapers, we didn't let him stay in dirty diapers all day... I have to provide the things he needs - be it a bath, a new diaper, or intellectual stimulation. To this end... This fall will see our first official year of home school. I shall be opening Rowena's Browncoat Academy in the fall, student body of 1. LP will have daily reading, math and science - at his own speed, of course - as well as occasional stops in worksheets for handwriting to try to build some of his fine motor skills. He will also be in preschool two days a week, and we will have swimming one day a week, and home school meet-ups once (or more) per week.
I seem to get a lot of blowback on this, but really, it's not exactly like I have a choice. Our local public system is not ready to handle a reading three year old, they don't accelerate, and the only time they place gifted children in classrooms together is after they're in the fifth grade. I'm NOT going to sit idly by and let my son's educational needs go unmet until he's ten. I'm not willing to do it. I'm also not willing to send him to school to be bored, told he's a troublemaker, or worse than all of it, have him believe he's a troublemaker, and hide his abilities in order to "fit in" with the kids around him. I have some work ahead of me, but if I'd thought having kids was going to be easy, I was disabused of that notion several years ago... when I actually, you know, had a kid. I understand that a lot of people are going to think a lot of bad things about me (that I'm pushing my son, that I'm stunting his growth by not putting him in a classroom with same-age and not same-ability children, that he's not really gifted, I just make him study, I'm not genuinely interested in his best-interests, but only in how he can fit some mold I have in my head - and so on; and yes, I've heard ALL of these, even just in the last 6 months). I get it. But this is my son. I'm not going to fail him so that other people will think better of me. That is probably the worst thing a parent could ever do - deliberately neglect their child's needs in order to "fit in better" with their own peers. I go into this knowing it is what is best for him, knowing there are pitfalls, and things I have to be sure we do, and I go into this knowing full well that if it doesn't work out, public school will always be there. It is not my preferred method. Not at all. But that doesn't mean it holds no value - just that it's not my go-to for my child. People are going to think and talk all kinds of bad about me. I know they will. But you know what? Meeting LP's needs, and putting him before my own self-esteem is what I signed on for. It is what I'm going to do. And we will love it, and we will have a wonderful time... just as surely as there will be days we hate it, and just say **** it all, we're going to the park. But, LP's needs will get met, and that is all that matters.
As it stands, I tend to back-burner this place, and I really shouldn't. And so, I'm going to take a step in trying to update more frequently. I'm going to try to be here at least once a week. Wish me luck, 'cause sometimes that doesn't happen.
Anyhow!
Many things are changing in our house. First, I'm waiting for a rheumatologist referral to get a diagnosis for a near-endless litany of things that are wrong with me. I also have an appointment for an MRI, just to make sure I haven't completely screwed up my back. I wonder, and will talk to my doctor about, whether or not my screwed-up knees also factor into this.
Now, the less "hurry up and wait" thing. My Little Prince is... odd. Apparently, he is significantly odd as compared to other three year olds. I've been running to catch up with him for the last year and a half or more, and now we know why. LP is gifted. That's just the sum of it. Now, there's a whole load of BS baggage attached to the term "gifted," but I do mean it in the clinical sense. He is extremely advanced (he is reading CVC words, and is capable of grade 1 math) in some areas, and has the corresponding asynchronous development - he is very behind on his fine motor skill development. He also displays a whole lot of overexcitabilities. He may come out to be twice-exceptional, combining gifted with ADHD, but it is still far too early to tell for sure.
In practical application, this means that LP is neither emotionally nor physically ready to start a full-day junior kindergarten (that's right, 6.5h of school at 3.5-4 years old) in the fall. I'm fine with that, as I've been planning to home school him all along. But in the meantime, I also cannot sit by and neglect my son's very real need for input. Just like when he is dirty, I don't let him stay covered in schmutz, or when he was in diapers, we didn't let him stay in dirty diapers all day... I have to provide the things he needs - be it a bath, a new diaper, or intellectual stimulation. To this end... This fall will see our first official year of home school. I shall be opening Rowena's Browncoat Academy in the fall, student body of 1. LP will have daily reading, math and science - at his own speed, of course - as well as occasional stops in worksheets for handwriting to try to build some of his fine motor skills. He will also be in preschool two days a week, and we will have swimming one day a week, and home school meet-ups once (or more) per week.
I seem to get a lot of blowback on this, but really, it's not exactly like I have a choice. Our local public system is not ready to handle a reading three year old, they don't accelerate, and the only time they place gifted children in classrooms together is after they're in the fifth grade. I'm NOT going to sit idly by and let my son's educational needs go unmet until he's ten. I'm not willing to do it. I'm also not willing to send him to school to be bored, told he's a troublemaker, or worse than all of it, have him believe he's a troublemaker, and hide his abilities in order to "fit in" with the kids around him. I have some work ahead of me, but if I'd thought having kids was going to be easy, I was disabused of that notion several years ago... when I actually, you know, had a kid. I understand that a lot of people are going to think a lot of bad things about me (that I'm pushing my son, that I'm stunting his growth by not putting him in a classroom with same-age and not same-ability children, that he's not really gifted, I just make him study, I'm not genuinely interested in his best-interests, but only in how he can fit some mold I have in my head - and so on; and yes, I've heard ALL of these, even just in the last 6 months). I get it. But this is my son. I'm not going to fail him so that other people will think better of me. That is probably the worst thing a parent could ever do - deliberately neglect their child's needs in order to "fit in better" with their own peers. I go into this knowing it is what is best for him, knowing there are pitfalls, and things I have to be sure we do, and I go into this knowing full well that if it doesn't work out, public school will always be there. It is not my preferred method. Not at all. But that doesn't mean it holds no value - just that it's not my go-to for my child. People are going to think and talk all kinds of bad about me. I know they will. But you know what? Meeting LP's needs, and putting him before my own self-esteem is what I signed on for. It is what I'm going to do. And we will love it, and we will have a wonderful time... just as surely as there will be days we hate it, and just say **** it all, we're going to the park. But, LP's needs will get met, and that is all that matters.
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