Back in the saddle again!

It's hard to believe that I'm starting on year 2 of homeschooling! I can remember thinking that I could hardly wait till I had a year accomplished, so that it wouldn't be all so new and overwhelming. And honestly, I'm much more relaxed about things now- not sure if it was just a 'head game' or plain experience, but whatever it is I'll take it! This new year also adds another child to our classroom, which will be an interesting change in dynamics.

I was thinking that today we'd officially launch our new school year- but that seems to be a bit redundant since we've been doing school off and on all summer. I'm trying to do the year-round schooling so that we do a bit less each day over a longer period with bigger breaks every few months instead of a huge one in the summer.

Today, though, I sat down with the kids and asked them to tell me what they wanted to learn about/do this year. It gave me a bit more insight into where their interests are, as well as it also gave me further insight into who they are- mainly through what/how they offered up their questions.

My oldest is very introspective and easily discouraged. I'm thinking that maybe this year I'm going to need to do some more one-on-one stuff with him to help boost his confidence in himself and his abilities. I had been trying to have #2 sit in on some of the lessons (to kill 2 birds with 1 stone), but this frustrated #1 when the younger child answered questions before the older one did! :-(

His constant discouraging comparisons today have reminded me of his gentle, fragile spirit- the same one that was being crushed in the regular school system- and how maybe it's still being crushed (albeit in a different way) by how things have been going with home schooling. The past year was frustrating for both of us, and I'm really going to need some divine insight on how to reconnect with him to help him really soar with his school work. We'll have to see...

Child #2 has really started to flourish over the summer with his inquisitive mind. In that way he's very much like me- wanting to know everything about everything. He dislikes/disliked reading, so I've resorted to a 'bribe' of sorts: give me a minimum of 20 min/day till the end of August & I'd buy him a Lego set (only to discover later that it's going to cost me an arm and part of a leg, lol, but if it works- it will be money well spent).

Already I've seen a huge improvement in his reading skills and the side benefits have been great as well- like one-on-one time with him, which is something that is VERY precious to him (and me too) and less complaining about how much he hates reading. It's funny though- ask the kids to pick a book to read and #1 goes for the comics and #2 hauls out the encyclopedia! Just a slight personality difference! ;-)

As for our newest student, child #3 is very much wrapped up in himself with very little concept of others and their feelings. Thankfully learning manners/to be nice were on his list! ;-) His innocence is very sweet- hopefully I will be able to find a way to motivate him gently when the going gets tough and he has to buckle down and get work done instead of being able to play all day. Thankfully he's had a year of being around our home school and has picked up a lot of stuff through 'passive eavesdropping'- just need to figure out how to draw him in to 'active schooling'.

One thing about this little exercise was that it gave me some more ideas about things I could do with them- that they wanted to do (instead of me dictating everything). It will also help me figure out how to keep their interest when teaching some of the things that I need to cover for my PLO's- by using their areas of interest to teach my info.

I think one of my goals this year is to figure out how to connect with each child's learning style so that they can catch a love of learning and take that and soar with it. I want them to believe that they have been given everything that they need to become the person God intended them to be- and to equip them with the tools they need to achieve what they've been created to be. Not just for them- but for a 1,000 generations from now (but that's a whole new post for another day).

Anyway, I've been busy/productive cleaning/purging my house lately- so I should try to get to be at a reasonable hour tonight. I guess another goal of mine should be to get to bed/up earlier so that I'm ready for the day and can get the kids focused/motivated first thing rather than trying to corral them in the afternoon (and then wonder why they aren't impressed)!

G'night!