I've been up to my eyeballs in the summertime things that need to be done. Between plotting new ideas for a parenting the gifted chat, managing swimming lessons, returning from our trip to Statsia, and trying to re-find our homeschool groove, I've been a wreck.
Right now, we're looking at DreamBox for math. It seems engaging enough, though a real review will be coming as time goes. I'm also working on a knitting project, and trying to keep my medication from taking over my life.
Interestingly, the big thing I've learned in the last three weeks is that our family is not in any way cut out for the Monday to Friday, 9:00 to 3:00 schooling gig. We've been getting up for swimming lessons (which start at nine) the last two weeks, and I feel the worst I've felt in a long time. None of us get enough sleep, we're all cranky, crabby and obnoxious by the end of any given day, and really, it just isn't for us.
And so, I leave, as it's the end of a day and cranky has set in, but leave behind the idea that perhaps "The Real World" isn't the best place for some of us, and maybe that's not entirely a bad thing.
Homeschooling Hatters: The Adventures of a Gifted, Asynchronous, Eclectic, Homeschooling Family
Monday, July 29, 2013
Saturday, July 6, 2013
So many options!
My lovely friend TheYoungerMrsWarde from Sceleratus Classical Academy asked me a question today - when Monkey is done with the lessons in Reading Eggs, what next? We both did some poking around and are finding something mildly disturbing with the program: there IS no next. There is Reading Eggspress, which is supposed to be what's next, but Reading Eggs leaves off at emergent / beginning readers, and Eggspress picks up at basic chapter book readers. So what do you do in the middle?
I'm working on that now. Mrs Warde has a slight edge over the Mooselandia House, in that she has two boys, and where one goes, the other is soon to follow. Monkey, however, has no such inspiration, and works much slower, as there is no competition - real or perceived - to drive him along. I did some thinking. Right now, I am figuring to do our reading in a slightly different format, which is to sit down to-damn-gether and read books together (I read a page, he reads a page, etc) until his skills are boosted enough for Eggspress to take over. In the meantime, bumping up the quality of his bedtime stories, as well as playing audio books, seems to be a good start. It's something I think I'm going to be working on. Monkey loves the idea of reading to learn, but he would much prefer someone else do the reading, as he "can't."
Today I also heard about Dragon Box. Again. I keep meaning to sign us up for it, as it's algebra in game format, but I worry - our math curriculum is such that Monkey isn't even trying subtraction yet. I don't want to set him up to fail. Jen over at Laughing At Chaos, however, tells me this will be fun, even if Monkey can't subtract - her younger got into it before he could subtract well also. So I'm figuring to give it a shot.
There are so many options available these days - it's just so hard to be the pioneer on them! I'm glad I have other folks looking out for me, and for me to look out for as well. It may not truly take a village, but it certainly doesn't hurt one little bit to have a community!
~~~~~~~~~~
Today's story:
Monkey has been obsessed with eggs recently. And hatching. And trying to figure out why, if human beings are formed from eggs, they do not also hatch. Today, however, he went one step further - if he grew inside me... where did I grow? And if I grew inside his grandmother, where did SHE grow? It was a ton of fun watching the gears go around as he wrapped his head around the idea that everyone has a mother, and that not a single one of us hatched. (And no, we neither are birthed from, nor pee through, our vulvas. Yes, this is the sort of conversation we have on a daily basis at our house.)
I'm working on that now. Mrs Warde has a slight edge over the Mooselandia House, in that she has two boys, and where one goes, the other is soon to follow. Monkey, however, has no such inspiration, and works much slower, as there is no competition - real or perceived - to drive him along. I did some thinking. Right now, I am figuring to do our reading in a slightly different format, which is to sit down to-damn-gether and read books together (I read a page, he reads a page, etc) until his skills are boosted enough for Eggspress to take over. In the meantime, bumping up the quality of his bedtime stories, as well as playing audio books, seems to be a good start. It's something I think I'm going to be working on. Monkey loves the idea of reading to learn, but he would much prefer someone else do the reading, as he "can't."
Today I also heard about Dragon Box. Again. I keep meaning to sign us up for it, as it's algebra in game format, but I worry - our math curriculum is such that Monkey isn't even trying subtraction yet. I don't want to set him up to fail. Jen over at Laughing At Chaos, however, tells me this will be fun, even if Monkey can't subtract - her younger got into it before he could subtract well also. So I'm figuring to give it a shot.
There are so many options available these days - it's just so hard to be the pioneer on them! I'm glad I have other folks looking out for me, and for me to look out for as well. It may not truly take a village, but it certainly doesn't hurt one little bit to have a community!
~~~~~~~~~~
Today's story:
Monkey has been obsessed with eggs recently. And hatching. And trying to figure out why, if human beings are formed from eggs, they do not also hatch. Today, however, he went one step further - if he grew inside me... where did I grow? And if I grew inside his grandmother, where did SHE grow? It was a ton of fun watching the gears go around as he wrapped his head around the idea that everyone has a mother, and that not a single one of us hatched. (And no, we neither are birthed from, nor pee through, our vulvas. Yes, this is the sort of conversation we have on a daily basis at our house.)
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