School Days
If you're following me on Facebook you'll know by now that on Tuesday Kenna and Natalie had their first day of school (2nd and 1st grades). What a big change for our family! They've been pretty happy.
This was precipitated by lots of frustration on my part with getting Logan to STAY FOCUSED on his schoolwork. He is a super smart kid but he has been struggling since September with getting his work done, asking for help, staying on task. His schoolwork is harder this year than he's used to (the last two years at the charter school were way to easy) and he is having to spend more time on it. I think that's part of it. Plus he found everything I did with the little girls way more interesting than challenging coursework. He's a great big brother, but he really does have to work on his education and not worry so much about helping me, or reading to the girls. Finally this last Saturday I was complaining to Josh, again, that Logan was driving me crazy and he said "this has got to change immediately". We decided our two options were to put Logan in school or to put the girls in school. Logan hasn't expressed a ton of interest, and mid-semester of middle school seemed harsher than mid-semester of elementary school (plus Kenna has been anticipating attending public school at some point). So the girls it was. I registered them on Monday and they started the next day.
Homeschool has been so nice. Logan really does need a lot of my attention right now. Having more of my attention has been really beneficial to him already. I'm able to get a better sense of what he needs help with and to have time to create more personalized lessons. He's just not quite ready to be an independent learner. I have enjoyed taking care of Faith and the home a little more, too - it's something I've NEVER really done, so that's good.
Today after their first week, I took a few minutes to check in with their teachers.
Kenna is doing fabulously at school. I met with her teacher, who is one of those fun, energetic types, and she just raved about Kenna. She ran Kenna through some tests to get a sense of where she is academically and of course Kenna scored above grade level for everything. She is smart and friendly, and on top of things. Her teacher adores her.
Natalie's teacher hasn't got quite as much good stuff to stay. But it's hard to tell with personality differences too - she seemed in a rush. She said Nat was shy in class and not responding to questions. Natalie needs to work on her fine motor skills (handwriting), and her teacher didn't say it but I think Nat is a little behind in her reading. All this sounds EXACTLY like Natalie - who doesn't like practicing anything and has struggled with learning to read a bit (she's actually making great progress now but she got off to a slower start). I was pretty sure Natalie and public school would be a more difficult fit than Kenna and school. Natalie is like that quintessential little boy who just is not quite ready for the structure of school. I think she's pretty happy but it completely wiped her out this week. On Thursday night she was asking to go to bed at 6:30 - and if you know Nat you know that she HATES going to bed! That told me that school was a pretty big adjustment for her. The girls are getting up as early as usual, so I'm going to keep pushing their bedtime earlier until they get adjusted.
Anyway, that is how things are going now. I think for the last three months of school it's going to be a pretty good arrangement.
This was precipitated by lots of frustration on my part with getting Logan to STAY FOCUSED on his schoolwork. He is a super smart kid but he has been struggling since September with getting his work done, asking for help, staying on task. His schoolwork is harder this year than he's used to (the last two years at the charter school were way to easy) and he is having to spend more time on it. I think that's part of it. Plus he found everything I did with the little girls way more interesting than challenging coursework. He's a great big brother, but he really does have to work on his education and not worry so much about helping me, or reading to the girls. Finally this last Saturday I was complaining to Josh, again, that Logan was driving me crazy and he said "this has got to change immediately". We decided our two options were to put Logan in school or to put the girls in school. Logan hasn't expressed a ton of interest, and mid-semester of middle school seemed harsher than mid-semester of elementary school (plus Kenna has been anticipating attending public school at some point). So the girls it was. I registered them on Monday and they started the next day.
Homeschool has been so nice. Logan really does need a lot of my attention right now. Having more of my attention has been really beneficial to him already. I'm able to get a better sense of what he needs help with and to have time to create more personalized lessons. He's just not quite ready to be an independent learner. I have enjoyed taking care of Faith and the home a little more, too - it's something I've NEVER really done, so that's good.
Today after their first week, I took a few minutes to check in with their teachers.
Kenna is doing fabulously at school. I met with her teacher, who is one of those fun, energetic types, and she just raved about Kenna. She ran Kenna through some tests to get a sense of where she is academically and of course Kenna scored above grade level for everything. She is smart and friendly, and on top of things. Her teacher adores her.
Natalie's teacher hasn't got quite as much good stuff to stay. But it's hard to tell with personality differences too - she seemed in a rush. She said Nat was shy in class and not responding to questions. Natalie needs to work on her fine motor skills (handwriting), and her teacher didn't say it but I think Nat is a little behind in her reading. All this sounds EXACTLY like Natalie - who doesn't like practicing anything and has struggled with learning to read a bit (she's actually making great progress now but she got off to a slower start). I was pretty sure Natalie and public school would be a more difficult fit than Kenna and school. Natalie is like that quintessential little boy who just is not quite ready for the structure of school. I think she's pretty happy but it completely wiped her out this week. On Thursday night she was asking to go to bed at 6:30 - and if you know Nat you know that she HATES going to bed! That told me that school was a pretty big adjustment for her. The girls are getting up as early as usual, so I'm going to keep pushing their bedtime earlier until they get adjusted.
Anyway, that is how things are going now. I think for the last three months of school it's going to be a pretty good arrangement.
I know Leah comes home wiped out every day, and it's only 3 hours of school. It is a big adjustment to go from being in your home environment to being surrounded by people all day long. Hope they keep adjusting well. I'm so glad Logan can benefit from your focused teaching. He's a lucky kid. Loves!!
ReplyDeleteSounds like a good arrangement indeed. I admire your ability to adjust - as needed - for the specific needs of your kids. So many homeschooling Mom's I think devout themselves to it almost like a religion. I love that you stay flexible enough to accommodate the fluctuation of kids' needs and changing circumstances. Congrats to the girls and to Logan as well.
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