"Mom, what school does a scientist go to?"
This is a question my 5.5 year old asked me yesterday.
Don't you love it when that happens? Who does not want his child to end up to be a lover of science and knowledge. As a matter of fact, as difficult as Zach can be, in that he only likes to learn about what he want to learn at the moment, these days he has been into science, wanting to do a science experiment all the time. It has been pretty cool.
I guess I better enjoy it while it last . . .
I just came across this website neok12, and thought I would share. It has educational videos on a whole lot of school subjects ranging from science topics to math, language art and social studies. It is definitely worth checking out.
For a little while we have been trying to have our boys help at home and be more involved in the household tasks (more commonly called chores). I have tried using charts and the likes but for some reason these never worked. So, on my mission to working on dilligence with our boys, we have instilled a few tasks that they have to do. They are: putting away their toys and setting up the table. They usually put away the toys together, and they set the table (one in the morning and the other one for dinner) on alternating weeks.
More recently, due to an interest in washing dishes (probably caused by a love of water), I have given them the task of clearing the table and washing the dishes. I purchased some plastic plates and bowls and now they wash and put awayin the dishwasher (we have a countertop one), alternating morning and evening. It's been working so far. I do not use charts anymore, since it does not seem to motivate them. What i do instead is do a lot of talking about being diligent, our need to do our part and the whole complaining mentality that pops up more often than I would like.
I have thought about giving allowances for chores, but somehow, in accord with my husband, don't seem to settle on doing this; mainly because we feel that we want them do do their part out of love and a sense of responsibility, and not reward motivated. So, we agreed to just start giving them allowances every week (25 cents for Joho and 30 cents for Zach). It will not be directly connected to the tasks that they do, but we will make the point (we have not started yet) that since they do help in the house they will start getting their allowances.
For those looking for systems, there is a very nice one at handipoints. I did not use it myself, just because it would not work for my kids, but it does look pretty useful. A few other sites are also, Workingmom.com and Notebookingnook (scrool down to the page there is a nice school and chore chart free printable).
A week ago, Zach had his group violin recital. In the Suziki school, they encourage the children to be part of a group along with their private lesson, so as to encourage playing within a group and, also, to be encouraged while seeing others learning the instrument. I have thoroughly enjoyed the group classes. At the end of the year they have a recital for all the levels. Here are pics of Zach's class.
One with his teacher
And the brother who fell asleep toward the end of the one hour recital.
We had a great time on our visit to some friends of ours in Kalamazoo MI. Our 7 hours drive went well, with some sparse "Are we there yet?" and "This is taking a long time". But we made it there and back.
I am a christian wife and mother to 2 beautiful young boys who just started on the homeschooling journey. My desire is to train my children in the ways of the Lord while giving them a good education, all for the glory of our great and wonderful God. The road is not easy, specially when you try to do things God's way but the reward is well worth the effort.
To God be the Glory!
