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Education is a Process, Not a Destination
Jan. 11, 2008
The Bear teared up yesterday when I put the math book away.
One very brave sniff was required before he could go and run for his free time.
Man. I'm loving this.
He did no fewer than FOUR sections--that's eight days' worth--too.
It's so difficult with him because he wants nothing hard and nothing boring. It has to be both entertaining and easy. That balance is NOT simple to find.
We started out with Singapore EB. We did it really over two years--from age 2.5 to 4.5--in spurts. When I started it, DS would get me into these griding three-hour marathons and do three months' worth at a time, and then I wouldn't want to look at the book for weeks.
I like RightStart better than regular Singapore Math, so I decided to switch to that and move back to Kindy just because I liked the order of presentation in RS A so much. So we did that. I was too busy with the house in the first half of 07 to really do anything with him on it, especially since I was so concentrated on READING!!!!! After we moved, I decided to do a trial year of homeschooling, before it "counted" in real K, just to get into the habit and I could finish making my big blunders before it counted.
Well, I made blunders, all right--I wasn't nearly as organized as I needed to be, despite my obsessiveness. (I really, really didn't want to spend some money that now I realize must be spent to have a successful program, among other things. Violin on a violin two sizes too small won't cut it, for instance.)
But on to RS...
For the first two weeks, everything was hunky-dory.
Then the Bear got sick.
And then he got sick again.
And again.
And again.
We just finished up illness #8 for the 07-08 school year this week--and everything he's caught, I've gotten, too, of course.
Anyhow, I decided to cut WAY back. I went back to reading only for a while, with Bible thrown in now and again, until the new year, when I added math back in. In desperation, I have decided to officially homeschool 7 days a week, which means with illnesses, we're getting in 4.5 on average now, about.
Reading's now cruising along at a great place, so I went back to RS A. After about ten minutes, the Bear was right back where he left off--he'd hardly forgotten a thing!
I had tentatively scheduled two lessons per day. Depending upon how long they last, we are currently doing 2-4. Yes, 4. And there are only 77 lessons for 180 instructional days, so each lesson was meant to take about two days on average!
Anyhow, I often look like a crazed camp councilor during lessons. I feel like I should get a free cheerleading outfit. |
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