| The Magic School House |
Where did the time go? Thoughts on my baby gowing up.
My oldest is on spring break in FL with his father. He is 17 and in his junior year. I am left wondering, “Where did the time go? Why didn’t I…? I really should have.”
I have been on the verge of tears for days. I am stuck. I just want to roll back the clock a few years back before he was this wonderful young man preparing to leave me back to when he was just an eager young boy with mischief in his big brown eyes. I could have done better for him. I could have been a better teacher. I could have been a better mother. Looking back, there are things I should have noticed sooner; things I should have said; things I should have taught him. There are times when I should have spoken up, times when I should have listened more, times when I should have held him tighter.
He has enriched my life in immeasurable ways. I just wish I could have been as great of a mother as he deserved. I feel like my chances for teaching him have slipped by unnoticed. He has grown up. I am very proud of the person he is and excited about the person her will become. I am just not ready for him to leave me. He has been the best part of me for such a long time. I want more time.
11:45 PM - Saturday, March 24 - comments {0} - post commentFree multimedia resources for high schoolI came across this today. Its HippoCampus. They have free mutimedia presentations for high school subjects. I think I may incorporate some of the AP History presentations into my son's history schedule. It might be a good break from reading our "spine" text. It would be also good for some extra information on topics I want more emphasis on than the spine gives. If I had found this sooner, I might not have spent so much time and money changing and researching spines.11:52 AM - Thursday, March 15 - comments {0} - post commentWhy are you doing this to me, don't you love me?Don't you just love teenagers? My teen asked me that this morning after I told him he was taking the SAT again in May. My reply is, "Of course I love you, but I want you to get a good job and buy me a boat so I can retire early. I don't want you to live with me for the rest of your life." He then of course thanked me for not wanting him to live at home and promised me a big sailboat for an early retirement. So next week starts SAT practice in addition to our regular studies. We'll be doing SAT math review daily and word roots and vocabulary weekly. I think I have been a little lax on vocabulary practice. I was following the theory that you increase vocab best by reading. However, I did great on my SAT verbal and I think a big part of that was the intense vocabulary that my English teacher stressed. So, in the next 6 weeks we are going to make up for two years of no vocabulary. I think this will be good for me at least. Expect to see lots of new words volleyed about. 4:06 PM - Friday, March 9 - comments {0} - post commentHow do you homeschool a teenage boy?My ds is 17. He is showing signs of being more man than boy. He is finishing up his Junior year of highschool, and I am shocked and amazed. There are so many things I want him to read and do before he graduates. I am not ready for my baby to go out into the big wide world.I think that next year I will have him take 3 classes at the local cc and just do English and SAT prep at home. I just don't feel that me teaching him is working anymore. I think that what works best for us at this point, is cooperative learning. He and I read the same books and discuss it or work through it together. He isn't interested at all in me "teaching" him something. Maybe he has finally realized that he is in fact much smarter than I am. I think our mother-son relationship is better when I am not also his teacher. I like having deep discussions with him about what we are reading. I like listening to his point of view. It is exciting to see his understanding of the world grow. I love to read his writing and just enjoy how amazing of an author he is. I don't want to be the one to criticize his essay and point out its faults. I want to read it and say "Wow - that was great. I liked how you...." I don't want to quiz him on WWII. I want to read about it with him and listen to his ideas and talk about how crappy the twentieth century has been. I don't want to assign him dates to remember and questions to answer and essays to write. I want to just enjoy being his mother and his champion - not the person that has to point out his short comings. 3:43 PM - Saturday, March 3 - comments {2} - post commentThinking of Returning my SonlightI can't believe I am thinking of doing this, but at some point it doesn't make sense to keep it. I was considering selling it, but then I remembered that we are just at week 11 of our schooling. And by the way, "it" is the 20th century World History. Here is why I am thinking of returning it.
Why I would keep it.
Looking at my list, it seems like my mind is made up. Now anybody have some suggestions for high school history? I am good up to World War II and the beginnings of the Cold war. Maybe I'll have to go to the House of Education and see what I can find for the rest of the twentieth century. Good thing Christmas break is coming. 3:30 PM - Saturday, December 2 - comments {0} - post commentFree Vocabulary ResourceI was investigating vocabulary resources for my soon to be tortured son and found this site. It is at the home of the National Vocabulary Championship. (I never knew there was such a thing). It is a set of free pdf modules from Princeton Review people that has lots of vocab words and how to learn them. I think I will start with these before I buy something. Free is a great price. 6:49 PM - Friday, December 1 - comments {0} - post commentStandarized test results are in - round 1Well, the results are in. The SAT scores have posted. My eleventh grader needs some work. The whole reason he took the SAT's was to see where we needed work. The detailed analysis isn't out until next week, but from the initial score, I know what needs to be done. Interesting fact: 238 kids last year scored a perfect 2400. 4:20 PM - Friday, December 1 - comments {0} - post commentReport Cards and car insuranceMy son has his license to drive. That is awesome. However, insurance for teenagers is expensive. There is also a BIG problem for homeschoolers. The insurance companies give discounts for students with all A's and B's.I don't give grades. What is a homeschool mom to do?  Well, tonight I made a report card for my son. Yep, a report card. And guess what? He got all A's and B's. 6:36 PM - Saturday, November 11 - comments {0} - post commentFinally did itDid what you ask? I finally registered my 11th grader for his SAT and ACT tests. November 4 and December 9. I am glad its not me taking those again. Do you remember when you took your SATs? 2:33 PM - Sunday, October 8 - comments {0} - post comment62 more hoursAt his current rate of learning, T will complete PreCalculus in 62 more hours. He is now complaining that it is hard and boring. However, he keeps working at it. I like that aleks has a "master account" that I can log in and check on his progress. I have learned that I can't just assign him an amount of time to work. I have to assign him a number of concepts to master. He has currently mastered 40 of 265 PreCalc with trig concepts. I am still very happy with the math we have chosen for him this year. We agreed that he didn't have to do math next year if he didn't want to, but I am hoping that he will go on to do calculus next year. Until then, he has 225 more PreCalc concepts to master. 2:58 PM - Saturday, September 16 - comments {0} - post comment
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Description A homeschool and life blog about the adventures of one mom and three kids (my ds Handsome who is 17, my dd Beautiful who is 6, and my dd SweetPea who is 2) and a wonderful husband (known here as hubby). I work full-time three days a week. Hubby works 5 days a week. I am a relaxed classical homeschooler that is making it all up as I go along. Home User Profile Archives
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