today my mom came and took tyren out for a couple hours so maeven and i could get some uninterrupted work done. it went really well! she came in the morning and took him to the preK storytime at fig garden library (a popular one…the librarian that does that particular storytime is quite well loved around here). apparently he had a great time singing and playing and then nana took him to a nearby park and then to lunch at mcd’s. he was quite the happy camper.
in the meantime maeven and i had a successful time. took much longer than i had anticipated, but we got 2 math lessons and a spelling lesson done. there was some whining and crying a couple times when she really wanted to do something else instead (play on the computer), but she got over it and we finally got it all done, and actually pretty fun for most of the time. or at least painless for the most part (other than those whiney moments).
i do realize that she’s not going to love every moment of homeschooling. my goal is to make it as fun as possible, but i know there are times that its just not gonna happen, and we still will have work to get done. but i do feel that if she’s fighting me tooth and nail each and every day over school, that something needs changing. cuz its not working at that point. so i watch to see what it is that works and what doesn’t. and i aim for enjoyment on her behalf. because i strongly feel that if she’s not enjoying the experience, for the most part (again, realizing it can’t ALL be enjoyed every moment), that she’s just not learning. if she’s fighting me, there’s very little that is getting into her brain. there’s walls up at that point. not conducive to learning. so i try to constantly tweak things and keep things interesting…sometimes its hit or miss.
another thing i attempt to do, for those times when its just not so easy to make things enjoyable…i try to keep it short. i’m not always successful at this but i do try. if i can’t make it fun, then at least i can tell her that we’ll be at a stopping point very soon and then we can move on to a topic that she prefers, or a break. this is something that charlotte mason promotes. short lessons. i really like the charlotte mason approach. i need to try to learn more about it and see if there’s more that i could be using from her technique.
anyway, so i consider it a good day if i am able to get the math and spelling done. particularly math, since i’m on a schedule for that. we’re doing 2 lessons a day, and that’s not always easy to get done. and i don’t want to get behind.
i’m very excited about how things are going! i feel like math is going really well, and she is actually learning concepts that are new or not as well understood as they will be once we get through this…so we’re actually getting to a point where we’re not just covering stuff that is far below her abilities. not actually HARD, but just, i think, getting her brain working.
and spelling…holy cow she loves spelling! we are up to 20 words/day now. the book started with just 4 or 5 words and worked its way slowly up. looking ahead it max’s out at 25 words/day. now this isn’t NEW words every day. and they are not entirely different words…they are usually related. in, inning, sinning, spinning, pinning, etc…..its really cool. sequential spelling rocks! and she keeps asking for more lessons! LOL! i usually try to distract her though because i don’t want her to burn out on it.
oh, we also finished this book today.
GOOD BOOK!! we’re still in the middle of this one.
one of my favorites! it occurred to me that maeven might enjoy it because of the dragons, and as usual, i was right! she SO likes the same sort of books as me! love it! its a bit advanced in the words but i don’t think that’s a bad thing…i explain as we go and for the most part she gets things. when she’s confused, she lets me know. and the stuff she misses this time around she’ll probably get the next time around. i anticipate she’ll be rereading books like i do. this is like my 3rd or 4th time reading this very book. its really that good, i will probably read it again in the future…and all the other dragonriders of pern books. or most of them. i have read most of them at least twice. and there’s ALOT. i don’t think they would all be appropriate for her at 7 and 8 though. but this specific one is about a girl, and is fine for maeven. (other books actually talk about adult situations like sex and such…so i’ll be picking and choosing what to read her or just skipping the inappropriate parts.)
anyway, its getting late and i must get to bed…we have a lot more work to do again tomorrow and i don’t have anyone taking tyren tomorrow (today actually, its after midnight)…so i have to try to squeeze some lessons in-between tyren tantrums. sigh then i’ll get a couple uninterrupted hours again on friday when mom takes him to another library storytime.
so we’ll see how it goes. 🙂