Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Whew, I have lost the month of December.  Hard to believe that is will be 2010 in a few days.  What a year.  I had a couple of really tough weeks in the last month.  My planning wasn’t going well, and I was feeling like we had not accomplished enough for the year. Ben wasn’t doing well with his grammar (I have subsequently gotten a new curriculum). Matthew has really been pushing hard against math, he has hit a bump in where he does not like to perform the minutia of math, you know, the step by step calculations that are involved in most equations.  He prefers to do it in his head, and if he can’t then he has been refusing to do it.  Needless to say, I hit a low which was topped  off with us all getting a bout of the stomach bug last week.  We ended our semester early and are now on break.  I will need to make some tweaks for next year, planning that I will start next week.  I feel like I have let some of the fun of homeschooling go in an attempt to “get things done” .  I think that I need to try to do more unit studies, and try to tie in the grammar, spelling and handwriting into those larger projects.  Let math take off in a balance between what they like and what they must do.  Grammar will remain difficult but I think I need to be more involved in Ben working through it.  I also want to supplement Science and History for Ben as he needs to be pushed more.  He has taken an interest in Mythology and reading about it on his own over the break and I ought to exploit that.  And finally we need more field trips.

But anyway…… we are doing it.  Now, I am getting a much needed rest and I am enjoying the holiday season.  I would like to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.  As always, I will try to do better, and write more regularly next year, no matter the drama  or difficulty or lack of time.  My only plans at the moment: catching up on my sleep.  Merry Merry.

 

Peace

I sit here at 1:40pm on a Tuesday afternoon, we have yet to accomplish ANY academic work today, and surprisingly I am not panicking.  As I type, I look out the front window and see the kids (dressed in inappropriate clothing for a mild December  afternoon Including one pair of rain boots, an oversized short-sleeved soccer shirt, at least one barefoot and 2 in socks and not a coat to be seen) playing on the driveway and drawing on chalk.  They have been out there fro almost an hour after they departed the lunch table with a potato chip and a hammer to see what might happen (OK OK the result is predictable but you tell that to a group of enthusiastic scientists).  At any rate, I am sure we are solidifying the impression to all the neighbors that homeschoolers are crazy and the children are not only not educated but neglected to boot.

So, I sit here, 1:47 ( so, I’m a slow typer, so what?), fire crackling a few feet away from me,  puppies sleeping by the door and I realize it is actually peaceful in the house… dare I say quiet? You can be sure, I am NOT calling them back in to start their work.  It may be a late afternoon but  moments like this are far to precious to waste……oops here comes one, barreling inside (with a hammer). Oh well.  It was nice while it lasted.  OK then,  on to academics.