. . . or something like that.
I’m not sure what else to call it. I’m having one of those “oh my goodness, we are so behind!” kind of moments. I think it’s a normal feeling for many homeschoolers this time of year, but for us, it’s so true. Taking off a couple of months during my mom’s illness, death, and all that goes along with dealing with what comes after, has really set us back a bit. I’m trying not to stress about it, truly I am. People keep telling me the life lessons he’s learning right now are invaluable. Personally, I’d rather he not have to learn those right now though.
I recently mentioned my plan to move more toward unschooling. Well, for some reason, it’s making me nervous today, not to have a plan in place. Maybe because right now the only thing Ben cares to learn more about is Mine Craft. Have your kids discovered this computer game yet? Wow! Or maybe it’s the realization that this is our last year of “elementary” school. Why does “middle school” sound so much scarier?
So, because things have not been very normal around here, I think I will need to make “some” plans, have some minor structure, for the rest of the school year. Mainly just a focus on the 3Rs, with plenty of room for Ben to still explore. Christmas is coming, and he’s getting some cool gifts that I think will help spark his imagination. I’m not going to say more about that, because he likes to read my blog!
Anyway, today we looked at a video at Kahn Academy and completed a math worksheet from Math Mammoth on scientific notation. I was regretting that choice at first, but eventually Ben “got it” and it became fun to give him problems to work on the whiteboard. We’ll continue doing fun math like that and since he really liked the Kahn Academy video, I think we’ll continuing watching those, especially for concepts he’s struggling with.
I also want to focus more on writing. Ben has been asking for a journal, so we got one. I plan to have him write in it each day, sometimes just whatever he wants to write, other times, with more direction. He takes an IEW class twice a month, so I really need to spend some time reinforcing those concepts. But I need to think on how to do that in a way that will encourage him to write, rather than freak him out. He’s easy to freak out with writing assignments, unless I’m writing while he dictates.
Lastly, we really need to bump up the amount of time he spends reading. When he so quickly became obsessed with Mine Craft, I quickly made a rule that he must read an hour for every hour he plays. I wouldn’t say we’ve stuck to that completely, but we’re working toward that goal. I’m developing a reading list for the remainder of the school year, leaving room for his personal choice, while making sure he reads some books I would like for him to read.
Other than that, I’ll leave the rest of our school day open for him to follow his interests, explore with science tools, play and create.
Just typing this out, I feel better already 🙂
