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January 17, 2007
Homeschooling Update
What's going well:
We're in a good rhythm with daily lessons, with a good mix of curricula, not-curricula, and free time.
Math is going well for all three older boys. Connor will finish Singapore 5B this week. Aidan is flying through Right Start Level D.
Latin is going well for Connor, using Using Latin Book One with some Henle thrown in. It's only not going well for Aidan because I've become very lackadaisical with his Latin. I see more and more that Latin works better 1) when they're older, and 2) when they know some good amount of English grammar first. So anything I've said in the past about starting Latin young and not worrying about English grammar? Scratch that. I was wrong.
Classical Writing is going well for Connor and Aidan both. I've figured out how to have them both do the same model, but at different levels. I've finally figured out how to teach this program, without the workbooks, fully customized. I have read the Homer Core book, and it did not daunt me. Victory is mine!
We're reading some good books. We've FINALLY finished D'Aulaire's Greek Myths and Famous Men of Rome, and have moved on to a Guerber collection of Norse Myths and Famous Men of Greece. Still reading Farmer Boy. Their last bedtime book with Daddy was, er ... Hunt for Red October. What can I say? We're a little different. Their personal books right now consist of a Trek novel (what else?), David Weber's Bolo, and Bradbury short stories.
We're starting Hamlet. The boys picked Hamlet for two reasons: First, because they've memorized the Simpsons spoof of it ("Nobody outcrazies Ophelia!"). And second, because I got them a version with Patrick Stewart. We watched half of it tonight and they did well - they hung in there, at least, and for the most part understood what was going on.
Griffin is listening to the history readings and participating, which is huge.
Out of the house, they're getting two days of PE (one day of Karate, one of organized physical games), more LEGO engineering, and an American history class. The American history class was an accident; I had signed them up for a world percussion class, but it was cancelled. Bummer. We don't need help with history, but we sure do need help with music.
They're also going to do a LEGO League group, so we've got LEGO and engineering work coming out our ears.
What's not going well:
It's still frustrating, learning how to "school" this many kids. Connor and Aidan take all my time, which is not right ... but I don't know how else to manage. The little boys don't get read to enough. They don't get enough attention, period. Then again, my baseline for "enough" is probably skewed. I'm sure they get as much attention as most kids do, they just don't get as much as the first two did.
Piano is a nightmare. Next year I've got to reprioritize so that we can afford out-of-the-house lessons. Teaching them myself does not work, when when I think of starting to teach the younger two as well I begin to hyperventilate and crave large amounts of alcohol and chocolate. Mostly alcohol.
Come to think of it, spelling is a nightmare, too. But Connor *needs* it.
We only get three days, really, to accomplish our own things, since the other two are out of the house.
On the other hand, those three days really are enough for us to do a decent job at a classical education, which is a good thing. It's not my ideal, but it's enough. That's good, and interesting, don't you think?
Posted by lynx at January 17, 2007 11:51 PM
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Comments
hi! I have been reading your blog for a while but didn't realize - do you have 4 boys? That's what we have. It's so challenging to deal with the different age groups. Mine are 6mos, almost3, 9 and 12. I'd love to share ideas for managing this. I really miss read-aloud time, too.
Posted by: amy at January 25, 2007 6:30 AM