Good morning cyber friends! We have had a pretty good homeschooling week. Even the weekend was pretty good for us.

DS has been a Paleontologist and had a great time. DD enjoyed watching him.

He's been reading about roman soldiers and also "The Art of War". He's having a fun time with it.

He watched a show on Killer Squids on the Discovery Channel and now he can't quit talking about it! He's got his sister scared to death to go into the ocean again! He also watched one on jellyfish. He's been having fun.

We've also done some math and writing and whatnot in there too, of course.

Deschooling?

I really thought about doing this whole heartedly when my son first came home to school but I was honestly afraid. I'm afraid of him falling behind and not reaching his full potential.

Well, I think in some ways I should have done this. I've read about what to do when they first come home and this is suggested over and over. Then I joined this online group and recently it stated that this is what someone else did. She brought her one of children home at about the same age as mine so ... What to do? I'm so afraid of him falling behind.

Often I worry that we aren't doing good enough as it is and then I worry that I'm pushing too hard and that we need to relax so that learning can be fun again. Oh the decisions we mothers must make.

I just keep thinking that there have got to be other more active and fun ways of learning. I wanted so badly to use the classical style but I'm finding that there are things that my son is interested in now (such as history) and he is impatient to learn it. SO... any suggestions?

My son would be happy to just do history all the time and he'd just skip all over the place! So, do I let him? Or do we stick with the classical style of doing it in order?

Decisions, decisions...

Funny how things work out....

Yesterday I was talking about how I missed some of my freedom. Well, last night DS finally cleaned his room. (It's passable anyway.) And he set himself up a little work space in there. So, today, he has taken his work up there and is doing it. I guess for today anyway, I have regained a small part of my freedom.

He's been coming down periodically for me to see what he's doing and so far I'm pleased. He took a math test and only missed one. I'm not surprised he missed that one. It was a kind of critical thinking and he's not really good at that. I'm trying to make him work on it but honestly I think that some people just aren't good at critical thinking. I was horrible at puzzles, math, logic as a student but now I love that kind of thing! He seems to take after me in a lot of things and maybe this is one of those. We will of course keep working on it.

I have been working on the kitchen which was very neglected the last month or so. I've been on the computer intermittently as well. I have lots to do and it seems so much easier to do with him working upstairs. I actually need to get up there too but one thing, day at a time.

Not so easy...

Not that I ever really thought it would be easy. I knew it would be hard but I didn't realize how much I would miss some of my freedom. Don't get me wrong. I love homeschooling and I'm very glad we are doing it but...

I miss my alone time. My time for reading, shopping, cleaning and such. My son is 11 and guess that I did think he would be able to do more on his own and probably this is all just part of the adjustment. I don't know.

Maybe it's made worse by the fact that my husband is currently deployed and he left the day we started homeschooling. I'm not whining but that could be part of it. I don't have my crying time during the day that I've had in the past. I get pretty down sometimes and that makes it hard to teach and I get cranky too.

Of course it's no piece of cake for my son either. He misses his dad. He's at an age where he really needs him. Puberty is here and I'm sure it would be nice to have Dad here. He gets down as well and I think he feels a lot pressure to be "the man of the house". Not pressure we have put on him but that he has put on himself. He's very protective of me. I have a hard time sometimes getting him to go do things without me. He does do stuff with our church but lots of times I have to force him. He's always glad I did after the fact but...

We are struggling today. As in everything, we have good days and bad days. This isn't really bad day just ... a tough day.

A New Year...

Well, it's a new year and things so far are going well on our Homeschooling Adventure! DS got right to work after the Christmas break and I am very proud of him.

We are still using Saxon Math which he really likes. Even said today that he is really enjoying his math lately.

The Language Arts through Literature is going pretty well too. We need to be a little more diligent about it but we are enjoying it. We are currently reading the "Bronze Bow".

We have finally moved out of Ancient Egypt. Changing curriculum like we did left us there toooooo long and he was growing very tired of it. We are now in Ancient Africa getting ready to move on to The Assyrians. He wants to skip it all get right to Greece and Rome. I'm tempted to do it but am trying to encourage him to stick with the lesson plans.

We are still struggling with Science. I ordered a new "curriculum" and I think we will like it but can't really start it just yet. While I was waiting for it I checked out a book from the library that we are working through and he is enjoying it I think.

He should be getting back to his guitar lessons this weekend so he's practicing it now. I should be more firm with him and his practicing at home.

That's where we are for now.