This week has been mixed. We've had some really great times, and some not-so-great ones. I'm discovering that there's not school and life, there's just life. I'm realizing that both Dallin and I need to de-school. Dallin in general seems to be handling homeschooling quite well. I mean, really, I can't complain. He's had a couple of relatively minor little incidents of telling me he doesn't like my school, but they've all been related to him being frustrated that I won't let him play on the computer or something (when, supposedly, they watch movies at "regular school"). If that's the worst of it, we're doing good!
I guess it's mostly my own inadequacy kicking in. And the reality of how tiring it is, at least until I get used to this new rhythm (and this new bedtime and wake-up time!). Waldorf is a very teacher-intensive method; it's definitely not me giving him some books or materials and just supervising. Another challenge is trying to maintain the rhythm, to get little kids in gear in the morning when there is nowhere any of us have to be. I AM the rhythm, since there is noone and nothing else creating any structure. I feel like we are getting all the school things done each day, but I am not getting the time (or having the energy) to do all the prep work I need to be doing, and that makes some of lessons feel very scattered.
And to top it all off, we've had some major interruptions in our lives in the last 1.5 weeks. Everything is good, but things are in limbo, and major changes could be in store in the near future. I've been pre-occupied, something I did not want to be during our first two weeks of homeschool! As much as it's all good, it's still like, "Why now?" If it all works out, it will be well worth it, but at this point there is no guarantee. We've already had to miss a day of school to take care of one of these things, and I've discovered that switching school days does not sit well with the kids. And now my aunt died and that means switching school days again next week so we can attend her funeral, which means having school on Labor Day, which means I don't get my planning day and Dallin will be oh-so-thrilled about having school on a holiday. (Which we need to do because we're on a two-day rhythm in our lessons, and missing a day throws off the entire week.) I expected this sort of thing to happen at some point, and I am glad that we can be flexible--I just didn't expect it all in the first two weeks when we are still trying to get a routine in place and establish a pattern for doing things.
I am eager for next week, to start our "real" curriculum, as we head into language arts. The past two weeks have been more preliminary activities to get us ready for the rest of the year... but it's felt quite slow, and I'm ready to feel like we are doing more.
This is an example of form drawing:
I drew the top example, the bottom is one of Dallin's practice attempts. It's harder than it looks! It takes a good deal of control for him to do it well! You can see that the third curved line kind of loses it at the bottom. But the others he really got!
I guess it's mostly my own inadequacy kicking in. And the reality of how tiring it is, at least until I get used to this new rhythm (and this new bedtime and wake-up time!). Waldorf is a very teacher-intensive method; it's definitely not me giving him some books or materials and just supervising. Another challenge is trying to maintain the rhythm, to get little kids in gear in the morning when there is nowhere any of us have to be. I AM the rhythm, since there is noone and nothing else creating any structure. I feel like we are getting all the school things done each day, but I am not getting the time (or having the energy) to do all the prep work I need to be doing, and that makes some of lessons feel very scattered.
And to top it all off, we've had some major interruptions in our lives in the last 1.5 weeks. Everything is good, but things are in limbo, and major changes could be in store in the near future. I've been pre-occupied, something I did not want to be during our first two weeks of homeschool! As much as it's all good, it's still like, "Why now?" If it all works out, it will be well worth it, but at this point there is no guarantee. We've already had to miss a day of school to take care of one of these things, and I've discovered that switching school days does not sit well with the kids. And now my aunt died and that means switching school days again next week so we can attend her funeral, which means having school on Labor Day, which means I don't get my planning day and Dallin will be oh-so-thrilled about having school on a holiday. (Which we need to do because we're on a two-day rhythm in our lessons, and missing a day throws off the entire week.) I expected this sort of thing to happen at some point, and I am glad that we can be flexible--I just didn't expect it all in the first two weeks when we are still trying to get a routine in place and establish a pattern for doing things.
I am eager for next week, to start our "real" curriculum, as we head into language arts. The past two weeks have been more preliminary activities to get us ready for the rest of the year... but it's felt quite slow, and I'm ready to feel like we are doing more.
This is an example of form drawing:
I drew the top example, the bottom is one of Dallin's practice attempts. It's harder than it looks! It takes a good deal of control for him to do it well! You can see that the third curved line kind of loses it at the bottom. But the others he really got!
These are the examples that he put in his special book. You can tell he was getting tired as he got to the last one.
Here he is practicing making a form in playdough with a bamboo skewer. This actually was great because it forced him to slow down. We also do things like drawing the form really huge with sidewalk chalk on the driveway, and he walks and runs it. He honestly loves this and things that is the fun part, especially if it's kind of complicated. One day we were doing a series of straight, horizontal lines, so we went to a nearby church parking lot and he ran all the lines on the parking stalls.
One of those "only in homeschool" moments! I had been having Dallin practice tracing his form in this oatmeal on a baking sheet, and the next thing I knew both kids had all our little wooden animals out and were setting up a little play scene in the oatmeal. He definitely has played with Sariah--pleasantly--much more the past two weeks than in many months before! (Now he tells me all the animals are at the little duck's funeral...)
Today we went to Provo to the Bean Life Science Museum for a field trip. He's been reading the "Animal Stories" series by Thornton Burgess (a naturalist and children's author from early in the 20th century), and it was cool for him to see some of the animals from the books that he had never seen, like a muskrat and a mink. Being a typical 8-year-old boy, Dallin spent most of the museum trip trying to determine whether each animal was a boy or a girl.
They got into the children's playroom and Dallin immediately suggested that they set up all the toy animals for a "fight". Yeah, that's my boy.
Climbing a rock at Canyon Glen Park in Provo Canyon, where we ate lunch.
And, below, trying not to drown in the Provo River. (With mom constantly chiding, "That's too close! Come back closer!")
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