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Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Week 6, 8th

Wednesday (see, only 2 days late)

WOW, what a great time we had with my mom here. We didn't do real touristy things but there was a lot of chicken watching, egg gathering (five of the six now lay consistently) and puppy wrangling. We also took in a guest pug to watch for a week and the chaos was palpable. I don't like guest dog sitting when I'm trying to train a puppy. At all. I really like the dog but not this week, when I've had my mother here and the chickens and home school and trying to keep a puppy organized with a dog (even a cute one) that is in the way and doesn't "do" our rules, messes it up just a bit. It didn't help that husband told me the dog was coming 2 days before then he went to pick it up and came home with it 2 days early from the original time he told me. I think the dog goes home Sunday and I can get into actually seriously training Alice without the distraction of an oversexed old pug or a mother I want to play with instead of paying attention to poop schedules.

School, oh that pesky thing; we did it fine. The Banker was on his regular schedule, more or less, and managed to get through it while we futzed here, played out and were generally distracting in either our presence or not.

Mum left yesterday, as did husband for a quickie business trip. My plans for 2 free days went out the window but it looks like I might get a portion of one today. I just want a day I don't have to go anywhere or cook or clean something, I just want to relax. I don't think that's in my cards but I will continue to strive for it in my head.

Back to school, I do digress, I think it's going well. Banker is managing to keep up with the 2 biggest subjects, history and literature. I have an expectation he complete a week's worth of work in one day on those subjects and he's producing beautifully. I think math is going well, he's mastering the subjects and we are ready to order the Algebra package. I think he's figured out how to learn from the dvd as opposed to watch it and then complete the problems using tools he'd gotten in school. I didn't realize that is why he was struggling through a couple of the lessons. I don't think the Banker thought he'd be learning actual new processes and formulas and got frustrated when the methods he'd learned in 6th grade no longer worked through the entire problems he was being given. Successes, like he's been getting now, breed success and joy and he's back to humming and singing while he does his math and that is always a good thing.

Physics is going well, he is working through the Khan Academy videos then doing followup activities on 2 websites and then he has an iPad book with activities and quizzes that he is working through. Good stuff.

Science continues to frustrate me. At the moment he's working through the Khan Academy astronomy and cosmology videos, taking fabulous notes and discussing the theories with me in reasonable detail. I still feel it's lacking somewhere and is the source of my fretting and worry that I am sending him down a path of becoming a terribly annoying (with just enough knowledge to drive people crazy) drive thru MacDonalds professional. *sigh* *this is a good place to throw in a "you're not breaking him" comment.

He has started to read Divergent, my mum brought it for him with high praise from my niece who is the same age as the Banker. I hope he learns to enjoy books again, he used to and has lost the love of it somewhere...it's a mission of mine to get him back into the sheer joy of books. I would happily let him use a book as a course, read 2001 and get back to me in 2 months... Here's your next subject, honey, and hand him a book.

HEY, wait a minute. That's a GREAT idea. And yes, that just came to me from my fingertips as I type this. Why don't I give him 2001 A Space Odyssey and have him review and research the details as he reads it AS his science class for the rest of this "semester". HEY, I'm going to think about that with a reasonable amount of seriousness today.

The Banker is doing well with his photography, he takes 20 pics on one subject matter. He edits then logs them and puts them in a cyber album. We review them and discuss the voice and feeling of the pictures. I'd like to get him a more sophisticated photo editing program, I'll look for something online I think initially.

He loves the CoOp and is working hard at it. He loves his Volunteering class where he assists the teacher in a 3-4 yr old class. He loves his Art Class and can't wait to show us what he's produced. He has a stronger affinity for the Art than I thought he would, excellent. He loves his Spanish Class and works hard in it. He has a lot of home work, considering it's a CoOp and takes it seriously to complete and complete well. I'm proud of him.
I am doing my CoOp volunteering weekly. I think there are 9 weeks left. I can't even describe my own experience and out of respect to the people who work so hard to make it happen, I am not going to describe it here. There are 9 weeks left. I can do anything 9 times. I can do anything 9 times that results in the Banker, my sweet boy, being so happy and enjoying it so much. This, by the way is why I intend on being a burden to him when I'm older, not that I begrudge any happiness he may experience as a result of this but my unhappiness is the reason I'll show up on his door step with bags in my hand and a drool bucket over my arm..."I'm here, dear...remember CoOp". HAHAHAHAH

I think I'll grade some of the Banker's work from last week (ooops) and de-"my mom is coming!" my house. After that, I think I'll take the damned day off.

/Tracy

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