Homeschooling, Day 11

(The 3 munchkins sitting on a table. The 2 younger are waiting for Miss Home School to finish her daily online quiz.) 

Homeschooling is going...well. Actually, MUCH better than I really expected. Ming Wai is an absolute joy to have at home all day, and I don't think I could have said that a few years ago. I'm grateful for the time she had in Public School up to this point. She has matured a lot, and (yes) learned to sit in a desk and just "get 'er done." I just love teaching this little munchkin.

Forgive me if I sound a bit scattered. My in-laws (read: daily 3pm reprieve) are out of town, and I'm a bit tired.

A normal day for us goes something like this.

7:15am : Mom wakes up
7:30am : Wake Siu Jeun up, help him get breakfast and get packed for the day
8:00am : Siu Jeun walks out the door to meet a neighbor for the walk to school
8:00am-ish : Ming Wai wakes up, finds her breakfast. (Interesting to note - for several years, I have mandated a protein filled, balanced breakfast to keep her fueled for school - grain, protein, fruit. Her natural rhythm is NOT the one I had set for her for her previous schedule. She is happiest if she can wake up, munch a Babybel cheese round while sipping a glass of water, and then begin her studies. It is a much more spartan breakfast than I am used to seeing her eat.) 
8:30am : School starts! Usually math first, then reading/spelling/composition, followed by Social Studies, Science, and/or Art
(Baby YingYing wakes up at some point in there, and eats her breakfast while I guide Ming Wai through her books.)
10:30am : BREAK. Everyone, who wants to, gets dressed.
10:50am : load up the car to pick up Siu Jeun from kindergarten
11:10am : We are home. The kids watch a cartoon while I get lunch together
12:00pm : If Ming Wai still has school work to do, we do it. Otherwise, the rest of the day is for play/chores/errands

Not every day is "normal", obviously. Wednesdays, I teach piano lessons before AND after school. Every other Tuesday, Ming Wai heads back to the elementary school for art with her old class. One Monday every other month we make time to put together a dinner for a women's shelter and drop it off. Things happen. But, thus far, my track record for stodgy things like Daily School and Finishing Today's Lesson is 100%!

I did the math as soon as the lesson manuals arrived. If we take NO days off, we will finish school the last week of May. Fairly impressive, given that we started almost two months into the school year! *phew* That said, I'm sure there will be days off. Like, oh...Christmas. New Years. Thanksgiving Day. (Although the jury is still out on Thanksgiving. I REALLY like nice round numbers and natural ending spots. The idea of being done with school on the last day of the last week of a month is VERY appealing. Poor Ming Wai.)

So. That's us, checking in!

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FYI - We are using the 2nd Grade curriculum from Calvert School. It includes all of my lesson plans, manuals, test keys, online resources (including games and videos for nearly all of our subjects), and some specialized paper for things like writing and drawing. It is not the cheapest option, but it IS an all-inclusive one. Dummy proof, if you will. Which is perfect for a Stay At Home Mom trying to keep a toddler entertained AND a house up and running while still helping a bright young girl learn to love math again.

Homeschooling

This blog has been quiet lately, but if you follow this blog...that isn't news to you. Today, I need a space to journal, and I want this journey to be one that can be visible to others so...here I am.

The baby is sick, so we are eating lunch while watching a cartoon about crayons. She's 20 months, so this is just about her level. When we were sitting on the couch together, I kept feeling her hand behind my back, pushing me up. "Go! Go!" Apparently, I was supposed to retrieve the anthropomorphic crayons for her. Silly girl.

Monday this week was Columbus Day (or Indigenous People's Day, if you are in Seattle), which means there was no school. Having barely returned from an international business trip, Lo Gung decided to work from home that day as well. Having everyone home while someone is trying to get work done is always interesting, to say the least. At one point, Lo Gung came out for a snack. He turned to Ming Wai, and lobbed a math question at her. She flippantly replied, "I don't know!" Well, see...that just doesn't fly here. There is so much loaded into that little phrase. And so much frustration in her parents when she won't try hard things. (I'm sounding extra harsh here, but I don't have time to edit myself right now. We are what we are. I expect a LOT from my kids. Their parents were top of their class, and honors students, all the way through school. What we expect is not impossible.) It suddenly popped into my head that her education wasn't ENOUGH. We moved to this neighborhood specifically to attend this elementary school. One of the best in the state. Before Kindergarten, math was Ming Wai's favorite subject. Since then, her interest has waned and been replaced with dislike. Where she used to revel in unraveling complicated math puzzles, she now simply stares at the ceiling mumbling.

Since school started in September, we have been supplementing after school with Mom-Assigned homework. Math, piano, reading, writing. Up to an hour, depending on how fast the kids worked. School from 8:30-3, plus homework, plus a few evening activities...Ming Wai was down to VERY little time to just play, and her interest in learning hard things was drying up. I got the overwhelming impression, as strong as any answer I have ever received, that homeschooling was the next step. It would mean giving up my quiet mornings while the baby sleeps. It would mean giving up my gym routine, at least for a while. It would mean butting heads as we learned each other's style.

But it would also mean that my girl could work at her own pace. Pass off, quickly, that which she already understands and take her time with things that are confusing. We thought about it, and polled all family members who had earned a say in the matter. On Wednesday, I placed my order for the 2nd Grade Curriculum through Calvert School (out of Baltimore, MD). It is the same program my mother used with my brothers, and the same one my twin sister currently uses with her three kids. It is a year in a box, from the manuals to the pencils, crayons and paper. I decided to go with the classic Calvert Math. I have a hunch that the issue with math isn't math...it's the new Common Core approach. So, we will use our own approach.

Already, we have sat down and passed off the first 9 lessons in math. I am optimistic that this year will go smoothly. We turned in our paperwork this morning, and she will officially begin "home school" on Monday.

Writing to her teacher was hard. The school year is still new, and I had only contacted the teacher a handful of times...mostly to get advice on Ming Wai's flagging interest in math. It is her father's favorite subject, so it was the one that most frequently came up around the dinner table. Telling our neighbor was hard. Our girls are the same age, and walk to and from school together every day. They play at recess every day. Little K may be the thing I miss MOST about public school. Her mother and I have hatched a plan to put a sort of a mail box or locker in the woods between our houses, so the girls can be pen pals, along with planning a semi-permanent weekly play date.

I talked to the school office this morning - we want to see if Ming Wai can continue the every-other week art lessons with her class. The office said it might be impossible, my homeschooling sister says they don't know what they are talking about, and I just want this transition to go smoothly.

For now...those are my thoughts. I am excited, I am nervous. I am scared, and second guessing myself just a bit. The second guessing doesn't last long, though. If the Holy Ghost's impression hadn't been as strong, then...maybe. But this answer was every bit as strong as any other major life choice I have made. For now, it is enough.

Morning Crafts

It surprises my friends when I tell them that I am a homeschooling mom. Then, I feel like I need to explain – we are homeschooling, yes, but it’s preschool.

The beautiful thing about preschool is that there is very little of the heavy sciences, maths or anything else that requires lots of thought on my part.

What we do have a lot of is nursery rhymes, letters and paint. Those are all things I am pretty good at.

 

Extra bonus? Our lessons take about 30 minutes, tops. It leaves a lot of time for outdoor time, baking time, craft time and free-play time. Oh, and my kids’ personal favorite – snack time. Heh.