Day Four of Five !

Many of you are familiar with " The Gambler Song" by Kenny Rogers. Ya know the song that says "You got to know when to hold' em, know when to fold'em , know when to walk away, and know when to run! Sometimes homeschool is like that! I wish you could see me laughing right now! But in reality life is just that way. I had intended this morning to talk about something totally different and then my day kinda turned out like "The Gambler Song" It started this morning, I usually start my day before the kids are up dinking around the garden, checking out what's growing, smelling some clean air, listening to birds or frogs. But today was a little different. The last few days have been drizzly and grey and that is not a good thing because it usually means lots of slugs and bugs and today it also included having to re-stake tomato plants that are almost as tall as I am now. With all the wet weather they have also added a lot of weight in fruit and so some of them were lying on the ground. Thankfully none of them snapped. The squash and cucumbers were yellowing and have been for a while. About three weeks ago we had a full week of cold weather and it hit them pretty hard. A few more sunless days this week finally did them in. So I could try to save them but honestly they were pretty sad. It was a hold'em or fold'em moment. And I folded. I pulled all my squash and cucumber plants, save one. Homeschool is sometimes the same way. Today was one of those days, but it wasn't a bad day at all.  It was a  Test day. Science tests, Math tests, Writing activities,  and checking for comprehension. Everyone got A's in Math and Science and the lowest Writing grade was a B. But the day still had it's trials. One child had a melt down when they saw the science test. It could have become ugly but we were able to turn it around and once that child began to realize they knew the answers things got brighter.It was a hold'em moment , giving up was not an option. We had another melt down during writing because someone had writers block half way through their story. This was almost a fold'em moment! Luckily we were able to find some creative ways to resolve the crisis.I had to be a bit flexible but the story got written.  So how do we differentiate between hold'em or fold'em moments? There are a few questions I ask myself that I think might help others along!
1: Is my child capable of doing the work? Yes - Hold'em but be willing to bend a bit if need be to get the job done.

2. Am I teaching something at a level beyond what they are able to comprehend? Yes- fold'em
   
3. Are they bored?  Yes:- you have two options at this point:  a) hold'em if you are able to think of another way to explain it on the fly that is more fun or b) fold'em and revisit the lesson another day when you can come up with way to get the information across.

4. Am I as the adult being stubborn (gasp!) or unreasonable( double gasp!)? Sometimes outside opinions are needed to realize this one LOL!  Tug O War is not what we are after.  You should probably fold'em

   5. Is your child crying? STOP IMMEDIATELY! Time for a heart to heart. You need to get to the root of what is happening . Progress has ceased at this point!

Sometimes when I feel a little fuzzy I like to take a minute to take a look at the situation as an observer. This is hard and if you are frazzled it is even harder! One key thought that has brought me back time and time again to where I need to be is this: What snapshots are they putting in their memory album? I am not sure where this idea came from because it has been so many years but boy does that hit home for me.

Another  thought I loved especially when the kids were smaller was from the site DLTK. It is called " A Child's Ten Request-ments"

http://www.dltk-kids.com/school/a_childs_ten_requestments.htm

O.k. So our day.............

May 17, 2012

Bible: Joshua takes Charge/ Setting up Memorial stones

Tribes of Israel Worksheet

Review Rock Formation /Earth Science Transparencies

Test Day! Science C28-29 (Girls)

Saxon Math: (Individual lessons)

K: S3

A:S2

L:S1

Adventures in Literacy:

~Using bullet points

~Points of view

~Opinion

~Pro “vs” Con

Question to be posed for Example: Does a Dinosaur make a good pet?

Writing Activity/ Fiction Prompt: The Day my Dad brought home a Dinosaur!

Reading: L: HOP Red Level 1.5 

Science Test Time!

Math: Spinning ruler tricks included for free.

Cowboys can read too ma!

Shenanigans during school!

Just a funny list with reasons why dinosaurs make good pets

reasons dinosaurs make bad pets

Dinosaurs are big so if you write a story about them you need big paper right?  And the little monkey in red has nothing to do with it he is just a ham :)

                                                                         

Proud of his story

 
"Be clear about your goal but flexible about the process of achieving it." Brian Tracy