Okay so I am behind, but what else is new right? The months has been crazy fun and busy, but the fun is only starting as December is upon us and I am going to make it good. I am really looking forward to some fun projects with the kids this month. We are going to create a Christmas Bucket List next week for family night. The boys has already been coming up with ideas and I am looking forward to this weekend. We are decorating the house and getting the Christmas season started.
In the homeschool scene things are progressing well. Well, until Alex got sick today and now we are going to be doing a little bit of catch-up, but that's a whole other story. Lego class is almost done (YAY!), Art is in session until Christmas break, piano is amazing and he is doing so well, school work is moving at a wonderful pace, I really couldn't ask for more. I am going to start preparing a "mid-term" for lack of a better name for Alex. I want to see how much he is retaining. I realized we were WAY ahead in Spelling, so I decided to review all of the words we have had and then just before Christmas we will have a big test over them. Right now I have them broken up into 6 mini tests. Then, the ones he misses I focus on and then from those I will create a test for him. He is doing remarkably well right now and I hope it keeps up. He is being much more ambitious about reading and that makes this Mommy's heart happy. I am so glad that he is doing well and enjoying being homeschooled. She is a completely different child from last year...it's nice to have my happy and sweet boy back.
We had a situation a couple of weeks ago that was definitely a learning experience. At Lego class Alex and his partner had built a very elaborate alligator robot that opened and shut its mouth. When it came time to show his teacher, it quit working. He sat for a moment troubleshooting it, then he got up to get a tool and when he returned his partner had completely dismantled the alligator! Alex was FURIOUS! He was so upset with his friend and when he told his teacher, she basically told him to get over it and it didn't work anyway. Well, when I came to pick him up Alex's face was RED! He tried to explain to me what had happened when his teacher jumped in the middle of our conversation and started defending the other child and herself. I then stood up, looked at her and told her that I was talking to Alex and when he was done I would talk with her and she needed to wait her turn! I must admit, I got a few jaw drops from other parents, but this woman is really bugging me! Well, Alex finished telling me what happened. I recognized his feelings of anger (I would be mad too) and we discussed how sometimes we have to work as a team and sometimes people make choices that we don't like, and even though those choices affect us, we have to do our best to communicate with our partners and continue working together. Although this was not a fun experience for Alex, these are the experiences I want him to have. Team building, conflict, trial and error and other things that come up when dealing with other people. I then informed the teacher that I was not upset with what happened, but that as a teacher she should maybe consider listening to a child and recognizing their emotions rather than 'keeping them quiet". The other child that was involved came up and tried to apologize to Alex. Alex would not even look at this kid! Alex and I then had to talk on the way home about forgiveness and that saying sorry doesn't mean that the hurt feelings go away, but it means that they are acknowledging they did something that hurt you and they want to try and make it better. Alex the understood and this week, things were better between the two boys. I was so grateful for this teaching moment with Alex. You can't teach these things from a book. Even if he doesn't get much from the mechanics of the Lego class, the social experiences make it all worth it.
We have also been trying to keep our hands busy. We have been taking advantage of the pleasant weather here to play outside, go on nature walks, experiment and discover our own backyard. My Eric really loves life and definitely lives it to the fullest. I seriously pulled this kid off of the refrigerator after he got a running start and scaled the dang thing! I have been taking cues from him lately in our outside time. We have been looking at the little details. We watch butterflies collect nectar from flowers, watch ants build a mound, see how bees are attracted to yellow shirts, the leaves changing colors, the sunshine vs. the shade and so much more. I am loving being home with my kids. I hope they are building happy memories, because I know I am.
No comments:
Post a Comment