Homeschooling update, month 5

Noah said to me yesterday, 'Mom, can you believe that we've been homeschooling for 5 months now?'

I said, 'No, it's not been 5 months.'...then I did the math, and sure enough he was right!!!

It's hard to believe that it's been this long now.

Since the new year began (and craft show season is over) life seems to be completely in balance, especially school.

I can't even begin to describe just HOW much I enjoy my days with Noah.

Most days, when I am teaching him there is always a moment and sometimes several moments where I get all giddy feeling and butterflies in my stomach thinking 'how did I get SO lucky'? 

This IS exactly what I've always dreamed of doing and I'm the luckiest girl alive.

As for our progress in month 5, we are making leaps and bounds.

Here are some areas and some description of the improvements we have seen, as well as some of the areas we continue to work on!

Reading/Comprehension.

At the beginning of the year, I read aloud and question him orally from his work book.  He struggled with his comprehension and understanding of the stories he was reading.

By late fall, I moved to only read about half and he would read the other half.  Then he would only do the the workbook orally half the time, the rest of the time I would make him write out the answers.  From his progress report (October) to his first report (December), I saw improvements.

Now, starting in January, he is doing all of the reading and all of the workbook on his own.

NOW...doing all of his work on his own, though we tend to argue (because he certainly doesn't like doing the work alone), I am really excited to see greater improvements than I thought possible!

Teaching & Work flow

At the beginning of the year, I used to teach one subject then sit and wait for him to complete his work.  It was very time consuming (which I don't mind), but I found that I was doing a little too much helping for him to achieve an independent work.

Starting in January, now I teach him all his subjects and he does his work independently.

By doing this, I was fearful of his grades dropping considering he struggles with reading the question fully.  Noah is very grade driven, so I was hoping that if he sees his grades drop (short term) than it would teach him to read the questions completely.

So far, it's looking like the plan is working!   For about the first week and a bit, he was frustrated because his grades indeed fell lower than expected.  NOW, he is paying closer attention to the questions and his grades are back where they were before!  YAY!  The odd day or lesson, he misses reading the question (as I assume many children do from time to time) but for the most part, he is doing fantastic!

Socializing

We continue to lots of play dates, but I suspect Noah is starting to struggle a little bit with the lack of friends.  By this, I mean not the lack of play dates but he really only has 2 close friends that he has play dates with.  So there is not much variety.  As well, Noah struggles with the fact that he never gets invites to go to their houses and that the kids are always at our house.

This is something I can't change, but help him work through.  I am working really hard on trying to make some contacts for when we move, in hopes to make some connections prior to our move!

For now, I am trying to keep him busy with lots of activities (especially while Jacques has been busy at work).  As well, we will hopefully be making a trip or two this spring to Ontario to visit family.  For Noah, visiting his cousins is always so much fun (and social)!

As for other areas of the social aspect of homeschooling, I've never been more proud of my little man. 

For example, with Jacques working so much I've been working hard on teaching Noah to be extra considerate of his dad when he is home.  A few times now after supper (on the weekend), with no advanced prompting, Noah has told Jacques to relax while helping me clear the table and do dishes. 

Another example, is each time we have a play date with one of Noah's friends' and his little sister, Noah always carries her school bag to and from the van and opens the door for her.  The first time I saw that, I was SO proud of my little man!


Area's of Improvement to continue on

Talking back with attitude - and.....I have a funny feeling this will be a constant challenge through out the adolescent years!! We're gonna continue to work hard

Interrupting - Oh MY...this is a challenge right now.  I think, because he has me solely to himself - day and night, not even having to share me with Jacques right now, I see that he has a very hard time when I am paying attention to anyone other than him.  He often does several attention seeking behaviours to try and win my attention.  Unfortunately, I know it works - otherwise he would not be doing this!  SO....this is an area that we are working hard at improving!

We continue to work hard and have fun with our home schooling adventure!