I LOVE Lisa Rivero's book! It's the best thing! I even recommend it to non-homeschoolers because I think the info about learning styles--while not so much in vogue anymore--is so useful for speaking with teachers, even if you're not teaching yourself.
I've loved reading the updates. I'll finally add mine.
We've had a busy start to the school year, in part because the school-for-homeschoolers that my kids attend part-time changed buildings--after we had already registered and paid for classes 4 days a week!--due to circumstances beyond their control. It's now 35-40 minutes away instead of 20-25 minutes.
We had some carpool help, but it wasn't very reliable. (Note: never set up a carpool with someone unless you're *sure* they're reliable! Lesson learned!)
That's the bad news.
The good news is that after a few really tough weeks, I decided to rearrange the schedule a bit, and now we have more time at home. I still drive both ways 3 days a week, but at least we're home more. That's been a good change and I feel more sane. It will get better still when soccer season ends in a couple of weeks.
The even better news is that both kids are as happy as can be.
We started DS6 in the school full time 4 days per week, so I was really only teaching him one day per week. But he had tested out of both Math 1 and 2, but was skittish about skipping 2 grades in math, as was the teacher. So knowing that it would probably not work, I agreed to let him take Math 2. It was way too easy and required a lot of busy work. So I used the scheduling changes as a chance to drop his math and reading/writing classes, and now I'm teaching those. I give him less time-consuming stuff that actually makes him think. He's happier and is actually learning. His reading seems to be coming along quickly all of a sudden, and his writing improved more in one lesson with me than it has in the past 18 months. I wasn't sure he'd work well with me, but he's really doing okay with it.
Socially, he's mostly hanging out with DS9 and his friends from last year (aged 10-12!), which worries me a bit for DS6. But those are the kids who play the imaginative games DS6 enjoys, so I guess that's what he's going to do. The older kids do seem to accept him--certainly DS9 welcomes his participation and defends his right to play if anyone gives him trouble (there's just one kid who's not always nice). But he has some classroom buddies and he adores school this year, both the work level and the social stuff. He likes his TaeKwonDo class at school and he raves about his hands-on science class. It seems like a pretty ideal fit.
DS9 is doing great, as usual. He started going only 2 days a week, but now he's going 2 additional afternoons a week so he gets to see his friends more regularly. He loves that. Even though he's 1-3 years younger than the kids he hangs out with, they are so excited to see him. He walks in the room and the boys yell his name, like they did with Norm on "Cheers."
It's great to see.
He wouldn't trade homeschooling, particularly with the addition of the school-for-homeschoolers, if we paid him. He's as slow at getting his work done as ever. That's still maddening! But he's learning and he's happy. He loves his econ class, he's doing very well at algebra, and he seems to be progressing well in general.
So now that my mess of a schedule (and the resulting mess of a house...) are getting squared away, it's looking like a pretty good year.
