Curriculum

I got this e-mail from my sister this morning:


Sooo...

Just so you know...

That curriculum I gave you is the exact curriculum that we use for Junior Kindergarten and Kindergarten at our private school. Many of our homeschoolers are finding it too difficult for their children. Having a qualified teacher in a classroom makes a big difference. So Memoria Press is coming out with a homeschool curriculum that covers all the same material, just at a slower pace.

So, I just wanted to let you know that there is no hurry with the curriculum. If he is struggling, you can slow it way down and still be totally okay, especially since he is already younger than those students.

How is homeschooling going?

<3

Yeah.

I could have said that.  Only my kid is actually still 3 so I just assumed it was because he was 3.  It does make me feel better though about the pace we are able to make on it.  We're still kicking butt!

That said, this week was challenging.  This curriculum, and really, classical curriculum in general, is SO. MUCH. WRITING.  It is so easy to get behind, even when we're not doing all the copywork that this program requires.  He is finding it tedious and boring but I think I have finally *forced* us into a routine where he accepts that there is WORK to be done.  I make a big deal out of this WORK being just like daddy's WORK and that daddy will be so proud to know how hard he has worked at it that day.  They can sort of compare at the end of the day.

Why can't I rotate this?  Too tired to find out.  Deal.

Then there is the personality thing.  J makes things up.  A lot.  Combine that with his desire to entertain all the time and you have a guy who is probably capable of reading but barely even glances at the words on the page before making up the whole damn story.  He makes it all up and I just don't even know anymore if he actually knows anything except for the fact that he breezes through the lessons themselves just fine.

So then I re-read my sister's e-mail and carefully repeat the phrase "he's only 3" in my head 10 times fast before reacting to him throwing his pencil on the floor and telling me he "doesn't know" how to read the words on the page that he literally just read 47 seconds earlier.

He's 3.  And he's pretty good for 3, if I may brag about my own for a second.

Rainbow begins with the "R" sound!

He loves the art projects and since we've started to take classic pieces and make our own versions, he's been really excited about that too.  I need to do more of these things that he loves but I find that between getting in the actual work and taking care of both my kids during the day, I'm spent in the evening and if I stay up at all, it isn't with any kind of motivation to do some more work.  Pinterest helps but even the set up is too much some days.

Next steps?

I invested in a deck of sight words ($2.99).  Not really a part of the curriculum but I think it just might save our sanity.  Having a few more than he can recognize by sight may help push him over the edge into reading land and he LOVES being read to and the idea of reading is appealing.  If he starts recognizing more words in print, it may help him stop making up so many of them and actually take a look instead.