::Serendipity::

My School Thoughts ________________________________________________________________

No, Kitchenlogic, it wasn't Xander's reflection. (I'm referring to my last entry for those of you who don't know what the heck.) I looked outside too, and couldn't see anything, including a reflection because the lights were on low. And he was too far away from the dining room and my bedroom window to cast any reflection at all. Weird. It's just weird!

I like the guardian angel theory. I was going with an over active toddler imagination, but the angel theory is more plausible given the situation. You just HAD to be there. Xander was following someone outside all the way around the house. I almost went outside to look around, but I wasn't that brave. That's how convincing he was! There just has to be a reasonable explanation. Probably a moose or escaped mental patient or something. Hah!

So my order went through for my curriculum I'm using for the kids school this year. Holy macaroni. It was over $4000. Crap on a cracker! That's going to dip into my piano lessons and Barnes and Noble money! We're part of a charter school that is funded by a defunct school district. It's all very complicated. But basically, I get an allotment every year for each child (about $1,200, WAY less then kids in the regular school system are allotted) so I can order the curriculum I want to use (as long as it's not religious, because that would be just not be right, phooey!). I decided to go back to using K12 again. I used it a few years ago, and loved it for the most part. But I was struggling with health issues, it was just got to be too much for me to handle. It was a lot of projects and things I just wasn't up to preparing and dealing with. Now I'm feeling better and I am up for the challenge. I think it's going to be a good fit for the kids this year. I'm only using for 3 of Riley's high school subjects, and all of Maggie Emily and Timmy's. If I'm wrong, that's a huge expensive mistake! It should arrive in a couple of weeks, so wish us all luck!

Until then, we've been easing into school by doing some math and reading and writing that I had left from last year. I've been so happy with Emily! I don't know what changed for her, but she's doing very well. No fits when it's time for school. She's excited to do it. And she's not having one of her dramatic episodes when it's time to learn something new. I don't know what happened, but I'm so thankful! Our school days have been so much better! I hope the new curriculum doesn't throw her for a loop. I ordered Art because she loves drawing. I hope that will encourage her in her other subjects. It broke my heart when she didn't enjoy school because it had to be me. I'm her teacher for Pete's sake! Who is Pete, anyway? Maybe part of it was reading that book on learning styles and discovering where her talents truly lie.

One of the most important things I've learned in the years I've been teaching my kids is to encourage their talents. If they are good at spelling, let them build their confidence in spelling and the other things will follow. I've seen it happen with all four of the kids who are in school so far. It's awesome to watch.

Another thing I learned, just this year actually thanks to this amazing book, is that it's okay if Maggie, for example, never turns out to be a great reader or writer or whatever. We need all kinds of people in this world. I certainly need mechanics to work on my van, but I'm not going to ask him for a 3000 word dissertation on Plato. Some kids have a natural proclivity to be good in school. I.E. test well. Retain what they read well. I personally think that having a well developed imagination is just as important as knowing algebra. Knowing how to run a household is just as important as analyzing Tolstoy. Knowing how to relate to people is just as important as... well I made my point. Maybe some educators won't agree with me, and that's okay. I don't mind.

I know, that probably bored the socks off you, but I like seeing how far we've come. Hopefully, I'll look back on this in a few years and will see we've come even farther and learned a lot more.

posted by Terri at 8/30/2007 01:29:00 PM >3 comments

3 Comments:

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