Reflecting and Revealing

This is our crazy family.

 (One of our darling sons is not in this photo.)

We are in part a homeschooling family and in part a school going family. Jet, our youngest son is homeschooled. This is our second year of choosing homeschooling as an option. 

We are studying the history of the world from Book Shark - year one as our history choice and we are loving it. One of the great discoveries has been slotting all the early biblical narratives into the time and space they were in. 

There have been so many good steps that Jet has climbed this term. 

* together we worked through our first book study. The book was Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creed . What a fabulous book , highlighting again the wonder of books that HS affords

* we swapped our Maths curriculum and it has proved to be an excellent decision

* Jet has burrowed into his swimming schedule with his friend Mat with no resistance ( a huge shift)

* He developed an interest in Stop Motion and set about investigating and then creating  some really awesome stuff. Here is a photo of one of the small parts created. It was hours of planning, thinking and actual work. This is actually the heart of homeschooling for us.The time and space to really let this kid burrow into something ( even if it is fleeting ) 

* his personal growth in participating in a group of kids he does not know. Phew. This is also huge.

Jet is a reluctant participant and he has his logical reasons but I do thing confidence is part of it. In a very large group he would not really " fight " to be heard but in smaller groups he is now putting up his head and having a voice. Hooray!

* we need to work a little more on Afrikaans and actually am looking forward to trying some new ideas in this area.

The big question that I always ask myself is actually not what people ask me. People don't really ask me this one. 

My question to myself ,always, is are we doing enough? it is such a tricky question to measure because the work we do and they way we do it is so different from school. My 3 other sons are in high school and I am a teacher, and so I get school and how it works. I see the amount of work and especially the output that school kids do. We definitely are NOT in that league. So my self question still stands?

I thing time will answer this one. The process of learning for Jet has changed and is changing continuously and he is discovering strengths and weaknesses in himself . As we journey on and press on into the difficult areas , I think his learning will solidify and the enough of it will be revealed. 

My hope and focus is that when it comes time for the meaty stuff in high school , he will be equipped to self learn and self manage. 

The tests of the work of homeschooling are so other. This is an example.

Jet has ADHD and really struggles to focus for long stretches of time especially if the topic on offer needs deep focus tunneling in. Like a church sermon!!

Yesterday was Good Friday and Jet does not like holiday church much so he comes into church with us.  He usually brings a book to read but this time he did not. He was wriggly as he sat next to me. I really did not expect him to pay attention or take much in from the deep sermon. However, what a surprise. I sat , holding him so that he could lean into me and be still ( well a little more) , he had his meds to help but no fiddle toy . The sermon grabbed him and he listened to everything.  So, this whole learning thing with him is really up in the air and yet it is happening.