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. 

We Begin Again

This is 2018 and it is our second year of homeschooling with one of our four sons.
We began with a brand new History Curriculum. It is called The History of The World. The best way to describe it, is to say it is a broad painting of man from nomad through farmer and city dweller. It covers places far and wide from the fertile crescent through China and Greece through to the South Americas. Etc.. I think you get the picture.

Jet and I are both enjoying learning enormously. Did you spot the.... And I. This is one of the gems of homeschooling for us. We are kind of " in it together".

Although the history curriculum I'd American in origin we are using CAPS for pretty much everything else. The "dreaded" CAPS that sends everyone into a flurry.

There are many reasons we opted for using CAPS.

* it is accessible and it has both online and bookshop supporting material
* it is cheap
* it often spans local interest and places for example Geography
And while on Geography which I love, the history curriculum does include some ace identification but the Geography we are exploring has a deeper / wider reach
* it is the same body of knowledge available in other curriculi
* it is easy to addapt, work around, add too or subtract from.

One of the add one is our own book report on our own book choice as well as an introduction to Philosophy in the place of LO.

Our favourite thing about homeschooling continues to be pace.. We can keep going or stop as Jet needs to or as time gems us in. We can search up extra information on a section and we can ditch something that is weak or incomplete or we can add two themes together. I have done this quite a bit with English. If we meet an idea that is new and really interesting, we have the freedom to tunnel into it as long and deep as it takes us.

Jet gets to read a great deal in general, excluding his prescribed books linked to history. Our book project is Walk two Moons. What a read it is. I found some online help to explore the themes etc and we are about to dive in head first. A highly recommended read.

At the end of last year I really wrestled with our maths. We had done a year of Maths U see and Jet had surely mastered his maths. However, he is an ADHD boy and he is easily bored with continual repeatition.

And so my head told me the master approach works but my heart told me I was killing maths for this kid.
We switched!
Another beauty of homeschooling.
I am using Headstart maths and we are really enjoying it. The teachers book is full of good ideas and helpful explains toons
A very happy move.

The first of many!

We have completed our first year of homeschooling.

There were a plethora of highlights , joys and successes and few struggles and difficulties.

Many of these struggles were recoverable.

The greatest joy for me was to experience Jethro growing into a happy and more content child who is able to work with his strengths and work at his weaknesses at his own pace. He has learned an enormous amount and wholeheartedly enjoyed learning in many ways. We have experimented with different methods and tried a variety of approaches. Some we tossed out, others we gathered.

Doug and I are continually amazed at the son we have before us. It is profound and we are deeply grateful.

Our History curriculum was a South African system called Footprints on our Land. We loved it and so enjoyed immersing ourselves  in our South Africa.

I am not one to write negatively about our school system and National Curriculum.  In part, this is because we have children in the system or are thriving and growing and learning. They are critical thinkers and great kids. It is also because I have worked with our CAPS Curriculum . the textbooks are great. the information relevant and child focused and the information is like any other collection of information.  It has its faults, of course but it is none of these; the system nor the Caps curriculum that we rejected outright. I am a firm believer that there are and must be a variety of educational options for children because we are individuals and different ways suit different kids.

I am grateful we took this plunge and have been privileged to make this option available to Jet.

We are super excited about 2018!

The space to do the "other"

I thought I would write a note about space. One of the joys of homeschooling has been the space it has provided. The breathing space. The time space. The calm, no urgency space. All of these provide, for us, some time to do those things we just never seemed to get to.

One is to join OT. Jethro has been learning so much from his OT. Once a week, set apart, for discovering what his body can actually do.

Joining the gym. We have both joined up so we can swim. He has FINALLY discovered a happy space exercise.

Space to spend time with his family. Now he is relaxed and has more energy, Jet has time to share life with his brothers.

Space and time to pause and take stock of actual learning.. We can take a breath to assess, seeing where he might need to recap or practice something. He can also be a part of this process.

Space to just really get into something. Last week Jet wrote a three page legend. It took all morning. He could just settle into it with vigor.

Space to take brain breaks and be creative.
We get to bake and do science experiments or just read, well, because.

Space. That beautiful gift that has sharpened and lengthened Jet as we know him.

And we are back

The holidays passed with lots of good family time. Time to connect and enjoy each others company. One of the things I love about holiday times with our big, busy family.

We are back and we are having fun. This term I decided we are going to make a lot more things. This will give us hands on experience which is great for learning and memory and also those times where we can just have brain rests. I have tried several different ideas for brain rests for Jet and some work while others just do not. Hands on activities are awesome and work well.

We have said goodbye to the 1820 settlers and are moving on to discover the world of the Voortrekkers and the Great Trek.

A friend noted last night - " Do they still do The Great Trek?"

I totally get her reluctance. We were fed a steady diet of skewed History in relation to these events. However, the approach that the History curriculum we are using has taken, is a liner approach. it builds up events from the beginning and moves through the events in a timeline kind of way. One thing overlapping and or leading to the next. I love this approach as we are building a complete picture of time and events that will lead us to the present day.

So, we have marbled paper, baked rusks , drawn an ox wagon and read a whole lot. 

#learningisfunagain

Books Galore

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It is not that he did not read before we home schooled.

 No, that is not quite it.

It is just that he his reading has more than doubled. I am talking about reading books FOR school. 

I struggled to decide on our English Language curriculum for Jet and as yet am struggling to settle on anything really excellent. However, the one thing that our Language program introduced us to, was some different sorts of books.

In addition to the 5 books in the program, I ordered a whole stack of other books from another selection. We are gradually making our way through those. In addition to these books, jet has read some books from our History Program and of course we are reading aloud the books that introduce the history to him ( and myself) through literature. 

I have a whole stack of excellent reads that I am giving him to do some theme thinking and book reviews  on and he is ploughing his way through those too. 

The thing with ADHD kids is this one difficulty with reading. If they love reading, then the tricky thing is to find books that hold their interest. Jet loves reading but we often struggle to find books that will grip him.  He struggles to try a new book, especially if it might not look as if it will grip him. This approach to school, for him, is excellent because he is getting exposure to a wider range of books that he might not have read by choice. 

Right now he is devouring the excellent read , "Wonder" by R.J. Palacio. I doubt he would have read it before but as his school reader, he is devouring it and loving it. This after having read a Footprints read alone book which is part of our History program and whilst reading a book , just for fun! Three at once. That is unheard of for this chap.

We are so enjoying this excellent way of doing school with books and stories. The books are exposing him to some great , new language and ideas.  Reading for learning is definitely a win.

Language is indeed an art

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English language as we call it in SA is known as Language Arts in the USA. It took a while to get used to this in the world of homeschooling.

We settled on an American curriculum called Learning Language through Literature. The purple book level is what we decided on for Jethro. There are 5 books that are to be read throughout the course of the study.  It has been good fun getting into some American literature  including some poetry. The work has a weekly method to it and includes skills such as letter writing. It has been good but it has not totally hit the spot for us. 

Alongside it I have been using our Platinum Caps grade 5 textbook and Oxford textbook. A couple of weeks ago we embarked on a poetry slot. First we set off with Caps poetry and ended with a section from LLATL. Boy, what a poetry blast we have enjoyed. Jet has been writing up a storm of poetry. We have really enjoyed learning and sharing all sorts of poetry types including Gcina Mhlophe live poetry and of course some modern Slam Poetry, South African style. Jet has found his happy place!

I am in search of some good South African books for kids ages 12-15. If you know of any, please share them with us.

Loving homeschooling with English - the South African way!