It took me over a year to decide exactly when would be the best time to remove CKW from public school and begin homeschooling. For reasons having to due with my health, I knew that I would not be able to homeschool until he was old enough to work at least somewhat independently, and up until late last month I honestly wasn't sure if this year was going to be 'The Year of Independent Work' or 'The Year of Homeschool Hell'!
Finally we had a day where CKW finished up all his work before lunch. I can remember the time as if it were yesterday; it was 11:47 and we called it a day. When I congratulated him and told him that he was free to do as he pleased for the afternoon, the look on his face was priceless. "Can I play lego?" he asked. "Can I go outside and fly my kite?"... "Can I ride my dirtbike?"... After five or six anwers in the affirmative, I guess he realised that I was serious and he broke out into a huge smile. Since then, we haven't had many days that extend beyond lunchtime and, thankfully, much less wasting time, fooling around, and general 'pain in the butt' behaviour. He is learning, and I am able to rest as needed. It's working for us! It's really working!!
With respect to teaching/learning styles, I have found that 'flipping the classroom' is the way to go at our house. At the end of each homeschool day, I have CKW watch BrainPop or Discovery Education (for example) videos that introduce and explain the topics we are going to be discussing the following day. This often gets him interested enough to independently locate supplemental reading on a topic that afternoon/evening, and consequently our teaching discussions have been at a much higher and more in depth level. His comprehension and retention have also improved.
Writing continues to be our bugaboo, but things are improving. CKW is doing all the writing required, including making use of the more advanced options when offered, in the 6-8 level of Moving Beyond the Page. We are also doing The Wand program from Bravewriter. This program started out quite slowly (it is suggested for K-2 students) but it has been encouraging for my struggling writer since the writing demands are light and the spelling and phonics review is helpful. I will wait until the program is finished to make a final decision, but I think this will be something that we continue with in future years.
All in all, it has been a successful first month (or so!) of homeschooling. Hopefully I will be back next week with an update, but no promises!
