So it's been about 3 weeks since we pulled James from school. I have to admit that the transition has been much easier than I expected. My biggest concern wasn't his cooperation or interest but how I would balance the schedule with the addition of the new responsibilities. Surprisingly enough, our schedule has created the perfect time frame for his lessons and such. Cailin attends a daily preschool program that allows us to have a solid 2 hour block each day. It's during that time that we focus on the daily tasks. Right now that seems to be Math, Grammar/English, Spelling, and Reading Comprehension. I think the last one falls under the Language Arts heading for the public school system right now. Beyond those subjects we alternate Science and History throughout the week. Right now our materials are varied. We are working from a few text books but I have also found an amazing amount of resources, for free, on the internet. Side note, I suggested a couple of them to a friend whose daughter is having trouble in Math, she shared them with the teacher who then poo-pooed them for not fitting with current standards. My opinion on that is that it's a shame because I've seen the benefit they've had for James and if you can find something that helps, use it. It seems like a contradiction in goals, Common Core focuses on teaching different methods so any child can learn but when you find a method outside of the Common Core, it's unaccepted. Anyway...
It has been such a relief for us to see James returning to his personality of a few years ago. The anxiety that was becoming such a forefront issue has diminished greatly and that has been the biggest blessing of all. Of course, he's 11 and we still have the typical issues. You can't be in front of an electronic device during every waking hour is at the top of that list. Dirty clothes and clean clothes can not be stored in the same spot and the spot that either goes is most definitely not the foot of your bed is a close second. He will be a pro at laundry in no time because the solution to that has been to assume everything is dirty and I refuse to be any more behind on the the laundry.
I figure I'll continue posting what we're doing as we go along, especially since Cailin has begun working with us in the afternoons on different things as well. I'm guessing it's only a matter of time before Logan is at the table with us.
