Beautiful Autumn Days

The phone rang just before 5AM today. It was my husband's work calling, as sometimes happens. I couldn't find sleep again, so I figured it would be a good time to assess where we're at with school and put together a plan for getting back on track in terms of what the online school says we should be doing.

Every day, my children have some form of Language Arts. We read every day, taking turns. We have Technology daily as well, because I allow at least 30 minutes each day of educational computer games. This is a special interest for my son, who really enjoys ABCya and iXL. Another favorite of his is a website that allows him to put together meals and desserts with various ingredients. The boy loves to cook! My daughter loves it, too.

We also have music daily, because the kids and I just love music. It is a great way to boost energy ad improve mood in mere minutes with very little effort. Since the three of us love hooping, we usually take breaks by turning on some of the kids' favorite tunes and hooping for 20-40 minutes each day. We're all better prepared to focus on school work afterward, and it's keeping us fit and healthy. Since we can hoop indoors, even though it is more fun to hoop outdoors, it's a great activity for staying fit and active during the winter months. Nature has been very generous so far this year, though; the incredibly beautiful and warm autumn days might be part of the reason we're a tad behind on some of the OLS items. You know, maybe. Heh. But in this snowy part of the world, November doesn't typically offer much in the way of gorgeous autumn days that beg us to open all the doors and windows and head outside to hoop and swing. We're taking advantage when we can, before the snow starts falling. And I love the smell of autumn. Except when people are burning leaves, I could do without that.

Today is pleasant, but overcast and somewhat gloomy. Reezle noted that the trees are quite bare now, though the remaining leaves are putting on quite a colorful show for us. The yellows and reds are absolutely brilliant and photo-worthy. Too bad my good camera is in need of major repairs. We took the gloomy day coupled with the 5AM start to my day as an opportunity to do a lot of work and catch up. Reezle really worked hard today, tackling several lessons in Math, Language Arts, Music, History, and Science. No complaints at all! I'm so proud of her. She is currently enjoying some free time on the computer since the majority of her lessons today did not involve a lot of screen time.

Little G spent most of the day curled up in the recliner with Reezle's Math workbook. He copies problems out of there onto scrap paper and asks me to print him worksheets. When Reezle gets stuck on a problem, he helps her understand it. The boy amazes me. He definitely did not get the math genes from Mama. He also helped Reezle with some of her spelling, as he has been doing since early last year. He picks things up so fast that there is very little effort involved in teaching him anything. Reezle does get frustrated with him, though. She is very bright herself, so being corrected by her brother, who is two years younger, doesn't always sit well. He just can't seem to help himself. I guess if there is some good to be found in it, the sibling rivalry element sure beats bullying, and it does seem to inspire Reezle to push herself more to really grasp the material. A little healthy competition is fine, as long as no one starts having self-esteem issues. So far, that doesn't appear to be the case.

My daughter is happier than she was last year. She does miss her friends, but she isn't having tummy aches all the time and is no longer extremely moody. She smiles more, enjoys her studying, and says that I make it fun. That warms my heart. Little G, well, I stand by the belief that traditional schools would not have been able to handle him. He gets so frustrated, even with first grade math, because he knows (or learns after one quick explanation) most of the material. He does not appear to be challenged even by his sister's second grade math, which he actually helps her with when she gets stuck. Too bad his conceptual understanding and whatever it is that goes on in his head doesn't translate well into actually teaching others; he becomes impatient rather quickly when others don't understand things as rapidly as he does. Boy, I suspect he is going to be a handful as he gets older!

We're all looking forward to the holidays while at the same time enjoying these amazing days that autumn is offering up before the snow flies. We've been fortunate not to have any of the white stuff yet. It's difficult to look forward to it when I know it's going to stick around until April. But at least the warmth of the holidays helps dampen the effects of the bitter chill and brighten even these dark days as the sun sets much too early for our liking.

After completing our first 9 weeks of homeschool and being well on our way into the next 9 weeks, we're all still enjoying our adventure...including watching the bus go by without making a stop here! It feels right being together and learning as a family. Yes, it can be hard work sometimes, but I can say without any doubt that this was absolutely the best choice for all of us.