In sickness and in Homeschool... again!

Well we are in a health blip - nothing major but even if they were at school, Little H's #1 and 2 would be having a fair time off at the moment with a flu virus that just seems to be going on forever! No-one is spared, so with a family of 6 we having been nursing someone or other (usually more than one) for about the past 3 weeks...

School still goes on, kind of, but it has been even less formal (and less organised!) and there is beauty and blessing in that, as well as a bit of extra guilt and stress for me!

I have had a bit of an exploration of the NAPLAN standards, a year ahead, so that I can see where we are in terms of what is expected of Y3 which Little H#1 will be next year. Really the thing I am interested in is how the maths curriculum compares and I am glad to have looked at it now - not because we are going to go anywhere near NAPLAN next year ,but because I can see what gaps we have in what we are doing. I have listed those for myelf but a noteable one was logic problems. I used to love those as a child anyway and we haven't done much logic and not enough probability (which actually Little H#1 copes ok with). So I will supplement what we are doing in maths (I don't really feel the need to apologise for concentrating on number, but I will do some more of the other things to make sure we are a bit more rounded).

We did some beginner logic problems on Friday and I enjoyed doing something very different with Little H#1, and he enjoyed them too. They were free off the internet of course. :)

We also have done some money play and work recently - we definitely need to do more of that, and I think the time has come to start with pocket money and saving up and actually using money in shops.

The boys have been playing games really nicely too, and there is definitely an improvement in the patience of taking turns, accepting that they may not win, and also importantly being willing to attempt things like forfeits (or action cards, required in a lovely game we have called Bright Buttons). The Bright Buttons game is aimed at 3 year olds but even last year when I bought it, neither of the older 2 felt able to attempt any of the easy actions if they required physical movement or impersonations etc. So it's a nice game they can all play together and still get something from.

Little H#2 is very keen now and is asking for work even when ill, which is difficult because obviously it is harder for him to concentrate and he gets upset with himself for getting letters back to front or questions not quite right.

They have inspired me again with Bible time, we have had some lovely devotion times recently and Little H's #1 and 2 are reading fantastically from their Bibles. Little H#3 is also desperate for "work" but his attention span is age appropriate and it's a little hard to keep him engaged sometimes in preschooler activities. ANyway. I am trying to master setting work for 2 slightly different developmental stages (they are closer in maths than I might think) and soon I will have a better idea of how to balance all 3. There are those scholastic bliss moments (like hotweels maths last week) where they all work together, Little H#3 can join in and we all come away with something good. I will detail that lesson separately but here is a sneak preview:

Maths again...

Successful morning eventually, after a very bumpy start: I was feeling terrible and not sure I could even get out of bed let alone manage the day, and there were multiple tears when it was time to put the lego away, and phone call from England about Mum and Dad's disastrous holiday (we seem to be doing a good line in those!!!!)... All this delayed Matthew getting to work and it wasn't looking good.

But I remembered that things always improve when the boys have work that they are keen on, and LittleHs #2 and #3 are very keen to join in with maths especially. The other day they were nagging me for work too so that is very good.

LittleH#1 and I tidied the playroom while the others watched playschool. Then we began... I got the Sparklebox number doubles jigsaws out for LittleH#1 while LittleH#2 did number writing practice. His maths is good but at the moment he can't really write the numbers very well and gets frustrated, unless he practices them first. So I write the numerals 1-9 out with highlighter, and he traces them. Then he writes his own row. He enjoys that so I'll make the most of it!

LittleH#1 did the number doubles - 1 to 10 - said that he did them all by 'trick' (ie he knows them without adding them up) rather than 'cheat' (that's where you use any method to work out the answer). Rebranding calculations and calling it 'Trick or Cheat' last year got us out of a 'can't do it' rut. We haven't been back there with maths since, thank the Lord! I did feel it was Godly inspiration at the time and it certainly did the Trick...!

I found a number facts addition table on the computer so sent LittleH#1 to colour the doubles in, and that was good practice for using a table. LittleH#2 was frustrated because his column went out by one square (I gave him one but knew it was too hard but thought he could try it while I put Little Miss August 2009 to bed for a nap she was really desperate to sleep!). But anyway, we will do that together with a ruler another time.

I then set LittleHs#1 and 2 on measuring in centimeters from the Miquon book, and that was very successful. The tags for the writing of the measurements were fairly small but LittleH#2 did a great job, and that's really thanks to my mum's advice about practising the writing of numbers before actually beginning the maths.

While the older two did 'real' maths, LittleH#3 and I did some work with the laminated numeral cards I made last year. I have three coloured sets. He laid them out in order and we practised counting them with brain, mouth and finger going same speed. That still needs more work! His brain and mouth are far too quick...!!!

Finally by this time it was 11am and I decided on morning tea now that I can face food again and I grilled English muffins and we had them with peanut butter. After the weekend when LittleH#1 either shamed me or made me look good (I feel the first, but it was taken by everyone else to be the latter!) by calling a piece of cake a 'half of a quarter' I decided we need to learn 8ths. So we cut the muffins in half, grilled them and then I did mine gradually in to quarters and eighths. I have explained to the boys I don't expect them to remember it the first time (think I have mentioned eighths before anyway) but it is good to at least start to look at fractions a bit more in depth. There are some Miquon fraction pages where we have got up to in the Orange Book.

I need to make a decision about Miquon now, because LittleH#2 needs to start maths work properly, and the early pages were used up when we began homeschooling last year. I think you can get it as a download and then print the pages, but I am not sure whether that's the best way for me to get it or not. I do quite like flicking through and tearing the pages out. We'll see. The other option is Math-U-See but I am not sure whether to invest in it or not...

Anyway, as we ate our muffins I read them a chapter of Proverbs - they wanted me to read the chapter corresponding with the date. I have picked a proverb out of that for LittleH#1 to do some copywork but there wasn't a great deal suitable for that.

They've had a play outside and that takes us to lunchtime. We are back into maths at least, but somehow I need to begin to do English properly again. I have some resources intended for Charlie and The Chocolate Factory which LittleH#1 read in a few days last week so I think we may begin there...

Not bad so far for a sickday. Really hoping that I don't feel worse tomorrow because it's a big weekend ahead of us... Was supposed to be Spring cleaning this afternoon. We'll see...

In sickness and in homeschool...

The wheel really came off this week when I was ill! I lost my voice on the weekend and so have been practising 'parenting without voice' (God has a sense of humour) and schooling without teacher!! Ha ha. Actually Matthew has been around (he had to stay at home for his own health at the beginning of the week, and then I have been incredibly ill for 2 days with mastitis so he had to stay at home as much of yesterday as possible, and then all of today). Of course Matthew is the teacher too (the Biblical homeschoolers say he is Principal of our Homeschool - I do agree with that but I don't think we are as Biblical as them in other ways). Seeing as this blog is fairly new (although not widely read!) I will stay away from *Biblical* controversy for now. :)

So school has been a very natural thing recently! They made a volcano village, it finally erupted on Tuesday (separate post to come about that) and have done various other things.

Good opportunity arose yesterday when Grandma visited and had her magic reading tests in her bag. I don't really care too much for diagnostic-thingys but I can say that because so far whenever we've done one it has been really encouraging. I will say here what the results are (and what they were last August).

Little H#1 is 7 years 5mths old. Waddington Reading Comprehension Test 2: 10 yrs 6 mths, Burt Word recognition reading test: 10 years 11 months, Spelling age 10.2. (August he was Reading Comprehension: 9 yrs 7mths, Word recogntion 9yrs 11mths, Spelling age 9yrs).

Little H#2 is 5 years 2mths old. Waddington Reading Comprehension Test 2: 8yrs 4 mths, Word recognition reading test: 8 yrs 1mth. I spared him the ordeal of a spelling test because we are still beginning writing and he is keen but I don't want to push it. He enjoyed the reading tests though. (Last August his Waddington Reading Comprehension Test 1 was 6yrs 1 mth (at the age of 4 yrs 5 mths).

Very encouraging and a fine day's work for them when I was able to do absolutely nothing myself and was glad of the extra pair of hands for a few hours.

I have to say though, that being so ill (though it rarely happens) seems worse when we are homeschooling. In reality though I have more helpers at home, we don't have a school run and They. Can. Still. Learn.

I forgot to mention that yesterday morning Little H#1 had a craft project in mind (he thinks a lot and reads in his room before we know he is awake a lot of the time) and he drew a jungle picture and tore up bits of different coloured paper to make a kind of mosaic collage. It was a family affair and his brother did it too. They just did it together with a little Daddy help in the drawing stages. This morning before I had braved even calling it morning he came into our room fully dressed and announced he had finished his maths in the playroom. They have a table in there we tend to work together on now, and I haven't cleared it in a few days and put the schoolwork back on the shelf. That was a definite high to start the day.

They ended the day with a Daddy and boys' adventure out to Waterfall Gully after Little H#2's and 3's sleep, and #1's 'reading in cubby' time. I was finally able to stand and cooked the tea and just enjoyed the baby for a bit.

That's how sickness and homeschool have looked in our house recently. Writing it down is good, it helps me to see the light that what we are doing is ok, and works even when it isn't Working.