Saturday Summary

We survived our first week of public school without complication. For me it was a strange week being on my own, something I longed for. I had a series of unfortunate events concerning my writing work and basically ended up with nothing accomplished in that department. I won't give you all the gory details but the last straw was when the computer at the church "ate" my file I was working from on my flashdrive. I did get some rooms organized around the house and made a serious dent in the laundry. I also had some things to take care of at the church and it was pleasant to do errands without dragging anyone with me. As I have heard and seen what the boys are experiencing and working on at school I have come to the conclusion that I would like to attempt to have the "best of both worlds" in regards to their schooling. While I feel there are beneficial elements to public schooling I also know there are some educational experiences they are not able to avail the students of, so I am hoping to work in tandem with the schools to have a little of both options. More details to follow in a future post.

Ethan: Is having a little difficulty getting the bring home, take back to school, give to the teacher, give to mom, folder senario. He forgets to give her things or bring things home but we're working on it and he's trying to remember. This is a good skill-remembering! He has a new appreciation for reading, which he was very reluctant to do before. He is being pushed a little in math but is able to do the work, just needs to be more conciencious. He does well sitting in his chair and doing his work (he would never sit on his butt at home and was always tiping the chair and up on his feet) and has not been disruptive. While reading his books to me last night he made a comment "I am happy to be in school." So I guess that sums up his take.

Benjamin: I bumped into Ben's teacher this morning and had a minute to touch base with her. Ben's speech challenges are still a factor and he is not being able to sound out his spelling words so we talked about having him looked at by the speech therapist again. He was in the program for several years during preschool and made great improvements. Although he loves to read his comprehension isn't as strong as it should be which could also be tied to the speech. Classroom behavior is top-notch and he is eager to learn. Math is going fine but his handwriting is very immature which I already knew. In fact we had been working on Handwriting-Without-Tears this year to correct the sloppy writing but he is still just trying to go too fast.

Fox: By Friday, he made a comment that even though it's only been a week he feels like he's been doing school for ever, meaning he's already down with the routine. I believe his score on the STAR Vocabulary test put him at a 12th grade reading level. Math is right where he should be. He has been getting some kudos in Chess/Checker time having beaten the "second best player" in there. Mr. Winther has agreed to let him compete in the Chatfield Chess Challenge which Ben will be doing as well. There does seem to be a lot of down time during the day but overall he is enjoying the experience. Although one comment he made this week says alot - "80% of what kids learn in school has nothing to do with academics."

Alexandra: This week Juniors did the ACT, Work Skills, and MME tests. Then she got Friday off. And we have just realized that she has Chicken Pox! Unfortunately she left this morning to go to Midland for a Forensics competition, she said she felt fine and wasn't itching, the dots she showed us seemed more like an allergic reaction or maybe some bug bites. But after more research and talking with the pharmacist we're more informed. I have loaded the medicine cabinet with Benadryl, Tylenol, topical itching cream and Oatmeal bath for when she returns!

Although I still have work to do with them on papers they are sent home with the week overall has been more peaceful and the boys do seem happier.