We did the first section of Chapter 16 - the English Language in Story of the World.
We finished half of the first section of Chapter 16 in Sassafras.
We also did ten minutes of multiplication tables.
And in even bigger news - WE WENT TO THE MOVIES! First time since the accident, and it worked great. He could totally see the screen. He started to panic about going to see his therapist this afternoon, and I got him thru it. He went in without hesitation and did great.
All in all, a good day.
Tuesday, June 27, 2017
Monday, June 26, 2017
June 26
We took a few days off, just to enjoy summer vacation with the girls.
Just finished up Chapter 15 in Sassafras.
Just finished up Chapter 15 in Sassafras.
Tuesday, June 20, 2017
June 20
We finished reading Chapter 15 - the First Kings of England in Story of the World, and completed the discussion questions in the Activity Book. He also has two coloring pages he's going to work on this afternoon.
The low vision doctor had suggested that we start with graphic novels, fun stuff for him to read, with the CCTV, and do a few minutes a day.
It didn't go well.
We did the first page of the graphic novel of White Fang. He can read. He stumbles over words sometimes, guesses instead of reading, but he's more functional than I think. But it was stressing him out - and he ended up crying afterwards and complaining that his head hurt. Did his head hurt? I don't know - he seems perfectly fine now that I've backed off. I gave him one tylenol, but it's only been a few minutes.
So many worries - does his head hurt? What if the psuedotumor is coming back? I don't think that's it - I think he really stresses out over reading - he doesn't do it well, and it's hard for him to see it anyway, which makes his chances for success that much smaller. But what do I do now?
(edited to add)
The headache never really materialized - I think it was because he was stressed about reading. I took a break, fed him, picked up the girls, and then we just did the first section of Chapter 16 in Sassafras Zoology.
The low vision doctor had suggested that we start with graphic novels, fun stuff for him to read, with the CCTV, and do a few minutes a day.
It didn't go well.
We did the first page of the graphic novel of White Fang. He can read. He stumbles over words sometimes, guesses instead of reading, but he's more functional than I think. But it was stressing him out - and he ended up crying afterwards and complaining that his head hurt. Did his head hurt? I don't know - he seems perfectly fine now that I've backed off. I gave him one tylenol, but it's only been a few minutes.
So many worries - does his head hurt? What if the psuedotumor is coming back? I don't think that's it - I think he really stresses out over reading - he doesn't do it well, and it's hard for him to see it anyway, which makes his chances for success that much smaller. But what do I do now?
(edited to add)
The headache never really materialized - I think it was because he was stressed about reading. I took a break, fed him, picked up the girls, and then we just did the first section of Chapter 16 in Sassafras Zoology.
June 19
Field Trip to Southwicks.
It was tough - he can't see well enough to see the animals. He could see shapes, colors, but no real detail. The major accomplishments was that he was there, interacted with a whole bunch of people, including former teachers, and didn't fall apart when he couldn't really see them. We were able to problem solve, and take pictures of the animals with his kindle that we can blow up at home and look at.
It was tough - he can't see well enough to see the animals. He could see shapes, colors, but no real detail. The major accomplishments was that he was there, interacted with a whole bunch of people, including former teachers, and didn't fall apart when he couldn't really see them. We were able to problem solve, and take pictures of the animals with his kindle that we can blow up at home and look at.
June 16
We read thru the first half of chapter fifteen in Story of the World: The First Kings of England.
We finished off Chapter 15 in Sassafras.
We read the first two chapters in The Mixed Up Files.
We finished off Chapter 15 in Sassafras.
We read the first two chapters in The Mixed Up Files.
June 14
Doctor's appointment today - it turns out that Sam isn't legally blind after all.
Mixed feelings about this - obviously thrilled that we don't have that designation, because nobody WANTS their child to be legally blind. But the reality is that he's still very much visually impaired, and the major impairment is going to be in terms of his education. He needs things to be 48 or 72 font in order to read them easily.
The good news is that Sam did really, really well at the exam, and obviously, the news that he can see better than we anticipated is wonderful. Also slightly vindicating - because I always felt like he could see better. I kept thinking it was just that I didn't want to admit that he was disabled, that I couldn't acknowledge the problem, and felt guilty about that. Turns out that I was right - and while he still can't see well enough to read easily, and may never see well enough for that - he can see well enough to probably drive a car eventually.
Mixed feelings about this - obviously thrilled that we don't have that designation, because nobody WANTS their child to be legally blind. But the reality is that he's still very much visually impaired, and the major impairment is going to be in terms of his education. He needs things to be 48 or 72 font in order to read them easily.
The good news is that Sam did really, really well at the exam, and obviously, the news that he can see better than we anticipated is wonderful. Also slightly vindicating - because I always felt like he could see better. I kept thinking it was just that I didn't want to admit that he was disabled, that I couldn't acknowledge the problem, and felt guilty about that. Turns out that I was right - and while he still can't see well enough to read easily, and may never see well enough for that - he can see well enough to probably drive a car eventually.
Tuesday, June 13, 2017
June 13
It's a bad homeschooling day. After a bad homeschooling day yesterday.
Sam's resisting everything right now. Tears and stubborn push back when I started a discussion on the book we're reading.
I don't even want to attempt math today.
Maybe I just chalk this one up as a lost week, and give him a few days off.
Sam's resisting everything right now. Tears and stubborn push back when I started a discussion on the book we're reading.
I don't even want to attempt math today.
Maybe I just chalk this one up as a lost week, and give him a few days off.
Monday, June 12, 2017
June 12
Homeschooling was more of a struggle today. We got thru chapters twelve and most of thirteen in Life of Fred - but it's starting to get hard, and he was fighting it the whole way.
So for a change, I started reading the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler. I'm going to look for a homeschooling curriculum to go along with it for English.
So for a change, I started reading the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler. I'm going to look for a homeschooling curriculum to go along with it for English.
June 8
We did chapters nine thru twelve in Life of Fred
We also did Chapter 14 in Sassafras - covering the Artic Reunion and the Animals in a Flash sections. We learned about the musk oxen and the snow geese.
We also did Chapter 14 in Sassafras - covering the Artic Reunion and the Animals in a Flash sections. We learned about the musk oxen and the snow geese.
Tuesday, June 6, 2017
June 5
Not a hugely productive day, as Julie's got a doctor's appointment this afternoon. But we rehashed chapter 7 in Life of Fred, and read thru Chapter 8. I feel like the math is getting a bit more challenging, as he's really working on learning multiplication and division at the same time. So far, he seems pretty enthusiastic. I've explained that I didn't force Jessie to memorize her multiplication facts, and it made it a lot harder on her. This will be the summer of multiplication tables - Sam is learning them because he has to, Jessie will be learning them because she didn't do it originally, and Julie... well, she'll just be super ahead when it comes time for her to learn.
Monday, June 5, 2017
June 4
Monday -
We completed all of chapter seven in Life of Fred: Honey, including the YTTP. We started with half of chapter eight, but he was pretty much done with the whole thing. Chapter seven was a LOT though, we learned more thoroughly about division, and went thru several problems, really trying to cement the whole divide/multiply/subract/bring down concept.
For science, we did Chapter Thirteen in Sassafras Science Adventure: Volume One Zoology: Trekking in Sichuan. The first section was Meeting Monkeys, where we learned about the Golden Haired Monkey and then we did the second section on Moving in with the Mice, where we learned about, you know, mice.
We also finished reading Chapter 14 in Story of theWorld, The Arrival of the Norsemen, the Viking Invasion, Eric the Red and "Eric's Son", the Norse Gods, and read the story of Thor and the Giant King.
He's finishing up the audio book series. He's re-reading the first Percy Jackson series and is mostly done with the fifth book. We've got the second series all queued up and ready to go.
He's having his first playdate - ALONE AND AT SOMEONE ELSE'S HOUSE - today. I'm dropping him off at Harrison's house this afternoon. Even though it's not technically homeschooling - it's still a pretty intense achievement for a kid who hasn't been able to pull this off in over a year.
We completed all of chapter seven in Life of Fred: Honey, including the YTTP. We started with half of chapter eight, but he was pretty much done with the whole thing. Chapter seven was a LOT though, we learned more thoroughly about division, and went thru several problems, really trying to cement the whole divide/multiply/subract/bring down concept.
For science, we did Chapter Thirteen in Sassafras Science Adventure: Volume One Zoology: Trekking in Sichuan. The first section was Meeting Monkeys, where we learned about the Golden Haired Monkey and then we did the second section on Moving in with the Mice, where we learned about, you know, mice.
We also finished reading Chapter 14 in Story of theWorld, The Arrival of the Norsemen, the Viking Invasion, Eric the Red and "Eric's Son", the Norse Gods, and read the story of Thor and the Giant King.
He's finishing up the audio book series. He's re-reading the first Percy Jackson series and is mostly done with the fifth book. We've got the second series all queued up and ready to go.
He's having his first playdate - ALONE AND AT SOMEONE ELSE'S HOUSE - today. I'm dropping him off at Harrison's house this afternoon. Even though it's not technically homeschooling - it's still a pretty intense achievement for a kid who hasn't been able to pull this off in over a year.
Sunday, June 4, 2017
First Year of Homeschooling
My first year of homeschooling is sort of over. I plan on continuing thru the summer at roughly this same pace – it’s more relaxed, and there’s a huge focus for me on getting him healthy and out of the house. We covered a LOT this year. I started his math curriculum from scratch, and we went thru the first seven and half books in the Life of Fred series. I’m planning on spending the next six months on getting him thru the next five books, and then we’ll dive into the middle school curriculum. We spent the fall on electoral politics, exploring the history of elections in the United States and the women’s right to vote history. Then we started at the very beginning, and completed the first book of Story of the World (ancient history) and are mid-way thru the second book (up to the Middle Ages). Science – we did mostly biology, exploring biomes and different animals that live in them. We did most of one biology textbook and then switched to a living book on Zoology that he LOVES. In terms of ELA – he read (or listened to) close to 100 audiobooks. We did all of the Rick Riordan series (a couple of times) which dovetailed perfectly with the ancient history curriculum, and then he listened to a whole bunch of other authors as well. We studied parts of speech with a formal ELA textbook, as well as madlibs.
My plans for next year are to continue with both the science, history and math curriculum. I’m going to add in keyboarding and spelling next year, as well as more formal writing. He’d also like to add in cooking classes, with the goal to start making Shabbat dinner every week for us.
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