Back to school growing pains

As a kid, I remember the first week back after a holiday being difficult. It can be hard to get back in a routine. As much as I had hoped that my son would be jumping up and down at the thought of new workbooks and a new beginning to school, it didn't quite go that way. Today, in our language lesson we were talking about days of the week and what we do each day. As I was writing down on the whiteboard what we do on Monday - school/ Tuesday- gymnastics and school, he came to the board and crossed out all the "school" words. I asked him how he was going to learn to read and write if he didn't go to school. I never did get a good answer, just that he didn't like school. Of course, I shouldn't really care if he doesn't like school, but if he doesn't like learning, then that is another matter. I should change my approach if the later is true.

Tuesday it took us 1 1/2 hours just to get through our Saxon 1 Math lesson. Of course, partly this was due to the fact that we were playing store part of the lesson. They eagerly stretched this part of the lesson out as long as possible, but it was a lot of fun. Nevertheless, I was a bit frustrated at having taken so much time for Math when we still had Phonics, Handwriting, Bible, and a Language lesson to go. So, the next morning, we skipped Saxon altogether and played Swamp Sum for math. It was apparent that he had forgotten most of his simple math sums over the holidays anyways. There is something to be said for year-round schooling.

Rachel is eager to start preschool. Since she will be 4 in just a matter of weeks, I decided to begin instructing her in her letters and sounds and teaching her to write her capitals this Spring. She was very excited about this, and we have been using a combination of Rod and Staff preschool workbooks, online letter print-outs, and Handwriting without Tears chalkboard and wooden letter pieces. It makes her feel grown up to have her own school stuff to do. I think she will like "school" a lot more than her brother ever will.