'School without Walls' - part 2
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
This week has proven even more challenging than last, in the world of homeschooling. The children have successfully managed to maintain their unenthusiastic demeanor each day, almost as if there is a possibility that if they show enough resistance, then we might just give up on this foolish endeavor.
This inevitably leads to the loss of patience on our part and a reminder (in polite terms) of our agreement. If only this were the case... but our kids are 12, going on 15 in terms of teenage hormones, and reading the riot act (tone to match) is a necessary evil to get anywhere with them. As my husband said, it will get worse before it gets better.
Having said all that, they do both warm up as the morning progresses so it has not been all bad (or ugly).
At the end of last week, we realized that we were going to have to up the pace if we are to cover all the material that they will need to know to successfully transition into year 8 in their new school. This is because the timetable is organized slightly differently there.
So we have rearranged our homeschool learning to allow the children four lessons of Physics and four lessons of Chemistry per week.
We have also managed to maintain the three(ish) hour school day by shortening the lesson times and squeezing in four lessons, instead of three.
This seems to work better as the kids were losing concentration by the end of a one hour lesson.
A "reminder" to Jack to pay attention
It has been an eye-opener this week to learn more about my children.
My daughter is good at Maths and Physics - my son excels at Biology.
They are both practical learners. My daughter is studious, my son relies on wit and personality and likes to "wing it".
And I am even more in awe of teachers everywhere.
Chemistry lesson about use of particle theory to explain dissolving
Biology Lesson with Mr Bones
So - next week brings a change of location for the School Without Walls - from Koh Samui to ????!!!!. and the first chapter of our family adventure.
Can you guess where we will be next week?!
More next week from the new location!