Monday, January 23, 2006

Studying, Are We??

One of the joys of homeschooling is being able to do what you want, when you want and how you want! Ahh, total autonomy (besides the guidelines set forth by the state)! And anyone who knows me knows that I don't like being told what to do. During my formidable years, their was many a complaint about me stating, "She has a problem with authority." Well, duh, I am the authority and I should be telling YOU what to do. So when it came time to make the decision about my son's education, we chose to homeschool so we wouldn't have a school system having the authority over our lives. That we could teach him the best way for his learning syle and that we could continue to enjoy our travel benefits even during "school days". That he could learn on his own pace without being held back by slower kids or kids who were just in school to goof off.

Since we are schooling our son, now at a 4th grade level, and our middle daughter, now at a 1st grade level, our school day has become much longer and busier. One of our focuses in teaching our middle daugher is to make her reading skills as strong as possible. Now six years old, she has been reading since she was 4 1/2, she is almost finished with a second grade reading program. A majority of the time, I sit with her and listen to her read to help her sound out words or point our mispronounced words. But sometimes, I need to to switch the laundry real fast, make a quick phone call, or put our youngest daughter down for a nap (yes, at 4 1/2 years she still naps). So, I will put our son in charge of listening to our daughter read for a few minutes while I complete my task. When I got back to the two of them today, this is how I found them . . .

I wasn't sure if I needed to reprimand them for goofing off or congratulate them on multi-tasking two subjects, reading and gymnastics (or what I would consider in school P.E. - Physical Education). Instead, I just laughed and took a picture.

2 comments:

The Queen B said...

Oh, I'd give them the thumbs up for the multi-tasking. But then again, would I really encourage you to discipline my Princess?!?!

Freckle Face Girl said...

They are enjoying each other, doing what they were told, & getting exercise. I'd say taking a picture was the right thing.