Sunday, April 5, 2009

Oh. My. Goodness.......

I have missed blogging this week. I have had my mind on many other things and time has seemed to have disappeared. Still, it is the school holidays and I have so much more time on my hands, so will probably write loads of drivel over the next two weeks. Won't that be a scintillating thing???
But, oh my goodness - I have successfully home schooled for one complete term!!!!! There is great satisfaction that Ellie and Harri, appear to be pretty happy with the setup. There have been a few times where Ellie has expressed missing her friends, but has never said "I have to go back to school or I shall die" etc. Every now and again, I do feel guilty that they don't see a lot of other children, but it is hard to fit play dates in with others' schedules.
In terms of school work, Ellie is doing very well indeed. She has six subjects - Maths (which Ellie hates), English, Science, Social Studies, Comprehension and Literacy, and Word Building - and has sat four or five tests in each subject. Every one of them has produced a 100% pass mark. I'm not meaning to boast, but I am excited that between the two of us, she is doing so well. I was a bit frightened that as I am not a teacher, I would not be able to help her to think outside the box, or be able to pass on to her ways of nutting things out (technical term!) for herself, but all in all, it's pretty good.
Harri has been amazing. I think that he is smarter than all of us put together (that's actually a bit scary) and will do well in just about anything. He often finishes off Ellie's verbal answer to a question before she can finish, and is quite happy doing some grade one work as well as learning to read. He has surprised me in that he is very happy playing independently while Ellie and I work through some of her harder problems together. Not long ago, I was unable to leave Harri for more than a few minutes before he "needed me" for something. I guess he is growing up and becoming more independent.
Both of them seem much more content when they play with each other and are using their imaginations more. There doesn't seem to be such a dependence on the TV for their amusement and outside time seems to happen without me suggesting it. And the big thing - Nev told me the other day that he feels I have much more patience with them. This made me cry and cry (I"m crying now) as I have prayed so hard for God to change me in this particular area. I knew when I began with home schooling, I would need a massive dose of patience - and admittedly, not every day is a bed of roses - but I have felt more peaceful recently, and I think not only Nev has noticed, but I'm sure the children have as well. This is a good thing!!
As for me, I am a bit excited for myself. I have been diligently going to gym three times a week and have been rather good with my eating and I have lost two and a half kilos!!!!!! YAY Me!! I am going to wear jeans this winter without looking like a denim sausage! Still many more kilos to go, but you gotta start somewhere!!!!
So that's all the news that is news - for today anyway!

3 comments:

jenb said...

Goodon ya. Keep up the hard work.

Theresa said...

Well done Helen, it is such a brave step to get into the world of homeschooling and with Ellie and Harri doing well, would just bring a smile to your heart and soul.
Still pregnant @ 40wks

SF said...

Helen I am SO proud of you. So so so proud!! You are doing so amazingly well with everything. What a superwoman you are!!!!! :) The best bit is that I know you are happy, and that..... well, that just makes me happy. ;) Love you stacks, Min. xo