The end of the calendar year marks the midpoint of our school year. It's time to take stock of how things are going.
It seems like we are always behind. But, tonight I was talking with the boys and the dad about school. I realized that we weren't as behind as it seemed. With Hurricane Rita blowing in and various other things to get put in front of school, I figured it was hopeless and we would never finish this school year. Actually, if everything goes as planned, we will finish what I had planned at the beginning of the year around the end of May. That's just what I wanted.
What improvements need to be made?
1. We need to get to bed earlier (I say that as I'm blogging at 11:15 PM). We need to get up earlier and start school earlier. I would love to start at 8:00, but that seems to be way to early for us. A more reasonable time is 9:00.
2. We need to do better at keeping the house orderly. This is just a constant struggle that seems to never get any better. On those days that I get really frustrated about it, I stop and think about what it would be like if we had no children. We would have a clean house, but it would be so lonely. I'll take the clutter.
3. I need to spend more individual time with the 2 and 4 year old. They are really good at playing quietly during school time, but I really need to just play with them. They are so sweet and growing up so fast.
4. I need to be consistent with my 9 year old's violin and piano lessons. He's the only one of my kids that I'm teaching right now. It's kind of like the Cobbler's children that have no shoes. His lessons always come last. Thankfully he keeps working ahead in our lesson book.
What are we doing right?
1. We haven't let any subject fall by the wayside. That tends to happen. I come up with all these neat things to do and then we just forget about it them as time goes on.
2. If nothing else gets done, we get our reading in. I read aloud to the kids about an hour each day. About half of that time is spent with Bible reading. I hope to read through the Bible this year. It may take more than the regular school year to get it done, but that's okay. The next half hour is spent in reading a good classic. We read Robinson Crusoe the first part of the year and we are now reading Swiss Family Robinson.
3. My 14 year old's schooling is a priority and it is getting done fairly well. I let my oldest son work on his own at this age. That was alright, but I really should've been there for him more. I'm not letting this one loose. I want to be able to answer his questions when they come up. He's doing Biology, Latin, Alg 2. All that fun stuff. I used to panic when my oldest son would bring his book to me to ask a question. I didn't have a clue.
For halfway through the year, I'm pretty satisfied. How about you?
