Day 3

We are getting into the grove of things now.  Ciara and I always start our first period as soon as the boys go off to school at 9am.  We do rhythmic writing which is an important component of educational therapy.  It consists of drawing motifs on a chalkboard while saying outloud what you are doing. It helps to stimulate the brain, increase hand-eye coordination, directionality, handwriting skills and memory.

We always do math during the second period.  We are following the grade 6 curriculum from the Link on Learning website, but we do a lot of explaining on the chalkboard.  The chalkboard is a great tool.  We use it for every subject and the boys enjoy drawing on it in their spare time.  There is something fun about drawing or writing on a chalkboard.  I don't know why it appeals to the kids so much.  Maybe because all kids like to draw on walls.

After Spanish class, I promised Ciara that we would do a cooking period.  We had a bunch of over-ripe bananas, so we went on the Internet and found a recipe for banana cake.  Following a recipe is a great way to review fractions, so it was a cooking/math class.  It was a really good cake so if you are interested, here is the link to the recipe: http://truebluebaking.com/2013/05/16/best-ever-banana-cake-with-cream-cheese-frosting/

Here is a picture of Ciara with her piece of banana cake getting ready to do Discovery over Skype with Verina.

I had a few distractions today.  The kitchen sink started leaking so we had to turn off the water for the whole house until we could get it fixed.  Also, while we were doing our work, Bob kept calling me from work because we are in the process of renewing our residency visas.  It took over 6 months to get our visas to live in Spain, a lot longer than we expected.  Our visas expire in November, so we have to start the renewal process now.  The problem is that for the kids to get their visas, we need to prove that they are registered in school here in Spain.  As I mentioned before, the Spanish government does not recognize homeschooling as an alternative to formal schooling.  So we really don't know what to do.  I have sent out a few e-mails asking around to see if anyone else has dealt with this issue before.  So far we have no solution. 

I honestly didn't think that we would have this problem.  I mean why would the Spanish government care if a Canadian citizen went to school here or was homeschooled?  I hope that we can resolve this issue without having to seek legal advice.   

Day 2

I didn't think that I would be blogging every day, but I have to admit that it's kind of addicting.  I haven't kept a journal for several years, and I kind of feel bad about it, so this blogging kind of fill that void.

I can't believe how fast the time goes between the time when the boys leave for school and when they come home.  I think that we are doing pretty good sticking to our schedule, but there is always that nagging feeling like I should be doing more.  The problem is I love reading information online especially from other homeschool blogs and it's kind of overwhelming.  It's great seeing what other families are doing, but I have to remember that I can't incorporate everyone's good ideas into my own homeschool all at once.  It will take some time before I really feel organized.

Today, Ciara had her first educational therapy session (Discovery) over Skype.  It was a 45 minute session with Verina Goobie, who lives in Brampton, Ontario, Canada.  She worked with Ciara for the first year after she was diagnosed with a learning disability.  Then we moved to Barcelona and I would have liked to have continued with the Discovery sessions, but with the 6 hour time difference and Ciara's school schedule, it was just impossible to find the time.  Now that Ciara is being homeschooled, we could make the time.

Verina and I were both pleasantly surprised with the Skype Discovery session.  The connection was pretty clear and Ciara remembered a lot of things from when she did Discovery over a year ago back in Canada.  I even think that it was easier for her to focus because she had to look at her teacher through the computer screen and did not get distracted by anything else around her.  The wonder's of technology!