Week 3, Monday

Wow, it's Monday again already.  The boys are becoming more independent as they get used to their new school routines.  Nathan takes Cole to school and picks him up after school, which saves me a good 15 to 20 min each morning and afternoon.   Really all he has to do is walk him across the street, but in any case, this is a big help to me.

Ciara is now working on adding, subtracting and multiplying fractions and mixed numbers.  I think that this has been our most challenging lesson to date.  I can see how difficult it is for her to remember all the steps she needs to follow.  I am glad that we can take our time and I can explain things over again if needed.   So after lunch, we skipped gym class so that we could go back and work on math some more. One thing I loved to see was how Ciara remembered a reference she read in a book during the summer about fractions.  We had read the book together, but I had completely forgotten that in one part of the book, the protagonist is trying to do his math homework and remembers that when you see 2/3 of 5/9, 'of' means multiply.

Ciara and I started reading together before bed last year.  Ciara was having a difficult time at school and she didn't seem to have the desire or energy to read anymore.  I also felt that I needed to spend more one on one time with her.  So reading a book together was a good way to solve both problems.  I am also really enjoying the books that we read together.  I am starting to gain an appreciation for pre-teen lit.

For our science period we continued learning about levers.  I didn't know that there are 3 types of levers.  During the lesson, we stopped a lot to draw pictures of ways that we use levers and also to find actual levers that we use around the house, such as scissors, a tennis racket, even a door.

As for our struggle to continue homeschooling here, we still have no solution.  I am starting to really worry that we will have to send Ciara back to school.  I have called or e-mailed about a dozen international schools in Barcelona and Spain and still have not been able to find a school that will support us.  Tomorrow we meet with the Director of the American School, I think this may be our last hope.

Week 2, Thursday

Today I let Ciara choose the next unit to study in math.  She chose improper fractions, which I think was a good way to review the unit on multiples and factors.  Because Ciara is receiving one on one instruction, she is able to ask more questions and I am able to see if she really understands a concept.  As a result, we are really covering a lot of ground.  We have finished over 3 math units in less than two weeks.

Today for our science period, we decided to work on simple machines.  Ciara had an idea to build a machine that can paint.  I told her to sketch it out for me on the chalkboard and tell me how it would work.  It was basically a lever, with paintbrushes at one end.  It was time to discuss how levers work.  We did a simple experiment that we found on the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry website.

Here's what our lever looked like:

I mentioned in a previous post that Ciara is much happier this year.  Last year she had a mostly negative attitude towards living in Spain.  Her overall negativity made it difficult for her to make and keep friends.  She didn't really like being around anyone, not even her family.  Now her attitude is starting to change.  Today I dropped her off at a friend's house and her son was home from school sick.  I was kind of worried, because last year, she couldn't stand to be around this boy.  She went out of her way to avoid him or was extremely unpleasant when he was around.  When I picked her up from his place this afternoon, Ciara was all smiles.  She told me that she had a great time playing with this boy.  What a difference!!  Honestly, I think that not having the stress of constant social interaction at school has made a huge impact on Ciara's ability to socialize.

Another evidence of change came this evening when I dropped her off at her very first judo class.  Just a few weeks ago, she told me that she would not do any after-school activities.  Then, this week she changed her mind, and was all of a sudden really excited to do judo.  I have found over the last couple of weeks since we started homeschooling that she is more willing to take initiatives and she is more willing to talk to people.  It reminds me of the way Ciara was before she started grade 1.  Interesting.