Week 2, Friday

It's already Friday again.  The week went by so quickly.  This morning started out simple enough: rhythmic writing and Spanish homework and then math.  We are still working on the improper fractions unit.  We started doing a worksheet converting mixed numbers into improper fractions.  I asked Ciara a question, and she just refused to answer or even try.  I tried to break the question down, but she hit a mental wall and could not get past it.  She was getting frustrated and I was getting frustrated.  Since we were getting nowhere, I told her to take a break.

About 15 minutes later, I went up to speak with her and encourage her to continue the lesson.  She had calmed down, and was willing to come down and try the problems again.   I told her that I would show her how to do the questions and she could just watch.  We went to the chalkboard and I wrote down the mixed number.  Then I explained step by step how to convert the mixed number into an improper fraction.  After the first question, she was able to do all the rest with very little prompting.  We both felt like we had accomplished something.

This is one of the advantages of homeschooling for Ciara.  When she is frustrated or angry, she just shuts down.  The only thing to do at that point is take a break from the situation and then come back a little later.  This is possible at home, but not so much at school.  If she is feeling stressed or frustrated during a class, she cannot ask for a 15 break.

Friday during lunch period is going to be our cooking class.  This time, Ciara wanted to make rainbow cupcakes.  She went on the Internet and found this video tutorial.  Here is what ours look like:

Not exactly like the video, but they still tasted fine.  Ciara was very excited to have Hideyo try one of the cupcakes.  Hideyo came over in the afternoon to work with Ciara.  Here is a picture of Hideyo timing Ciara as she practices doing mental addition as quickly as possible.

Hideyo is working with Ciara to try and help her to process and respond to information faster.  A lot of the activities they do together also help Ciara to develop a better working memory.  I am very happy that Ciara really wants to do her best when she is with Hideyo.  

Week 2 - Monday

I never really look forward to Mondays, but now I no longer have to dread them.  One of the many perks about homeschooling Ciara, is now I only have to worry about 3 lunches in the morning!  I hated making 4 lunches every morning, especially because each one of my children usually wanted something different (not that they got what they wanted).  Ciara was the worst though, she is extremely picky about her food: taste, texture, temperature etc... Everything has to be just the right way.  Now that she is home, we plan lunch together so that we both eat a balanced meal.  This, in and of itself, makes a huge difference in her productivity and overall well-being.

I figured that the boys would start complaining about going to school, since Ciara got to stay home.  But, none of them said anything during the first week.  This morning on the way to school, Cole (grade 1) finally complained "Why does Ciara get to stay home?  I want to stay home too!" I told Cole that Ciara needs to be homeschooled right now, but he does not.  Because of everything that we went through with Ciara last year, the boys understand that she has different needs.  I am pretty sure that Cole likes school anyways.  He is very social, and thrives on attention from others.  So school meets his needs better than homeschooling right now.

After Ciara did her rhythmic writing, we finished the math unit on factors and multiples.  I like how I can take time during a lesson to review a concept that she needs to work on. One of the reasons Ciara struggled so much in math at school was because she has a very poor working memory.  When she learns a new concept, quite often it is forgotten by the next day, unless it is reenforced again.  In school, you have to move on to the next concept even if you didn't quite get the concept before.  The teachers have so much to cover, in so little time.

After math, Arantxa came for her Spanish lesson.  I am still amazed at how much Ciara says when she is in her Spanish class.  Arantxa is doing a great job.  She has planned out Ciara's classes all the way until the end of December.  In each class they cover a different topic, do reading, writing, have conversations, and play a game or other activity.

During our lunch period we had our second sewing class.  Today, Ciara sewed a small pillow on the sewing machine.  We are working up towards making a plush two-headed dragon.

In science, we finished the unit on the classification of living things.  It was kind of a dry unit, but I wanted to follow the Link on Learning curriculum somewhat.  Fortunately, we don't have to dwell on these subjects too much.

We had a gym period and Ciara decided that we should go out and roller-blade.  Another benefit of homeschooling is that we can go out when all the other kids are still in school.  The skate park, which is usually packed with kids, was completely empty, so Ciara got to skate at her own pace and try some tricks that she would have never have tried if there were other kids there.

Last period was library, so I let her pick out some online books to read.  Today, she used Tumblebooks, but sometimes she goes on Reading Eggs or gets books from our bookshelf.   I'm looking forward to when the new school library will be open so that we can check out what they have.