Well, we've been homeschooling for a few weeks now - and we're all still sane. I'm actually proud to admit that we sometimes even enjoy it! While we're still so lazy since our little internal clocks are all off and we're starting and ending our days later than we should, I know that admitting it is at least the first step in the right direction. We just have to get to bed early that first time, I think, and the rest will fall into place, thereafter. Unfortunately for that plan, it's Friday, which means no early bedtime for sure! Fridays are our homeschool half-days, so we're all "T.G.I.F.!" until noon, when we're then free to enjoy our weekend.
Homeschooling with a toddler is certainly challenging, but I can usually just get Lorenzo started on his 'assignment', then devote my energy on keeping Milla entertained until she remembers him. And she is all about her brother these days! She knows he's called "Lorenzo", and "brother", but for some reason she's resorted to addressing him as "Bob"! And she doesn't just say "Bob", she yells it, and makes sure to keep yelling it until he's right there next to her, offering his full attention.
Lorenzo is working well, and not giving me too much of a hard time, though we do have our long talks often enough. I think he gets his pessimism from his dad...darn New Yorkers/ Russians, with their perpetually disgruntled characters! Actually, we're all trying to keep our homeschooling adventure FUN, albeit challenging. Otherwise, and as I threatened Lorenzo, what's the difference from the ps we took him out of?
In the past few weeks, we've learned more than ever - particularly about each other, I think. Lorenzo hated writing, so we discovered why - he was holding the pencil upright, pressing it down and into the paper. Well, of course this would make anyone's writing experience tedious and painful! So, we've re-trained him to rest the pencil on his hand and guide it gently (and painlessly) with his fingers. How his teachers allowed him to learn this way is beyond me, although it just entered my consciousness this week, so I'm none the wiser! In any case, now Lorenzo can write a whole 2-page report without complaints!
It's also staggering to find out just how much our dear son does NOT know. Much of the math we've been doing has been what I would consider to be general review, although he has learned more about working with fractions since we've begun. However, he was completely oblivious as to how to divide 2-digit numbers...then again, he may have just needed some extra attention that day. Other than that, it just seems that he either has a terrible memory, or has really not learned - or retained - that which we cover in our lesson plans. This spans over our entire curriculum, from Science to History, and especially Geography!
All in all, I am reminded and encouraged to know that I am doing the right thing by taking his education into our hands. Not to mention, the added bonus of reviewing all those myriad tidbits of information which my aging and idle brain has hidden away or deleted altogether! I am so excited to expand our world history timeline, so eager to start a new science experiment!
In my spare time, I search for any and all educational and organizational resources online and otherwise. It's become my new hobby. Unfortunately, the jewelry-making which I so enthusiastically began over the holidays has taken it's place on one of my back-burners. With the exception of a spur-of-the-moment birthday piece I made last weekend, I am beginning to wonder if I don't need to schedule a specific time for my creative endeavors, alone.
I can only take this little life of mine one day at a time, and thoroughly enjoy spending my days with my favorite people. Vadim goes to work in the early afternoon, which reserves the morning for us (and gaming!). My new correlations job is done anytime and as I am able, which ends up being all throughout the day and particularly late into the night, after the children have gone to bed. It's in those quiet moments of solitude that I can't help but feel gratitude at my fortune. Who knows what's in store for me - where I will go, and what I will do next? Maybe I will finally return to pursue my degree? In the meantime, I am just amazed at what a wonderful life this has turned out to be...and I hope my dad can see us now.