OK, so I'll be the first to admit that I have always suffered from delusions of grandeur. I have always had thoughts that are bigger in my head than they turn out to be in reality. Such was this instance with summer school. Now, granted it is still early yet in June, so we have plenty of time to get back on track. Just...not right now. I'm done. I can't seem to motivate myself, much less The Monk, into doing work. I don't want to teach right now. I want to rest. And quilt. And watch TV all day. My brain hurts and my body is tired. And yes, I know, I preached about how The Monk needs a schedule...and he does. I'm feeling the effects of him not being on one right now. But, at the same time, I have to tell you that we are also having fun. We are playing at that splash pad and building things out of clay. We are watching cartoons together and taking naps. There are activities at our local library that we are going to. Right now, we are on vacation. And I have given myself permission to say that is OK. Because it is.
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Now, while I realize that there are those out there who think that I am crazy by not really taking a break from learning, there's something that all of you should know. My son, awesome as he is, needs a schedule. As some parents of children with extreme ADHD might know, a routine works. I have to have something that we use, every single day, that maintains balance and consistency. The Monk just doesn't work well without structure. Ok, let me rephrase that...the boy THRIVES on chaos and disorder and I need structure to help him maintain focus and productivity. Take this last week for example. We took the week off between regular school and summer school. It was a mess. Granted, we got a lot of gardening done and helped my folks out with a bunch of things, but The Monk had a very difficult time listening, following directions, and just being in control of himself. There was a lot of wildness. And, as parents with ADHD children know, once wildness sets in, it is very difficult to bring the child back under control of themselves and ready to listen.
Sure, there are some of you out there who think that this is not a big deal. Who may even think that I am not a good parent because I have no control over my hyperactive son and that children need a whole bunch of time off from structure. You're wrong. At least in this case. I am an excellent mother (ask my mom, and that's the highest praise I can get). The Hubs and I work really hard to help our son keep control over himself (which is nearly impossible for a child who doesn't quite understand why he has these uncontrollable urges and impulses and hasn't quite figured out how to handle them). And no, The Monk cannot have a whole bunch of time off, because, again, without structure there is chaos. Now, I'm not going to make our days like regular school days. I get that it is summer time out there and The Monk loves being outside in the sunshine. Not only that, but longer days means more quilting time for me! So, I'm keeping it simple. We have a few things that we need to catch up on and some others that he really enjoys and wants to continue just because he loves the subjects so much. This is what it's going to look like: Listening Skills Practice (because goodness knows he needs to practice listening!) Math (still at 2nd grade, so that is something we are catching up on) Social Studies (who knew that it was something he needed so soon - definitely catching up!) Science (um...that's just because I can't NOT do science with him. He begged to continue). Art (we just started Van Gogh and he didn't want to stop in the middle of it) Music (same with art, except with Bach). Extracurricular (our local library has a fantastic summer program that The Monk enjoys) We aren't going to do all of these every day. Only 4 a day (with Listening being the only one that is daily), so we should be done around lunch time - which is a perfect time to either hit the splash pad right behind our house, or delve deep into the quilting room (which is our lower basement) to sit in the cool air and listen to some audiobooks (right now, we're listening to Nathan Ambrocombie: Accidental Zombie). Actually, I think this is a good plan, if I may say so myself. Cheers! |
How it all started...I was a public school teacher for 6 years in a very urban middle school for both 7th and 8th grade. As the red-tape got thicker and teaching became more of a business rather than a place to prepare young minds to enter into the world, I decided that if I was going to work that hard to give an education to someone, it should be my own son. So, my adventures in homeschooling has begun. Follow us on Instagram!
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