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But home-schooling is quite a chore, with 2 boys to take care of. They are staying at my house Monday - Friday, so that means not only schooling but cooking, bathing, laundry, etc, etc. Just like I did 40-some years ago. Only then I was 40-some years younger!
Wow Nancy, here I was wondering how you are holding up without seeing the boys for weeks on end during this shelter at home and instead I discover that you are with them night and day 5 days a week. It must be exhausting...and so preferable to the separation anxiety I was afraid you would be experiencing.
Yes, Brenda. My life is very full now, but it's full of love and laughter as well as work. I love having them here and they love it too. School is scheduled to reopen April 20th, but the Superintendent says don't bet on it. He says he can't imagine they would reopen before the end of the school year.
I don't know what they will do about grades. I do know that the NYS Regents Testing has been cancelled. Someone said they may just go on a Pass/Fail system this year, but how will they know ? Many kids are NOT being home schooled, though Zoom.com is connecting teachers with kids, so maybe they are holding little virtual classes that way. Me, I'm just following the curriculum guidelines sent home to the parents
Name: Mary The dry side of Oregon Be yourself, you can be no one else
You're doing great. If not for you, those kids would be outa luck until next school year. I think there will be a lot of class reshuffling when they sort out who kept up and even learned enough to promote them to the next grade, and who needs to be held back. So, blessings on you for your efforts!
My husband said what they ought to do is advance all the kids to the next grade, but spend the first month or even two catching up with the previous grade. Maybe that's not a bad idea.
Of my two, one needs little help, or even no help. The other one needs definite one-on-one tutoring. He struggles. He's currently reading below grade level and math is a challenge. And he's only in second grade! So in that way, it's good that he is learning at home where he can get the extra attention he needs.
We read together and I don't believe it is dyslexia, though I could be wrong of course. No letters are written "backwards" or words are out of order. At least that is what I have observed of dyslexic people.
With reading, he is lazy about sounding out words, and just guesses. But when I make him sound them out he can do it.
With math, he is just plain confused. (Core Math is Horrible! Makes learning harder, not easier. Even the teachers think so.) And when he finally understands something, he's happy and wants to do more. But the next day when we start his math again, he forgot what he learned the day before. We have to review and review and review. His teacher told me she knows he has problems and so she does one-on-one with him as much as she can. She told me not to worry about him. She said the light will come on one of these days. She is very encouraging.
You are right, he does not show signs of dyslexia. As for math...I thought that they had done away with that core math nonsense! The poor kid seems to have a problem with retention. I hope that he can catch up with his classmates during this home schooling. That would be a boost to his morale and keep him wanting to learn.
Ha! He woould give anything to have straight hair. Like his brother.
Okay. Now you've got me started. You know, once I start it's hard to stop.
This is one of my favorite pics of them. It's about a year old. That's their baby brother at their mom's house. The two big boys are so different from each other in every way I can think of. The older one looks a lot like dad, and the young one looks like mom. The baby has a different dad and I think he looks like him.
But I can't resist posting this pic to show how different they are. This was about 4-5 years ago. To me, they don't even look related.
I probably have thousands of pictures from the 9 years I've known them, but I'll spare you from having to see them all!
It is funny how we always wish for something different than what we are given from the gene pool. But I think he may change his mind about that curly hair when he is older and discovers how many girls will want to run their fingers through it.
