Poor Little Neglected Blog

Luckily, it is only the blog that has been neglected, not the boys or their homeschooling schedule.  If anything, our schoolwork has been ramped up a notch, because Truman was ready for more.  More history, more science, more literature.  I had to do some research and acquire a few additional books and programs over the past month, because before we went to Ecuador and Florida, we finished a lot, including our chemistry program and many of our literature and history selections.  I was a little unclear about exactly what we would be doing when we returned, so I asked Truman what he was interested in learning, and took it from there.

I had to write out a list of everything that we are using, and bring examples, to our homeschool review with the district.  After my looooong curriculum review,  I was asked if perhaps I have planned too much?  On paper, it sure does seem like a lot for one 8 year old boy to accomplish, but in actuality, it is the right amount of work for the stage Truman is in.

Spelling lessons are so much harder when the dog is chewing on your toes.

Our schedule has us working for about half an hour in the morning at the dining room table, doing math, then taking a spelling test in the playroom while mommy is on the elliptical, another 20 minutes.  These were Truman's two least favorite subjects, and he was griping a little bit too much about them, so my solution was to do them very first thing in the morning, to get them out of the way immediately.  This is working so surprisingly well-I cannot believe it didn't occur to me sooner.  Henry sits at the table with us, where he is happily working through his math program (Right Start Level A), so we are all immersed in math early in the morning.  Before lunch Truman will also read some of his literature and narrate it to me (1/2 hour) work on his piano and music theory (with my help-about 20-30 minutes.) That is ALL that we do in the morning, besides chores. The rest of the time is Lego time, or outdoor time.
In the afternoons, after Henry has been dropped off at preschool, Truman and I snuggle up on the couch with tea and a warm dog, and spend several hours (about 2-3) reading history, working on our science projects, reading our literature selections, writing.  After Henry comes home we either do a lesson in our art program together, run around outside, nature walks, or free play.  So Truman is getting about 4 hours of individual attention to school subjects, 4 days a week.  16 hours a week total,  at the very most.  Truman is flying through all of his subjects, mastering everything, enjoying every last subject.  This doesn't include the hours that he spends reading alone, these books are also selected by mommy, and tie into our school work.  Anyway-why am I writing this...I guess because it was suggested in my review that we were doing too much (or working too far above grade level in some subjects, below in others), but also spending too little time per day.  It is my nature to bristle if anyone suggests that I am not doing the "right" thing, whatever that is, but honestly, I cannot say that I would change a thing about our schooling right now, not in the curriculum choices, nor the time spent.  I guess writing it down makes me feel better-I will just politely roll my eyes at their "suggestions" and continue on.