Of Dragons and Boys

From The Lion's Den

We've had a great January in school. It is making up for the false starts and detours of earlier this year (school year). We've been reading from the bookA cavalcade of dragons which is a collection of dragons stories put together by Roger Lancelyn Green. They've been wonderful! Some familiar, some not. We've discovered dragons good and kind and those of a lesser good, those as toxic of the poison and fire that spews from their mouth. We even watched the movie Outlander, which is a cross between a sci-fi and a Viking movie. It was a decent movie, not great, but certainly tied into our study for the week, all by happenstance.

We've also talked a lot in the last few weeks, about everything from algebra to philosophy and a few things in between. Talking seems to be an essential part of our schooling and it's not just me. In fact I feel like a guide as the conversations meander down the road. Z has always been a good listener. Not that he has always obeyed, but he has good comprehension of whatever ideas I present. But Z has always liked to talk. He was in private school for prek and Kindergarten, he got in trouble for talking, a lot. In fact it was one of the points the teacher brought up in our parent teacher conferences. "Z prefers to talk instead of doing his work." You might not know the first time you meet him. He's quiet, he's an observer, or as noted in the Mark Twain biography we started this week, he's a noticer. I'm not surprised he likes to talk, it's partially genetic. Tigger likes to talk, my mother likes to talk. Put the three of them together and my dad and I, the quiet ones, just sit and watch.

Fast forward to now and talking in class is required. He's never at a loss for words. Sometimes I reign it in, like the comment the other day during algebra class "What would you do if your hip was recalled?" Obviously an offshoot from a commercial. Amazing since he rarely watches TV. But I almost laughed wondering how in the world that thought popped into his head while conquering an equation with a variable. Are the wealth of algebra memories stored in the same place as commercials? (probably not, I hope not!)

January was a good month. We accomplished a lot, except getting a pet dragon. Z asked, I suggested we settle with the one we own, the one in the above picture. It eats less and besides he is one of those good and kind dragons, unless he is eating a Hot Wheel.

End of Two Week Schedule Experiment

If my son grows up to be a scientist he will have lots of experience in dealing with experiment variables. :sneer: Our two week, weekly schedule trial is over. Week one went exceptionally well. We didn't get everything done, but after a long school hiatus I wasn't truly surprised.

I've been slightly panicked about being behind, but after review of our schedule I realized we truly had only missed three weeks of regular school. I also had already planned to take off two weeks during the move, so technically we are only one week behind. Whew! I feel better.

Week two of our experiment did not go so well. The fact a giant snow storm blew through and cancelled every public school in a fifty miles radius for three days had nothing to do with our faltering. However, it eased the pain of a less than stellar week.

Monday started off good. I should have known that was a bad sign. By Monday afternoon I felt horrible. Crawl back in bed, horrible. Z finished his dad by doing independent work. Tuesday same thing, again after he spent an hour helping dad clear snow. I wrote him a list and crawled back into bed.

Wednesday and Thursday were a little better, but after school I crawled back into bed.

On Friday Z and I discussed our schedule. His observation was that it left him too much to do on Friday. Duh! Yes, the most intelligent reaction, but duh! We discussed which of these items he could have done on his own (gasp - did the world just fall out of space!?!) We talked about initiative and self-discipline. For a child with a very rich vocabulary I only received a vague acknowledgment that he understood those two words.

I have repeatedly told this child I will NOT be attending college with him, so he should learn some skills of his own. I know, it's a process. He's actually improving each and every week. We couldn't blame the snow this week. We could blame my being sick a little, we could blame his inexperience a little.

I've decided that next week we will continue the experiment. I'm toying with the idea of doing a Language (Latin, English, & Japanese) & history week rotated with a science, math, & logic week. We'll either get way ahead or it will crash and burn.

In reality, I've been pleased with Z's progress in spite of our chaotic winter. He's reading at a higher level, his reading speed has improved. He is reading in multiple subjects now with minimal complaining.

He typed two of his assignments this week. We discussed formatting of typed works and he made the corrections easily.

This week has definitely been about hibernation mode. My hair has been a mess. His is starting to curl at the ends. He's never had curly hair before. This morning he rolled out of bed and I told him we looked like we've been at survivor camp all week. He still gives me hugs every morning, first thing after plodding downstairs.

So much growth this year, in school and out. Each day is another step on our journey, I'm glad we're experiencing it together.

Monday has Never Looked So Good

*Irony: As soon as I hit submit I found the local schools have closed due to the snow. We used to have a rule that if public school had snow days, we took a snow day. Now since we lived in the south for the last few years that has only been a issue once, especially since it hadn't snowed that much in over a decade or two. Well, now...I'm inclined to do school anyway. Yes, I am a meanie today.

Maybe that's overstating a little since I just woke up. Maybe I'm not sure I like the more than one inch accumulation (that would be snow) outside the door. But it's Monday and I have hope.

Last week we were back to a full schedule. We made it through all but the completion of two subjects. It was good because we don't even have all of our stuff. We have most of the school stuff but I'm missing my books and bookcases. Yes, I've actually needed to reference something several times and realized, with some angst, that they are not here.

But we completed a full week, with my desk in the corner of the new classroom, with a "new" desk for Z in the middle of the room and three plastic crates holding our needed books. Oh and two office chairs. Z asked when he was getting back his exercise ball he normally uses. Um, when we go get the rest of our stuff, babe.

This was our first full complete, solid week of school since the first week of November. I hesitate to admit that, we had a few weeks in between that resembled school, but barely. So now I feel like we're on pace to learn again. We're back to bed times and waking up earlier. We're back to "Can I have a break now" to "Did you brush your teeth?" to wonderful discussions delving into the mind of a thirteen year old.

We're testing a new schedule too. A weekly schedule instead of a daily schedule. It looks something like this:

Weekly Plan

Daily	MOnday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
Memory
Read-aloud
Quiet RT
WWE (4x)
Weather Journal

After completion of daily assignments you should work 4-5 hours per day towards weekly assignements.

*working time does not include breaks or dawdling

Weekly	Input	Output	Notes
Latin	1 chapter	exercises, chapter review	4 hours
Math	5 lessons	written work	4-5 hours
English	Megawords, 5 pages	written work	2 hours
Literature	Follow syllabus*	discussion, written work	3 hours
Asian	Follow syllabus*	outlining, written questions, other	3 hours
Science	Archaeology, 6 pages	outling 3 separate	2 hours
	Other * variable	activities and experiments	2-3 hours
Logic	follow syllabus	discussion	1 hour
Philosophy	Aristotle for Everybody 1 chapter	read and discuss	1-2 hours
	Philosophy for Kids 1 chapter	read and discuss	1 hour
Japanese	1 lesson	workbook, video, oral practice	2-3 hours
Art	1 project from syllabus*		1-1.5 hours
PE	2-3x per week		1- 1.5 hours
	*syllabi are in binder	* will vary	Approx 27 hours

Z is required to complete the daily tasks daily and then we pick and choose from the weekly schedule. I give him some guidance. Okay, by Thursday of last week I told him what subjects we needed to get done to have a full week. It was a great last Monday though. We spent an hour in a philosophical discussion that rambled from topic to topic. I learned more about Z in the discussion that I think he learned from the book, but that's kind of the point. On Monday we bonded. Then Tuesday we started with the harder stuff, like algebra and Latin. It was a good Monday and I rarely have uttered those words.

So we're trying the weekly schedule again this week. There might come a day when I can give him a schedule like this and he'll manage his subjects well. ...*pause* Insert dream sequence where student lovingly, gracefully completes his studies. I hear Apollo in the background playing on the harp. I see smiles when it's math time...*scratch*end dream* back to reality. Okay, someday.