Monday, January 16, 2012

Can't Sleep...I'm counting sheep...

So anyways...I can't sleep. I have no idea why. I get kind of crazy at night. I got this advertisement in the mail about home school stuff. I'm not really into buying a bunch of stuff, but this school year has been so amazingly fast and I have felt like I was behind...b/c I didn't stick to my original plan, etc... I didn't buy a "boxed" curriculum. I didn't really know what to do so I bought a Learn at Home series book. Added math to it...and omg, it has been SO much work. Then I started doing unit studies which I LOVE by the way. It is so much easier. That other stuff is just like school but at home and Hannah and I were starting to hate it. I got this magazine for curriculum in the mail the other day. It's for kids that are gifted and like a hands on approach etc. Right up Hannah's alley. Lots of literature. Lots of reading. Writing or typing whichever you prefer. No workbooks, etc. Do you have any idea how cluttered your house gets when you are continually buying stuff for school? Your house ends up looking like a classroom exploded, etc. So, I see this in the magazine and I went online and looked it up. It wasn't cheap but you can make payments every month. ;-) ...and I started adding it up and I spend so much money on paper, notebooks, books, etc...do I even need to go on and this has everything for me. I will still have to plan and everything but it's all right there. I will have to supplement math but guess what...I already have math for her and if she gets done with it I will just find something else. So, I am really excited. Looking forward to not stressing so much and Hannah not stressing so much. I guess that makes us officially unschoolers. This weekend I realized...I can teach her what I want. I don't have to listen to what a book tells me. I can skip around. She can learn about what interests her. I realized...she was BORED!!! So, I'm going to finish out the year with what I have so far. Trying to stick to standard course of study...but does it really matter as long as she learns everything? No, it doesn't. It's ok if I don't do science or social studies one week and then I do a whole unit study on it. It's only taken me 7 months to realize that...heck longer really. It's like a great weight has been lifted off me and NO I am NOT talking about the 40lbs I recently lost. Told ya I get crazy at night... We have not had time for her to do her Duke TIP stuff. So, I'm making time for that. She takes the EXPLORE test next month. I'm curious to see how she does. We home school all year long so I'm confident all this will work out. I am just gonna do things at our pace. Some things go faster than others and the whole reason I am home schooling is b/c I didn't want her to go to school here. So, why am I trying to pretend we are doing "school" when we are learning. I'm going to teach HER. Not math, not science, not social studies. I just realized this weekend that is what I am SUPPOSED to do. I know no one ever reads this I guess that is why I can be so open and honest and just rant and ramble like I am doing now. I'm actually an honest and open person anyways...but I wouldn't just go on and on about things to anybody. This chick is going to bed. I am done counting sheep and I can feel my eyelids closing.
~Amber

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