Other than the periodic book reviews and monthly summaries, I havn’t been writing much. But so many things are swirling around in my head, obsessing me. I’m working through ideas and there’s nothing right now that I could write a whole long post about yet, to talk about my findings or conclusions I’ve arrived at. A brain dump is in order though, so I have room to actually think.
Thumper is hitting her teenage years soon and I’m starting to see signs of it. The “You can’t make me’s”, doing things mom disagrees with, etc. I was a semi-rebellious daughter and it’s very strange to be on the other side of it. I keep thinking about writing a post on Non-Violent Communication, about how I really need to read those books I bought ages and ages ago on communicating with your child, but things pull me away.
I also keep thinking about how a parent need to be so very careful of the way they talk to their children when they homeschool. A child doesn’t get to leave a bad teacher at school at the end of the day. They’re stuck with me. But thinking is thinking, and actually doing something about it is something else…..
I’ve been obsessed with just how to do Chinese writing. It’s really all my doing, the refusal to follow any recipe, the constant desire to do things “efficiently”. I’ve learned a lot about Chinese grammar, and have talked about writing with friends till they’re sick of it. Now I just need to decide on something, anything.
We’ve visited 4 out of 7 California Missions in our area since this summer. One nice thing about homeschooling is I can give in to my desire for “collecting”. Why just study one mission when you can visit every single one of them? Each mission so far, other than Mission Santa Cruz has been interesting with beautiful architecture. I wonder if we will actually do a mission report?
Thumper has been doing Suzuki violin since February and I’ve been doing half-ass Suzuki piano with Astroboy. I really love the method so far and have been wanting to do a post about it. I took piano lessons for 10 years and near the end I felt I finally got it, why one needs to warm up for at least 10 minutes and why you need to learn all those chords and stuff. There were so many things I wish I’d known about learning music that I’m applying to the kids’ music learning now. So much to say about it but then since I’m not a music major or even a musician, I hesitate to write it.
But then again, that’s what a blog is for right? To write as if you know what you’re talking about?
Speaking of the kids, finally Thumper is getting spelling and English writing down more and Astroboy is doing so well on the phonics front. I wish I’d known what I know now about learning to read and spell 3 years ago. Yet another post that’s been brewing in my mind and yet not getting written.
I’ve been cataloging my books. I’m super excited about the system I came up with. My catalogue is going to be tagged with each book’s reading level and topic if applicable. It will be online and I can create searchable links to them. This way, when friends say, “What should I read next?” I can point them to the link and they can see all the books applicable to their child’s reading level.
Astroboy has been on a Incredible Zorori kick recently. He’s burning through 15 books since yesterday and will probably finish all 45 of these books in the next week or two. Everyday I see people asking about what books to get in FB books and I’ve been wanting to do a series on “top xx books you must get”. But informational posts take too long to write….
….and I don’t have time because I’m watching tons of KDramas at night and during the day I’m, surprisingly, actually homeschooling the kids and teaching them for 3+ hours Mondays to Wednesdays. We’re covering so much material sometimes I wonder if I’m not rushing through too much.
Homeschooling is going so well in general that I also wanted to write a post on the topic; how after 4 years I feel I’m finally at that sweet spot where I’m comfortable with it. If homeschooling were a pair of shoes, I’ve finally broken them in after 4 years.
Homeschooling…how I love thee…love me count the ways. I love the way Astroboy learning how to write English cursive and Chinese handwriting. I love the way both kids are finally learning geometry and spent 2 weeks cutting out weird geometric shapes. I love the way I’m finally using my Montessori math materials again. I love what we’re doing in our science co-op even though I never have time for follow up and I’m sure the children have forgotten most of it. I love that Thumper has finally figured out how to schedule her workplan herself after 3 years of homeschooling and is working more independently now.
I don’t love our 3 times a week swim team practice in the late afternoon, even though I know we need it. I miss traveling and have been itching to go somewhere. I also want to make more Montessori flashcards but but, kdramas are calling out to me!
So that’s what I’m going to do now instead. Stop thinking for a few more nights until my thoughts bother me again and I finally write my posts.
