Homeschooling

So, I have been asked a lot about how homeschooling is going. 

My standard answer, so far, is "Good." I mean, well, they mostly play. Seriously. Like jumping on the bubble wrap. They laughed hysterically while at it. They get a sense of achievement - "there goes one more!" And a sense of anticipation - "is there any more we can find?"

That's not really "schooling", is it?

So far, mostly people are agreeable with me when they discover I am not following any curriculum. After all S only just turned 5. I keep wondering though when the tide will change...

Even I, while believing I'm doing the right thing, and have some sort of loosely formulated plan and objectives, have moments of doubts. So while I sat at our multi-purpose dining table, knitting, I got an idea to quickly pen down what the boys were doing as they were doing it. Right then, they were doing - aha, I can call it "table work"! S5 was having so much pleasure working through these pages from a Pre-writing Skills workbook he was given by my Aunty J for his birthday.

And N3 was also at the table (at this stage of his life, he still likes doing what big brother does :) ), drawing. He'd doodle, then ask. "What did I draw?" And big brother would say, "It's a shoe!" or perhaps, "It looks like a baby whale."

N3 said, "I drew a kat."

S5 said, "It doesn't look like a cat."

N3 said, "No, not a cat, a kat."

S5 said, "N, it is not a cat."

N3 said, "A kat - you know, where water pours out."

I clicked. "Oh, a tap!" I explained to S5. 

It is obvious from the example N3 still gets his consonants mixed up, but I was far more impressed with his ability to communicate. When he realised that he was not being understood, he found another way to explain to us what he was saying. And I think he did so splendidly well! 

Soon, the cd I was listening to ended and they were quick to remind me that it's their turn to listen to a cd which they had chosen earlier - the story of the Lion King. So S5 went to put it on, and before long, the boys were role playing with their toy animals. Yay, I thought. Let's make this sound grand - they just did theatre/acting class :-) All this while I was still knitting.

And then they were hungry, so I got off the table to cut up some peaches and there endeth my note taking, lol.