So we've finished four weeks of home ed now, and there has been a few changes in the past couple of days.
First of all I went ahead and emailed InterHigh to ask that A be removed from Creative Pursuits (although it looks as though it's still showing on his timetable so I think I'll have to chase it up on Monday.) He really hated it, and honestly it was never going to lead him to any type of qualifications, let's be honest.
He's become very close with a girl from his year at InterHigh and has been chatting to her constantly for the past three days, and they're playing games online together. His headphones and microphone are pretty much glued to his head! She lives in the Highlands of Scotland apparently. It's nice that he's got friends, I'm happy for him.
The next development is with L. Despite the new books and revision cards that I purchased for her to get a boost in IGCSE Physics, she isn't loving it one bit. After much discussion and deliberation, it has been decided that she would feel a lot happier switching to GCSE Astronomy. Yes, it's still a branch of Physics, but it's a branch that she finds much more interesting.
I was concerned at first that she might not be able to do it, because the Astronomy course requires the student to undertake two observations of the sky, one aided and one unaided. That's all very well and good, but these observations have to be signed by a tutor or teacher, and submitted to the exam board.
Now, there is an online course of GCSE Astronomy but it costs a fortune (over £300) which was outside our budget. I was just about ready to give up on the idea, but I ended up getting in touch with one of the teachers of this course, and he said that for a fee of £75 he can sign her observations once she has carried them out.
Excellent stuff!
Plus they run some webinars at a cost of £12 a month (paid bi-monthly) which I have signed her up for as well, plus I've ordered the textbook and found some BBC Bitesize and YouTube videos for added resources.
So I guess that's that then, she's switching to Astronomy. The things we do for our kids! Luckily I don't need to fork out for a telescope as she can request aided observations from the Liverpool robotic telescope via their website. She's going to work on her Astronomy course through the Autumn, Christmas, and February "school" holidays to make up for lost time.
Her other subjects are going fine, although I'm apparently still not required for Classical Civilisation any more. Her latest study spot of choice is the sofa, with the dog accompanying her for good measure.
On to J and N now. N has been a little difficult the past couple of days. Everything has been a big drama with him. We tried to celebrate national poetry day on Thursday, and whilst J produced some lovely poems in limerick, cinqain, and acrostic forms, N basically wailed and moaned through his activity and decided it was far too difficult.
Yesterday was story writing. They were both set the task of writing a story about a magic escalator, in commemoration of 4th October (tomorrow) being the date of the first ever escalator in 1911. J started his story well. He hasn't finished it yet but he enjoyed planning it out and said it's going to take him a few sessions to complete.
N, on the other hand, found it far more challenging than I expected him to, and in the end he gave up and went onto maths instead. His three digit subtraction is coming along marvellously which is great.
Last night before bed I had a little chat with him, and I asked him to tell me a story. Quite animatedly he launched into some tale about a village which was being rampaged by dinosaurs. The village, apparently, had been built by cavemen but it was now an abandoned village.
I asked him how it was that he was able to tell me a story, but he couldn't write a story down on paper. He wasn't sure why. It clearly wasn't for lack of imagination.
In general he doesn't like writing. Reading he's not bad at, but writing isn't his strong suit I've noticed. It's going to have to be an area that we tackle in more depth. I can see that asking him to outright write a story down or a poem though isn't the way forward. He was frustrated on both counts, and that made him completely unproductive.
I came up with a compromise:
"How about on Monday, you tell me a story, and I'll write it down. Then you can copy what I've written," I suggested.
His eyes lit up. Apparently I've hit on something that works for him. Even if he's copying, he'll be learning the structures of sentences, grammar, and spelling, so I'm okay with that. Plus he'll be able to work on his handwriting. Once we've gone through this technique a few times, I'll see if he can manage a short story on his own. It's clear that he has his tales to tell, they're in his head, it's a matter of getting them down on paper.
As my dad always says, "little by little the bird makes his nest." Apparently it's an old French saying. "Petit a petit l'oiseau fait son nid." In other words, he'll get there in the end. It'll just take a little patience and perseverance.
