Posted on 03/14/2002 5:07:26 AM PST by HairOfTheDog
*THUD* [LF hits the floor in a dead faint]
...That sentence made me a bit light-headed as well.
That sounds like my ideal diet as a teenager. Come to think of it, some things never change.
Glad to see you have a sense of humor!
Are there any cookies left?
That only gets worse with age, luckily...
You may be wrong about the Mrs. and the homeschooling thing. If she sees Jr. taking to it, it may spark her interest. Remember you don't have to TEACH Jr. most things. With upper middle and high schoolers, they are teaching themselves for the most part. They are doing the reading, writing and learning. You are the facilitators. You provide the means and the materials based on what you know of your child's weaknesses and strengths. Sometimes you get it right, and sometimes not. The best part is that when something isn't working, you're not stuck with it, and you don't have to force it on your child because it is something is required by someone else! You can sell it to someone else and buy something NEW! Not all children learn the same way, so homeschooling is wonderful because each subject can be learned in the way that is most suitable for your child.
Remember that YOU don't have to do the teaching, and for those things with which your child needs help, you can always engage a tutor, or enroll him in a homeschool resource center for a couple of classes. The main point I'm trying to make is that this type of education is TRULY geared to your child. Now with Jr., you may have to have a little sit down, 'come to Jesus' meeting about HIS responsibilities to his OWN education. Have you talked to Jr. about this? Don't couch it in terms of "you're not doing well in school, so let's see if we can whip you into shape at home". You could try it like "It is obvious that you seem to be having difficulties being interested in what they're teaching in school. (You've made the SCHOOL the problem, not him!) Have you ever thought about trying homeschooling? We could look into some of the currucula and programs together to choose what you would like and what would be best for you.(You're giving him permission to direct his own learning) Learning is ultimately something you have to do for yourself. No one can MAKE you learn, so it might be fun to find some subjects you would really like to learn about and could teach to yourself." But most kids really jump on this opportunity to follow their interests and do the work in their own time. Sometimes our daughter will only do two subjects in a day. She'll do her Geometry, and either she'll concentrate on Literature or U.S. History. But she'll read for several hours and really LEARN the material rather than be stopped after an hour to move on to something else. It all seems to work out if you have an overall plan about where you want to be by a certain date.
I wish you luck. Your wife could be going through a time of mild depression, that was there before the experiences with her father's illness and death. I had a period like that a few years ago when I had just lost interest in keeping up with the house, and I really wasn't paying attention to what the kids were doing in school. As a result, we didn't notice that they weren't being challenged, and their education was suffering. It took me a couple of years to shake it off, but Sir SuziQ was patient, though it drove him nuts! I'll keep your family in my prayers, Corin. I know it is tough, and the decision to homeschool will be a big one, but I think you're in an area of the country which has many resources available to h/sers.
Well, my advice is worth just about what it costs you, so you can take it or not. Just some thoughts.
Omigoodness- TONS of cookies. I'm bringing home 6.5 dozen different ones and still have cookies left from my own efforts last night (plus half a batch of extra dough in the freezer). I've been trying to pass cookies off on everyone who comes in the office.
I will never do a cookie exchange again!
BWAAAHAHAHAHAAA!
I'm lookin' forward to it...
I got invited to Sergeant Major I know's retirement next Wednesday... even better, I'm invited to the hoe down afterwards... not many people invited, blue jeans, 5 kegs, open bar... to quote the Sergeant Major "Sir, you and me are gonna get gutter crawlin', commode huggin' ugly drunk..." I'm lookin' forward to it... I've already asked fer Thursday mornin' off...
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