The First Two Weeks Have Been...

Hiya, homeschoolers! I want to talk a little about what I've been going through the first two weeks of getting back into our homeschooling.
So, my oldest Syriah is in 3rd grade and the next oldest, Jamian, is in 2nd grade. We as homeschoolers already know that we need to know our kid's grade levels as a benchmark for us to know where they are. Whether or not you tell your kids what 'grade' they're in or not, we still need to know for state testing purposes and also buying curriculums.
That being said, because we live in Georgia, state testing begins at the end of 3rd grade, so the time is coming where my oldest daughter will be getting a state test to pass to the next grade. It seems a bit scary and intimidating, but for the most part, I have faith in myself, or at least, I do now.
I had to grasp that recently and not put myself down for the things I was unable to teach her the whole summer because of our little financial crisis. But NOW, it's GO time.
I'm just gonna be real here. Pardon my French, but before, I was kinda bullshitting. See, when your kids are young, you get stuck in being lax about schooling. Taking a bunch of days off is all good and cool when you're just teaching ABCs, blends, and connecting the dots. But because they're in the era of times tables, historical facts, and the stages of photosynthesis, I can't bullshit around anymore. Certain things that these kids must know by the time testing approaches MUST be taught, and I have no time to fool around. Education isn't a joke.



Hubby and I have had talks about this, and we're gearing up already to get a little more strict on these two because like I said, playtime is over. I can't be too lax anymore. I even started back giving them little tests, because I notice that their sense of urgency is practically non-existent. I used to give Syriah spelling tests last year and before that, but like I said, it wasn't super urgent then. She was only in 1st grade or 2nd grade, and for the most part, my kids are already great spellers. But math is the main thing that I never gave them tests on. I used to believe that homeschooling didn't require tests, because the whole point of homeschooling was to not be so strict. However, urgency is still needed in life, and they need to know that they don't have the leeway to spend 5 minutes on one 2 digit math problem. Testing isn't bad, especially for us as black people. We're already at the bottom of the totem pole as far as education, and I refuse to take my kid's education into my own hands and screw them up just as bad, if not WORSE than what the toxic Common Core curriculum would do to them. No way in hell am I allowing that. lol!
So these first 2 weeks of getting back into it has taught me a lot about how to go about things now. Instead of only 2-3 hours of schooling, they're getting 4-5 hours. I need to make sure they're getting the material. Don't get me wrong; I still make it fun. If they need to get up and stretch or move around, they do. We have a drawing exercise almost every day so they can giggle and draw silly things while sharpening their skills. I play with them and make jokes in between worksheets to keep them stimulated, and I show them educational YouTube videos on my phone to break the monotony of just book work. Lots of coloring and cut and paste work as well. I don't think they're ever too old for that stuff, technically. LOL!
That's what I've been thinking about and working on lately. Tomorrow starts the 3rd week of schooling and I am PUMPED! Things are going well, besides Jam being lazy and not using his fingers when it comes to math. Haha! But once he gets tired of getting problems wrong, he'll do it. I'm excited as to how much my kids will learn and expand themselves this year. The scheduling and lesson planning isn't totally perfect just yet, but it's getting there. I will grasp it!
Until next time, homeschoolers. Follow me on Instagram for DAILY posts on what we're learning! Peace.

                ~Uncaged Learning/Curls of Innocence~





Comments

Popular Posts