Although we are still waiting on our official ishur (permission form) to home school, I feel like we have officially become home schoolers on our own. Y is almost done with his K math book and S is coming along too. It makes sense though, 2nd grade math is a bit harder to digest then, connect the dot, color the carrot and 5+9. So all in all S is doing well. With Grammy and Grandpa here we got some great new resources, like a laminated map of the world (ours was looking pretty well used) and some math charts and a big clock to learn to tell time. Yeah! Plus we had more one on one time this way.
But beyond "book" accomplishments we have made strides in general. 2 weeks ago my kids received violins and a guitar from friends of ours whose kids had out grown them. Did you know that there are kid sized versions of these instruments? I didn't. On top of this, the oldest has offered to come out once a month and work with the kids on lessons. They have had one already. I know traditionally lessons are once a week, but as long as the kids follow the books and practice in between we should be good. Plus we have another friend that also plays and I may talk her into coming out the other week so we get lessons every other week. Grandpa played the guitar with the kids and we now have great recordings of the kids singing with the Grands. Really awesome!
And our other big accomplishment was our first home school field trip today! We went to the Israel National Museum with approx. 40 other kids and their parental unit. Mostly moms, but a couple of dads too! This activity I found out is mostly for the Israeli or Hebrew speaking crowd. But everyone spoke some English and the people were lovely. The kids were split into two groups and S was off and on his own. He loved it! I stayed with Y and though he missed his brother, did fine. Afterward each boy did an art project and did lovely work. I could go on about the day, but it would probably get boring and be disjointed because I would have to include a full report of what we saw and so on. So I will just give the highlights. What I noticed while we were there is that, in Y's age group the girls were way more socially ahead of the boys. Even though I would say ALL the kids knew each other and most had been there before, it took a while for any of the boys to speak up and then it was still more girls. Which tells me that Yosef, while shy is not so far off of his peers. I am sure that when we go in January (the next time they do this) he will be more open. S, my social butterfly was playing and talking with other boys by the days end and I am sure that he will have friends the next time we do something with the group. It was also great to observe the parents and how interactive they are with their kids. They sat on the floor with them during different stops we made at the exhibits, they let them do their own thing, but without letting them misbehave. The kids showed interest and were intelligent and thoughtful. I enjoyed watching how the parents interacted with their kids and how friendly they were. We were clearly the only "charedi" family there, but no one seemed worried or offended. The opposite of what you might find in other neighborhoods. Thinking about it later, what I finally realized is that, this is a group of parents that love being parents. They WANT to interact and teach their children things. It is not a chore, they aren't just doing this to get through winter or spring vacation or as a rare outing. These are parents who want to be there with kids who want to be there. Is there anything more beautiful? As trivial as it sounds I also loved that there was NO junk food! It was all sandwiches, veggies, fruit and so on. No one needed to bribe their kids with cookies or other junk to be quiet or behave. It was awesome!
But the other thing I realized is that I LOVE home schooling the kids. Yesterday we were out too. We had to go to the Misrad Chinuk for our interview to determine whether we qualify for home schooling or not. I will not get into it now. It is too late at night, but afterwards we rode the train, met up with GL and saw some neat things while running errands in Jerusalem. What I have realized in the last two days even more than I already have is that I LOVE being the one to teach my kids and explore with them. I love that we can go to Jerusalem to run errands and read about buildings from 1890 and the court yard has an ancient olive press and water wells. That I can walk with the kids and find someone cutting doors for a closet and they have learned something new. Walking to the museum we walked passed The Kennesset (our government buildings) and through a park where I pointed out edible plants. I am really hoping to include M next year, though the decision will be her's to make. In January we will for sure include her in the museum field trip. The only reason we didn't this time is that she already missed some school with the Grands. Good thing she went to school today too as tomorrow she gets to be Shabbos Eema, (Sabbath Mommy) so she gets to bring the treats to school.
Speaking of which, anyone who knows anything about Israel knows you don't go to the store on Thurs. or Fri. unless it is a dire emergency as it is total mayhem. Unfortunately, 3/4 of the country goes to the store at this time, which is why it is mayhem! Well we got home today just about the time M did. She beat us by about 5 minutes tops. Clever me, I went to the store right away before it got crowded so I could shop without a big crowd, I took M and it worked. We didn't need much but it was heavy so I had the boys come and we all carried our stuff home. Yeah! Just as soon as I sat down and started work M comes to me, Eema, I have a petach (a note from the teacher) I'm Shabbos Eema. Oh Joy! Back to the store! My question of course was why didn't you say anything at the store? Her answer, because I just gave you the petach. GREAT! In the end I went back out around 5:30pish and I was able to get through the express with no problems. But oh such a kid thing! I know my sister did it to my mom once and she went out at night in her jeans and jammies to get cupcakes or something. All she had was the money in her pocket when she got pulled over for a headlight out. Fortunately the cop had kids ad a sense of humor and didn't make a big deal out of the no headlight, license, etc and she was able to go to the store and come home. Good thing WE live next door to our store!
But going back to my original statement. I feel like we are really home schooling! Every day is a learning experience and I feel like we have reached another plateau. Ask me how I feel next week when we are back at traditional math and I may not feel so cheery! But for now, we are all happy. And as for M, we do work with her. She likes to do math and spelling. They loved picking a letter and listing everything that starts with that letter. They had some good ones too! We also did some great spelling with Paul Newman ABC cookies. I want to get out our Scrabble game over shabbat and see what they can spell with more tiles that they can't eat! M will also be getting violin and guitar lessons as well.
As usual I have said probably too much and more to say, but this is all for now. For your sake and mine!
Have a good weekend and GO DUCKS! (Because it is that time of year again!) Eema needs a new BCS ornament. Mine broke right off the shoot this year!
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