So, we've finally made the decision to homeschool the girls. They are not doing so hot in school and the school seems to not truly be able to help. Yes, they have them in tutoring but they are being tutored so much that it is making them fail other subjects. Mariyah right now sees a teacher 5 days a week to help with ELA, another teacher 3 days a week to help with math, ANOTHER teacher twice a week to help with ELA and she has tutoring after school twice a week. I mean, is that over kill or what?! Her last report card was not very good and Jocelyn's was not good either. Scores are not A-F anymore. It's 1-4. A score of 4 means you are above grade level, 3 is on grade level, 2 is below grade level and 1.....well you get the picture. Both had a lot of 2's n some 1's, hardly any 3's. The school had only 24% of the kids pass ELA and math last year. That means 76% FAILED! Wouldn't YOU start being a little more involved in their education? At this point, I might as well home school them, I basically already am. Am I a little apprehensive? NO, Im A LOT apprehensive, but it needs to be done. I do want to add, in a class of ~30 kids, its impossible to give each student the individual attention they need. Every student learns differently. The teachers do the best they can with what they have. They both have great teachers, but if I have the opportunity to teach them in a more individualized environment, why would I pass that up?
This past week, all the kids were off from school. So, I took the opportunity to take off from work also and stay home and work on schooling. Plus, if I worked, the 4 kids would be at the shop all day driving my husband totally insane.....AND my van overheated and needed the head gasket replaced, AGAIN! (that's another story) So, I really couldn't get to work anyways. Jocelyn (6th grade) and Mariyah (4th grade) worked on a lot of cursive, math, ELA and test prep. Barnes & Nobles is a wonderful resource (especially the one in Pittsford)! When I worked one on one with Joce, she got it! This is a girl who cannot remember her times tables to save her life! She had mastered quite a few over the span of 2 hours! She was doing mental math, which she has not been able to do. It amazed me how well she grasped the concepts when I worked with her alone. She did great! Mariyah wasn't too shabby either. She, thankfully, does know her multiplication facts pretty well for a 4th grader. I taught her how to divide the big kid way. No more drawing 300 circles and splitting them up. She got it down pretty good. As the rest of this school year goes on, we will continue to work on math and ELA but I do have high hopes for these girls. They are very bright! They just need more focused attention on them to learn. Sure working 40+ hours a week and homeschooling for at least 25 hrs a week will be draining, exhausting, trying and who knows what else, but the things we must do for our kids will always be a reminder. I had the girls write down some reasons why they want to be homeschooled next year and I will do the same. I plan to type them up, print it out and put it in a frame in our schooling area, which is yet to be finished. That way, when we get frustrated or down, we can look at the list together and remember why we started in the first place. Plus I can turn it into a lesson, write a paragraph about one of your reasons you chose to be home schooled and elaborate. With super mom as an awesome writer, these kids may have a blog of their own someday.... hmm..... ENGLISH project!!
~~~Time to home school the little guy.... numbers and colors - here we come!! (BTW-he started home schooling just a few months ago and went from not writing anything to being able to write his own name pretty neatly!!
