We
started September off with a day trip to Gibbons Creek Reservoir. I like finding all the little fun spots
around us. They had a roped off swim
area and we took our neighbors canoe out to do some fishing. It still gives me a burst of cheer to get
paddled around pretty nature spots by Caleb and Jon. I love sitting behind Caleb and watching him
paddle; he’s growing up right before my eyes.
It’s crazy! How did he get so big
and capable all of a sudden? I
especially enjoyed all the gigantic and beautiful lily pads, the stunning cranes
perched on tree stumps that were intermittently coming out of the lake,
drinking my coffee while my boys rowed me around, shoring up on the back side
of a fun little island for a bit, and tying off to one of the random stumps so
Jon could bait the fishing lines with super, super, super stinky bait. Good memories.
Caleb
had a great 11th birthday. He wanted
pizza and bowling with friends. Easy to
do, perfect! Especially since his last
birthday was such a bust. It had been
his first birthday in Texas Texas
Homeschooling
is going well with Ben in 1st grade and Caleb in 6th grade. This year we had the means to have the boys
involved in some extra classes, which I’m very glad about. Last year we were new to the area and didn’t
really know what was available, plus we didn’t really have any extra
money. We tried a gymnastics class for
Ben and I expected that he would love it!
He is constantly rearranging my living room into a giant jump zone. They had a special homeschool class that was
during the day with other homeschoolers.
How perfect, or so I thought. I
was surprised that Ben was so scared. He
was okay at first during the warm up and stretching portion of the class. But then they jumped right into hard stuff
without much explanation. Turns out, the
downside of the homeschool class was that it had all ages and experience levels
in one class. It terrified him. I was
watching him standing in line waiting for his next turn to run and jump on the
spring pad to launch him onto the huge foam block, hoping for him to see the
fun in the activity. But then I saw his
fear try to break though and I saw him try to hold back the tears and be
brave. He kept this up through his whole
wait in the line. He took his turn with
no enthusiasm, and then he very adult-like held up a “just a moment” finger to
his teacher, and ran over to me in the viewing area. And that was that. He let it all go and I had one tearful boy on
my hands. I convinced him to go out and
try it again, to be brave in the face of fear.
I thought we were in the clear when he agreed to give it another
try. He ran back into line and tried
again. He did his run (at a very slow
speed – a meandering jog perhaps), his jump, and his assisted fall onto the
huge foam block. Then he bee lined it
for me. He broke down into a sobbing
pile of distraught sadness! He absolutely would not go out again. We watched the rest of the class from the
viewing area. We practiced everything we
saw at home so he would be ready to go for the next class. The next week, he got a big pep talk and the
promise of the treat of his choice if he tries everything and stays in
class. He seemed agreeable until it was
time to join the rest of the kids.
Another tear-fest! I’ve never
seen him like this and it broke my heart.
I was in such a spot. What to
do? Do I push him to do something that
apparently terrorizes him and teach him to try things and not let fear win, but
traumatize him in the process? Or do I
let him off the hook and help him feel better, but in doing so, let him think
you can just quit things if they’re hard?
Ahhh! Well, I really couldn’t get
him out there short of dragging him, and I decided that I wasn’t willing to pay
primo dollar amounts if he isn’t benefitting from it. But I did want him to be involved in
something so that this fear of the unknown wouldn’t win. By the next day I had him enrolled in KOR
school for their Friday fine arts program. It’s a local private school that
does the core subjects Mon-Thur. They
opened their Friday fine arts program up to homeschoolers for the first time
this year. And bonus: the supervisor was
able to fit him in to the class with one of his friends, Cole Hamiter. Yay!
He's taking music, theater, art, and P.E. Each class is an hour. He was nervous about trying another new
thing, so I promised to stay in the parking lot for the whole first day. I would be there if he needed me. Poor Caleb and my Mom had to honor the
promise with me. So the three of us sat
in the car for 4 hours in the parking lot; a living security blanket. But, it was so worth it. Knowing I was just right there gave Ben the
security and emotional freedom to be able to enjoy himself. He had a blast! From our parking space, we could watch Ben in
his final class of the day, P.E. It was
such a sharp contrast to his gymnastics experience. He was running full steam ahead and thriving
in this atmosphere! I'm so relieved it
went well and I’m glad I could watch him for that little bit to see how he was
doing. I'm glad we found the right fit
for our family. I’m glad my Mom was here visiting too! It's great that she was
here as we figured all that out. She got to see the highs and lows in our
homeschooling adventure. We topped our experience off with hamburgers and
frozen custard. Yum!
Caleb
is taking two really great classes this year that haven’t been offered in this
area before. They are so perfect for him
and are challenging and engaging. The
first is a middle school level engineering class. He has to take notes during the lecture, do
homework, and participate in a variety of building challenges. He is also taking a robotics class. This class is a lot easier for him, but he is
gaining a lot of knowledge he didn’t have before. He loves them both and he even made one
friend, another little boy his age who loves Legos and robots, and whose brain
operates very similarly to Caleb’s. It’s
perfect. We were invited over to his new
friend’s house for a play date. I got on
really well with the mom and there was a little girl about Ben’s age. They played splendidly together. Extra perfect! The friendships are still in the beginning
phase, but I think they will be good ones.
We
also went to the first get together of a group of homeschoolers who plan to
meet once a month for a Lego contest, a chess tournament, an art project, and a
geography video. We went and Caleb
enjoyed the Lego contest and the chess tournament. We brought our Simpsons chess board and Caleb
ended up with a big group of kids surrounding his game and wanting a turn to
play on the fun board. Ha ha, kids! Secretly I had wondered if we would offend
the local community with our Simpsons board.
They are very conservative around here.
It turned out to be fine, I think?
The art project wasn’t the best and they never made it to the geography
video. So next time I think we’ll just
stay for the first two portions.
One
neat advancement around here is that I signed up with Scholastic to receive
their book club flyers as our own school.
They apparently have allowances to do that for homeschool families. I had been missing being able to order from
Scholastic, as they usually have a really discounted book highlighted each
month and new books are often printed in paperback exclusively for Scholastic,
when they are only offered in hardcover everywhere else. Additionally, we’ll now receive the
incentives, rewards, and discounts doubly, as both the parent and the
teacher. Yay for double rewards!
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