Back to School

After such a nice, long vacation, it sure seems hard to get back into
the swing of things. I went to do the writing marking at the BC on
Monday, and because it was so warm at the office all I could do was
think about sleeping. I left and came back the next day to finish, but
my usual focus was missing, and the work took longer than usual.
I was supposed to start my writing class today, but yesterday, when I
found out the number of students seemed to have nearly triple, I
actually panicked and asked for more time to prepare. With the
familiar students it would be easy to continue where we left off, but
with new students it means I want to reevaluate my original plan.
Actually, I was also a little angry that I was not told there would be
more students. I think the pay is still reasonable, but I am not as
happy with it. I need to find a way to teach writing to a larger
number of students but keep the time it takes me to grade to papers
and such to a minimum. This will take some more planning.
Hudson is the other one who is back to school. It is nice that he does
not have to catch the bus in the morning nor ride the bus in the
afternoon. We do notice he has more energy, and other than occassional
squirminess, he is quite cooperative. As the materials have been held
up in customs, we have had to be a little creative in coming up with a
plan of things for him to do. I found a book called Mr. Hatchet which
is about the Oregon Trail (so I think it will be somewhat related to
the materials I already ordered for him) and as we have the Oregon
Trail game, I thought we could play it. I am also going to make him
write a book report. In addition, there is the handwriting book, and I
think he had better learn cursive writing, so I have been giving him
that and letting him use the phonics book from his own school to
practice his printing. He works quite fast when he wants to. Other
than that, I spent a little time to talk about manners, and I want to
talk a little more about the winter olympics. On Friday, we plan to
take him skiing for the field trip. I am not sure how I will feel
about homeschooling after a few weeks. Perhaps, for both of us it is
just a honeymoon phase and it will eventually go downhill. He cannot
possibly stay this cooperative for an entire semester, can he? Of
course, it would be nice if he does, but I am not sure that he will.
Some goals I have this semester:
1. Better handwriting.
2. Better sense of English composition for his level.
3. Improved manners and self-discipline.
4. For him to be engaged in learning and curious about the world around him.
5. to get to know him as a person better.
He already reads quite well, and seems quite willing to do so. I am
not really worried about that at all. Time will tell if this is a good
decision.