Home Schooling Levi
It's been an adventure, that's for sure. I never expected that I would ever home-school any of our children, but it has become necessary because Levi hasn't been doing very well in a traditional classroom setting. Due to his various mental health diagnoses, he interrupts the teacher and other students, blurts out inappropriate comments, makes banging noises with his pencil or foot, has trouble sitting in his chair for more than a few minutes, and is often unable to focus on the work he needs to do, because he is so easily distracted by normal classroom noise. That means that he has trouble starting, let alone completing, any written work in class. When he was bringing everything home as homework, there just weren't enough hours left in the day for him to finish such an overwhelming amount of homework. And besides, his medications had mostly worn off by late afternoon, so he wasn't able to concentrate any better at home than at school.
Since any change is hard for Levi, we decided that this year, when he would move from an elementary setting to seventh grade at Gering Junior High, was the right time to experiment with homeschooling. At first, he took two classes at the Junior High in the middle of the day, but that dwindled to just one Life Science class after a few months. In the beginning, in August, we tried to get started with home schooling by 8:30, but I found that Levi is sometimes just too tired to get to work so early. So, we've learned to be flexible with our starting time; when he is too tired to work, we can make time for the nap he needs, and he can eat whenever he is hungry--which seems to be all the time, just now!
To begin with, Levi was extremely resistant to the thought of home school, because it was a drastic change from his previous school experience. But over the last few months, Levi has learned that home school is usually less stressful than the Junior High. He's found that we can often accomplish a lot in a short time here at home, where distractions can be kept to a minimum. And, if we want to digress from the day's study, or expand upon it, we can use the i-pad to research anything we want, right on the spot. He is definitely learning much more than ever before, during the course of one school year--and so am I!
I've been reviewing world history facts and science terms that I haven't thought about in more than 40 years. I've renewed my math-teaching skills, especially for multiplication, division, and basic algebraic equations. I've brushed up on my page-scanning techniques, so I can help Levi find the information he needs in a textbook, and I've had to relearn some English grammar rules that I haven't thought about in years.
Levi reads voraciously, and has an amazing vocabulary, but I'm finding that he often mispronounces words that he can read, simply because he has never heard them spoken aloud. Levi is definitely a history buff, able to spout off more facts than his history book can contain. In addition to English, Math, History, and Science, the state of Nebraska requires us to study Health, which has been easy for us, because Levi can just read the book and then review the content with me.
As long as I teach Levi the required subjects, I can supplement his education with anything else I feel he should learn. So, I have a goal of reading and discussing a Bible reference every day, and I can take time to lead a discussion about appropriate social skills whenever we need to reinforce that sometimes difficult concept.
Since Levi's grade school didn't really teach cursive handwriting, Levi has learned to write in cursive quite well this year, which has given him the added benefits of being able to sign his legal name, read cursive writing, and practice some much needed fine motor skills. Believe it or not, Levi really likes to sit (or stand) at the kitchen table to practice his cursive writing!
Part of the problem with current public school content is the lack of time for kids to engage in appropriate physical activity. We don't have formal PE here at home, but Levi walks the ten blocks home from the Junior High every day after his one class, carrying his science supplies and library books in his backpack. In addition, we can take some time, whenever necessary, for Levi to jump on the mini-tramp in our basement, or use his backyard punching bag, or carry a basket full of laundry upstairs. And then, we've had an abundance of snow to shovel this winter, so Levi has had plenty of outlets for his excess energy.
We've been able to take some hikes, and we hope to scout out several local historical sites, now that the weather is moderating. We've done a fair amount of baking and cooking, too, which has strengthened Levi's questionable math concepts, especially when it comes to fractions; it has become convenient to cut recipes in half or even in fourths, or to double some recipes, as well. I plan to add some extra life skills and social skills, as well as more keyboarding opportunities, to our curriculum for this approaching fourth quarter, and we're going to see if Levi can transfer some of his hand-written stories to the computer, and perhaps even self-publish one of them.
Because this school year has worked so well for us, we have decided that, next year, we are going to home school exclusively. Scheduling will work much better for us if we don't have to stop in the middle of the day to head for a class at the Junior High. I'm hoping that Levi will develop a genuine love for learning and an acceptable work ethic, now that he doesn't have to try to work in an environment filled with distractions.
Levi gets quite a bit of interaction with other kids at Level Up, our church's Junior High youth group, and at Sunday School. Because he needs to keep working on appropriate social skills with his peers, we will probably encourage him to take another art class. We also have the option of working closely with one of our local home school groups, which plan frequent group learning experiences for their students.
We have experienced a fair share of ups and downs this year, as we've figured out what works for us. But, Levi's attitude, and mine, have both improved as the year has progressed. I can truly say that this school year has been the best one yet for Levi.
Since any change is hard for Levi, we decided that this year, when he would move from an elementary setting to seventh grade at Gering Junior High, was the right time to experiment with homeschooling. At first, he took two classes at the Junior High in the middle of the day, but that dwindled to just one Life Science class after a few months. In the beginning, in August, we tried to get started with home schooling by 8:30, but I found that Levi is sometimes just too tired to get to work so early. So, we've learned to be flexible with our starting time; when he is too tired to work, we can make time for the nap he needs, and he can eat whenever he is hungry--which seems to be all the time, just now!
To begin with, Levi was extremely resistant to the thought of home school, because it was a drastic change from his previous school experience. But over the last few months, Levi has learned that home school is usually less stressful than the Junior High. He's found that we can often accomplish a lot in a short time here at home, where distractions can be kept to a minimum. And, if we want to digress from the day's study, or expand upon it, we can use the i-pad to research anything we want, right on the spot. He is definitely learning much more than ever before, during the course of one school year--and so am I!
I've been reviewing world history facts and science terms that I haven't thought about in more than 40 years. I've renewed my math-teaching skills, especially for multiplication, division, and basic algebraic equations. I've brushed up on my page-scanning techniques, so I can help Levi find the information he needs in a textbook, and I've had to relearn some English grammar rules that I haven't thought about in years.
Levi reads voraciously, and has an amazing vocabulary, but I'm finding that he often mispronounces words that he can read, simply because he has never heard them spoken aloud. Levi is definitely a history buff, able to spout off more facts than his history book can contain. In addition to English, Math, History, and Science, the state of Nebraska requires us to study Health, which has been easy for us, because Levi can just read the book and then review the content with me.
As long as I teach Levi the required subjects, I can supplement his education with anything else I feel he should learn. So, I have a goal of reading and discussing a Bible reference every day, and I can take time to lead a discussion about appropriate social skills whenever we need to reinforce that sometimes difficult concept.
Since Levi's grade school didn't really teach cursive handwriting, Levi has learned to write in cursive quite well this year, which has given him the added benefits of being able to sign his legal name, read cursive writing, and practice some much needed fine motor skills. Believe it or not, Levi really likes to sit (or stand) at the kitchen table to practice his cursive writing!
Part of the problem with current public school content is the lack of time for kids to engage in appropriate physical activity. We don't have formal PE here at home, but Levi walks the ten blocks home from the Junior High every day after his one class, carrying his science supplies and library books in his backpack. In addition, we can take some time, whenever necessary, for Levi to jump on the mini-tramp in our basement, or use his backyard punching bag, or carry a basket full of laundry upstairs. And then, we've had an abundance of snow to shovel this winter, so Levi has had plenty of outlets for his excess energy.
We've been able to take some hikes, and we hope to scout out several local historical sites, now that the weather is moderating. We've done a fair amount of baking and cooking, too, which has strengthened Levi's questionable math concepts, especially when it comes to fractions; it has become convenient to cut recipes in half or even in fourths, or to double some recipes, as well. I plan to add some extra life skills and social skills, as well as more keyboarding opportunities, to our curriculum for this approaching fourth quarter, and we're going to see if Levi can transfer some of his hand-written stories to the computer, and perhaps even self-publish one of them.
Because this school year has worked so well for us, we have decided that, next year, we are going to home school exclusively. Scheduling will work much better for us if we don't have to stop in the middle of the day to head for a class at the Junior High. I'm hoping that Levi will develop a genuine love for learning and an acceptable work ethic, now that he doesn't have to try to work in an environment filled with distractions.
Levi gets quite a bit of interaction with other kids at Level Up, our church's Junior High youth group, and at Sunday School. Because he needs to keep working on appropriate social skills with his peers, we will probably encourage him to take another art class. We also have the option of working closely with one of our local home school groups, which plan frequent group learning experiences for their students.
We have experienced a fair share of ups and downs this year, as we've figured out what works for us. But, Levi's attitude, and mine, have both improved as the year has progressed. I can truly say that this school year has been the best one yet for Levi.
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