Day 13
21 October 2021
Dad’s Day
Thursday is Liam’s day to home school.
It’s nice for me to have a break from being so hands on, and I just love watching him with them.
Aren’t dads great?
He does things in a totally different way to me & their dynamic is so different to ours.
Dads are crazy too! (Well, our Dad is.)
Liam will just figure it out on the fly, whereas I plan for several scenarios that could potentially occur.
It’s like they’re learning two different languages.
With mum, there’s always backup.
There’s always a spare sandwich, spare pair of trackies, extra hat.
“Sunscreen? Got it!”
We’re all going to be fine!
Dads are like, “Oh you fell in a puddle, um ok, strip off & tie this shopping bag around your waste and you can wait in the car (alone) while I run in to the shops.”
“You’re hungry? Ah, here’s a tic-tac I found in the glove box, you want that?” 😂😂😂
Dads bring the grit.
They make them flexible & mentally tough.
The Canteen Game
Mila is obsessed with this at the moment!
We use a pack of play money we bought from Office Works. You can buy it here. (http://thehomeschoolyear.com/Play%20Money)
After breakfast, they sat around the table, he had Linc working on the Excel spreadsheet shopping list, & he was purchasing canteen treats from Mila.
Not easy little amounts like I give her – $6.90 out of a ten dollar note.
No.
He’s giving her $438.75 out of five hundred!
She’s thinking, thinking, then she works it out & gives a rebel yell while doing a victory lap around the house.
She’s so pleased with herself!
“AGAIN!” She says.
Liam washes the breakfast dishes and continues with Mila, as Linc riffles through the pantry and fridge making his notes, and it’s all working.
And life’s good.
Moments like this make me feel complete.
Working from home, teaching our kids, being together, making our plans.
“I had a moment of bliss.”
They loved this! I wonder how much the shopping list will change?!!
Soccer Skills
They headed out to the oval to take Pep for a run and practice some soccer skills.
Summer soccer is starting soon. Mila has never played before & she convinced Dad to coach her team.
So, he bought her some new boots and put her through her paces.
She’s not really a ‘pink girl’ but man, did she loose her tiny mind when she saw those boots!
Core Learning
When they got home, they were hot and hungry.
They headed straight to the tramp and Mila went crazy with the hose.
After lunch they got stuck into their core ‘workbook’ learning.
Mila did hers quietly with me while I worked.
Linc put up a bit of resistance, a hangover from yesterday maybe. It’s frustrating, because they have so much time to themselves now & we only ask for a little of their concentration.
40 minutes a day!
Often with him, we find starting is the hardest part. Once he starts, he’s focused.
I could hear them getting into it from where I was working. Linc ramping up, Liam turning on the lecture – patterns we are still learning to manage since we started home schooling.
When they finally started maths, Liam could not remember how to do the algorithm. (Which further supports the unschooling method – if you never use it, why learn it?!)
They were trying to subtract decimals. They sat together to figure it out with YouTube.
The next thing I hear is lots and lots of laughter and carrying on.
The woman in the video had a southern American accent which Lincoln thought was hilarious!
(Watch it here. She’s a legend!) (http://thehomeschoolyear.com/Subtracting%20Decimals)
And you know what?
The humour completely changed the mood. They laughed, they re-bonded and they figured out the math way before the video ended.
I heard Linc scream out, “YES! I know how to do it!”
It was a real win for them both.
Linc ran in to tell me about it.
It’s SO rewarding to see them learn something they didn’t know.
“It is the best feeling!”
We Need To Pivot
Afterwards, we had a long chat about their expectations for home school. We asked what they wanted from each day.
I think one of the problems we’re facing is we can’t get out to do many of the organised activities and sports we had planned because nothing has been opened due to Covid.
When we were planning to home school, they each made a list of things they wanted to do and we haven’t really done many things on the list.
We joined some online home school communities.
There are over 350 home school families just in our immediate area!
There is SO much going on within those groups. It has all just been put on hold. 😞
Once things start up again, we will have them plan their weeks and then they will be learning exactly what they want to be learning.
Well, that’s the plan anyway. 🤷♀️
Lots Of Cuddles!
One of my favourite parts about home schooling so far are the cuddles.
The kids come up almost constantly for cuddles. (Did they need those cuddles when they were at school? Did they miss us this much? 😥)
Sometimes they crawl onto our lap & hang out. Sometimes, it’s a quick cuddle as they scoot past.
There’s definitely been a shift. Things are changing.
Publicity
Oh, and we got a little bit of press today. (http://thehomeschoolyear.com/Home%20School%20Press)
Home school families have increased in NSW alone, by over 20%!!