Friday, April 23, 2010

Trying something new

Our homeschool is always evolving and changing. Lately, I've struggled to meet the needs of my youngest daughter (age 9) because Baby Bop (age 3) takes so much of my time. My older two are pretty self-sufficient.

If I do something with Baby Bop so he is not bothering my youngest daughter, she feels left out and doesn't work well alone. If Baby Bop is around distracting her, she doesn't work well either.

Henry is picking up the slack on a few things, but I'm still not happy with her structured school work. I should add that my youngest daughter does a lot of very good unstructured things on her own. I not an unschooler at heart, so it is too unstructured for me to feel comfortable (though a little unschooling is an important part of homeschooling.)

Normally, at Baby Bop's nap time, I read a few story books to him and then he gets in to his bed. I then read out loud from my book until he falls asleep. Sometimes it is the scriptures or a murder mystery, whatever I'm in the mood for.

This is my new strategy. After I read the story books, I invite my youngest daughter (age 9) to lay on the other bed in Baby Bop's room. I then read out loud from a history/science book called the Out Line of History. We discuss it quietly and I keep reading until Baby Bop falls asleep. My youngest daughter really enjoys it even if the book is a bit over her head. I also hope a little of the information will end up in Baby Bop's head too.

Today, I couldn't find the Out Line of History, so we read from Jungle Book (Rudyard Kipling, not Disney). Baby Bop stayed awake for almost the whole story. I'm enjoying this time with my youngest daughter and figure it is a good way to get my little terrorist to sleep.

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