As I write this, I am anxiously passing the minutes until we can check school off the list for the day. We have one more day of school (today) before we have a full week off for Thanksgiving break. I had originally scheduled school to start this morning at 10, but when I went to retrieve my student, found him deeply engrossed in a Curious George TV special showing until 11. Being the gracious and loving mom that I am, I concluded all concentration would be blown anyway if I drug him away from this special showing. So I am killing some time until we can start at 11. We have very little to do today anyway, just finishing up some math and reading, so we should be done in short order. And boy am I glad! It has been a difficult week in Math. Ry has been struggling with coins and counting coins to the point where I put every other subject on hold (last friday) and we worked solely on coins. Saturday morning, he decided it truly was in his best interest to memorize the value of the penny, nickel and dime (threatened with wearing a hand-made flash card booklet all weekend) and promptly proceeded to accurately answer my drills correctly every time. Ah the stubborness of an ADHD child, who really could memorize anything, just not if he finds it boring! So I feel we accomplished that!
Now, my next hurdle is getting him to count coin combinations. We will start that today. Hopefully that will not be as much a struggle as the previous week has been! I truly need a nice long break from school and Ry does too. His little mind is full to bursting with double digit addition, measurement, coins, graphs, place value, vowels, reading, phonics and science facts and projects. Not to mention handwriting skills, bible verse memorization and the many skills we work on every single day that ADHD children need to have to succeed. No wonder we are tired!
I truly DO love homeschooling, if you were beginning to wonder from the tone of the previous paragraph. It is so rewarding to see that "light bulb" turn on and so rewarding to be the one who has helped my child succeed. But homeschooling an ADHD child is incredibly taxing. It takes extreme patience and lots of activities. Its exhausting!
So this Thanksgiving season I pause to give thanks. I am very thankful for the opportunity to homeschool my child and thankful for the wisdom and grace God grants me to do so. I am also very thankful for days off from school which allow me to regroup and rest and think of something else besides the all-consuming responsiblity of educating my son. Thank you God for your many blessings!
Well, Curious George is over, so I shall now resume my teacher duties. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving everyone! Blessings to all my readers!
