Homeschool Day 3: Productivity, Piano lessons & Prayer

Today...I was less hands on with the kids and more hands on with work related matters.  David was home so I posted up in our bedroom with my tablet to do work while he handled things in all the rest of the house.  I think the kids mostly managed themselves but having him there was kinda like having a scarecrow in the garden.  It was more of a scare tactic than anything.  Thank you for your services, babe.

When I finally took a break to have some lunch I snapped a few pictures of what the kids were doing:

Lia decided to study a bit of Greek Mythology because we had watched "Percy Jackson: Lightning Thief" the night before and she got pretty into it.  She entertained me during lunch telling me all about Medusa, Zeus and the family drama that accompanied Zeus' grandmother (I can't remember her name).  It finally dawned on me that in Greek Mythology, family connection amongst gods really means nothing except power and privilege.

At some point Lia felt sorry for Tava (or got tired of the computer telling Tava the answer was wrong) and went over to explain plant adaptations to her.  Tava is very independent and really likes to try doing things on her own.  Even though she turned away Lia kept explaining anyway LOL!  Way to stick to it Lia and Tava.

I asked Filimone what he was working on and he said he was writing a summary about the book he completed today.  Really?  I don't even remember that being on our plan but kudos to you kid!  Way to think of something to do that is not only productive but proactive.  I think this homeschooling thing is teaching my kids even more that they are responsible for their own learning and to make every effort count towards something.  Well, at least until 4pm when the scarecrow's shift is over.

Nifai totally wants to be a part of the schooling thing too and never fails to remind me everyday that he needs to do school.  I drew a big "A" on a piece of paper and had him make a "rainbow letter" by tracing the A several times with a different crayon each time.  This took all of 5 minutes.  Once he was done and I snapped a picture, he decided that was enough school for today and went to go play.

After I finished lunch I headed back to my room to get more work done.  I had already finished grading papers that I was finally allowed to pick up from my classroom on Tuesday.  Next, I set out to work on lesson plans for my piano students that were coming today.  During that time I had a phone call and text message from a couple of friends who needed teacher advice/input about their kids' schooling.  One of these friends has a 7th grader and wanted to know what I was doing for my kids.  I asked her if she needed something for her son and this is what I emailed her after checking our district's curriculum for this six weeks.  Feel free to use some of these resources for your own 7th graders.

English Language arts

Vocab-https://quizlet.com/418975577/staar-writing-vocabulary-flash-cards/

Free online book library-https://www.hoopladigital.com/

Math

Algebraic representations of geometry

statistics and sampling

Personal Financial Literacy

https://www.khanacademy.org/  find lessons on this website for each topic 

Science

Genetics-https://www.brainpop.com/search/?keyword=genetics

Texas History

Reconstruction:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2B0MRM85zJU

Indian Wars   https://www.legendsofamerica.com/texas-indian-battles/
Cotton, Cattle & Railroads   https://texasourtexas.texaspbs.org/the-eras-of-texas/cotton-cattle-railroads/

By the time I had finished finding this info for 7th grade, my piano students had arrived.  I didn't advertise that I was looking for students but it just so happened that I had four people approach me all within about a week, asking me if i would give their kids piano lessons.  With that many people all around the same time, I figured the Lord was trying to tell me something so I listened.  So I am back at teaching piano lesson for the last two months now.

I teach partner lessons in 45 minute sessions.  I like the partner lessons because kids get sick of me pretty fast when its just the two of us.  I guess that's what happens when there is a 32 year age gap.  We spend at least 15 minutes of each session playing games or doing some type of interactive partner activity.  Nifai and Shiblon are my youngest set of piano partner students.  Because they are so young, and their attention spans are so short at this age, our lessons only take 15 minutes. Sometimes we just work on rhythm, we clap, we count, we listen and mimick.  Other times we work on strengthening our finger muscles.  Think about it, can you lift your ring finger easily by itself if all fingers tips are flat on the table?  So imagine how hard this might be for preschoolers.  

Here, we are working on the Musical Alphabet which (if you didn't already know) only consists of A, B, C, D, E, F and G.  With these two being so young and still learning their alphabet, our game was more of recognition and matching.  So in a way, we also covered language arts and positional vocabulary--I had to explain and show them what "in the middle" meant.

 These two are such good boys though!

Man, I really got to hand it to Pre-K and Kindergarten teachers, this video was from the last 2 minutes of our lesson and you can tell their attention span was already at an end.  Imagine dealing with that for hours with 20 kids this age all at the same time!

I think sometimes we assume that teacher will teach our kids everything they need to know to be successful in life.  That's not completely true.  What can YOU teach YOUR kids that they might not learn at school?  Piano, guitar, how to change a tire or check the oil, how to scramble eggs, wash dishes by hand, sew on a button, iron a shirt, how to organize a closet, do laundry, genealogy?

After I was done doing everything I needed to on my computer today, Nifai ran into my bedroom.  "Hey!  What did you do today?"  I asked him as he climbed up on my lap.  His reply, "Ummm....I pray with Jesus Christ."  Melt my heart.  These are the moments that we, as parents, live for.  Teach your kids something that teachers would love to teach them but aren't allowed to teach.  If you only teach them one thing during this time, teach them to pray.