Days 59 & 60

With only two days of school this week and relatives coming at Tuesday afternoon, it has been a strange week at the SOD. Ben and I are both feeling out of sorts and are hopeful that some normalcy will return next week. It did not help tha the book we finished yesterday came to a very sad conclusion. We started our Day monday reading the last two chapters and we never really recovered.

Looking forward to December.

Day 58 - Sick Day

Ben was not feeling well so we worked on some easy things in the morning and he took it easy in the afternoon.

Day 57 - better word

I had a doctor’s appointment today and the Dr. asked what I did for a living. I told him that I homeschooled my son and he said, “that must be interesting.”

“A better word would be humbling” was my reply.

Day 56 - Flash of Enthusiasm

Ben has been excited about some work he is doing with Adobe Flash for a website he likes to visit. He has struggled to do a couple of things that he wants but has preferred to figure them out for himself rather then get help from me (a good thing since I do not know anything about Flash). It is good to see his enthusiasm. I wish we were doing something that captured the same level of attention.

Day 55 - Strong Memories

In the blog for our reading book I reflected on how the author drew upon what must have been a very powerful (and frightening) childhood memory. I asked if anyone had a similar memory. Ben became quite upset when he read then entry. He certainly did have a memory like that – and he did not want to think about it. I told him that it would be fine if he wrote about how the question made him feel.

I did not probe for the details of the memory that upset him. I did offer that writers frequently use their work – even fiction – to ‘deal with’ issues from their own lives. Others use difference processes. The important thing is not to keep things locked up inside.

Day 54 - No Comment

Busy day. Not commenting tonight.

Day 53 - Retool?

As Ben and I cooked a Lemon Cake Pie (yes – Cake Pie) today, we listened to a discussion on the local NPR station regarding places to visit in OH. I have been thinking eve since that it might form the basis for a major School of Dad retooling.

Details later.

Day 52 - Newsletter

We finished the rough draft out our November newsletter today. We will do a final edit and get it in the mail tomorrow. Originally I had wanted the newsletter to be an independent project for Ben. I quickly realized this required a level of planning, organization, and interest that he was lacking.

We had a hard time picking a theme for this month’s edition. The process consisted of me throwing out ideas and Ben not liking them. Finally I came up with something he thought would work – an issue about his collections. He had to write a main article, a second page article with pictures that showed and described some of his favorite items, a first page list of collecting do’s and don’ts, and a graphic. Most of the writing time was done as homework. I was very pleased with the quality of his work this time. I decided against recommending any major edits so what went out truly reflected his work. I think he felt good about the product. I hope some enthusiasm carries over to the December edition.

Day 51 - Short morning

Noon arrived a little quickly today – with half of what I had hoped to accomplish still undone. We read two chapters of a new book today and then listened to them on tape. By the time we had discussed the work we were well over an hour in. It was worth spending the time but left me wondering what to put off until tomorrow.

I am seeing incremental progress is the work Ben is doing. He seems to respond as well as I am able to be consistent. Ben (and his brother and sister) come by their organizational issues honestly.

Day 50 - Hard & Simple

Ben and I watched a PBS video about the Shakers so we could get some background knowledge for the book we have begun reading: ‘A Day No Pigs Would Die’. The video was made by Ken burns in the late 1980’s. It is interesting how different kids process the same information as adults. The first thing that Ben made note of was the ‘short’ work day. He had misinterpreted a statement that ‘they had done a full day’s work before breakfast’ to mean that they did not have much to do in the afternoon. The first word he used to describe their lives was ‘hard’. I am sure they would have preferred ‘simple’. As much as they do not seem like they go together, I would say both.

Day 49 - Moving

I had a good weekend of preparation and felt good about what Ben and I accomplished today. We began working on a small project related to the Model T (introduced 100 years ago). We also continued to plow ahead in Math and worked on a science project he enjoyed. I am trying to keep us moving – physically and in content. I think I was successful in both today.

Day 48 - Listen / Read

Ben and I listened to the second chapter of our book today. We read along with a highlighter in hand, marking interesting phrases, terms we did not understand, and other important information. After the chapter was over we switched highlighters (different colors) and then went back and compared what we had chosen (and highlighted things the unique things the other person had selected). About 50% of what we highlighted was the same.

We had a good discussion of the chapter. Hearing someone read it certainly enhanced his comprehension. The plan going forward is that we will read the text and then listen to it. I will try to build some awareness of how listening is changing what he gets from the text. Hopefully that will help to develop his reading skills.

I felt good about the work we did not the book today. We will work on some background knowledge Monday and read again Tuesday.

Day 47 - Think About it

Ben and I continued with some planning today. One stumbling block was the plan for the newsletter that I would like to publish by next Friday. One thing that I have learned is that telling Ben to ‘think about ‘ something is a futile suggestion. He did not bring anything to the table regarding the newsletter and did not seem very interested in the themes that I was throwing out. We need to hammer down the theme and outline the articles tomorrow. I am sure that he will do a lot of ‘thinking about it’ tonight.

Day 46 - New Book

Ben and I began a new book today – “No Pigs will Die Today” by Robert Newton Peck. The person that helps me with Ben’s language arts suggested this book. I have some reservations because I do not think it is a book that Ben will like very much but we are going ahead with it. We hope to finish it by November.

I bought the Audio version on iTunes and we listened to the first chapter together. I warned Ben that it would be a little grizzly. In the chapter the main character helps a cow give birth and is hurt badly in the process. Normally Ben is quite squeamish but he did not seem bothered. He was actually able to retell the main events to me so I considered that a good sign.

Day 45 - Boring

Ben and I were doing some planning for November and December today. The topic of Geography came up. I have observed that Ben’s awareness of US geography is poor. I suggested that we will work on some basics – States, Capitals, Major Rivers, Mountains, etc. Ben immediately got quiet.

“What’s wrong?”
“Dad – when will I ever need to know that! I don’t plan on visiting other state capitals!”

I knew that this objection reflected his observation that learning these things would not be fun – even boring. I did not attempt to sell him on the value of knowing these things but rather focused my comment on the simple fact that everything we need to learn is not exciting to cover.

Day 44 - Remake

Ben and I did our usual baking on Friday. We made his choice – a lemon jelly roll. The finished product clearly was not right. The filling was not thick enough. I suggested to Ben that we should make it again to see if we could get it to turn out better. He was satisfied with the original but I was not so I made the second cake by myself (after 'school' was over).

This simple story says a lot – but I am not sure exactly what.