Day 88 - Close to Home

Ben and I began reading a new group text today - 'Surviving the Applewhites' by Stephanie Tolan. It is about a delinquent sent to the Applewhites home school (because he was expelled from the local school). The Applewhites are a creative/artsy family except for one daughter(E.D.).

I laughed when I read that her describe her family as having a 'disturbing lack of focus and follow-up'. I guess it hit close to home....

Day 87 - Quality

I was very unhappy with the quality of the math work that Ben and done on Thursday. WE talked about his need to provide better attention to work he was not very interested in. I offered an incentive (bowling Friday) based on improved quality between now and then.

Fridays work was as bad as Thursdays. I was perplexed but mostly maintained my cool. We reviewed what he had failed to do (neatness, check answers in the back of the book, use the 'does it make sense' test) and then I assigned him more problems from the same section. Those answeres were not in the back of the book so I had to do all of the problems to give him a list of the answers.

I was pleased that he did a much better job on the redo and gave a similar effort to todays work. Hopefully that can be leveraged to more good work.

Day 86 - Bad Habit

I had been in the habit of adding something here everyday - no matter how sort (lame?). I forgot to add something Firday. I will focus on being more faithful from this point.

Day 85 - In The Game

I feel like I have been in a fugue state since coming back from Christmas break. I was getting things together and then my back went out. I was feeling signs of clarity today. Ben and I had a productive day.

He is working on a large project related to Australia. I am struggling with my own organizational issues as I help him to move forward.

We had a discussion today regarding the quality issues with some of his recent work. We are working on some incentives that hopefully will help him to improve his focus.

Day 84 - 'Back' at it

My sore back took a step backwards today but Ben and I were able to soldier on. We finalized a draft of the Janaury Newsletter, kept moving ahead in math, worked on his Australia project, and a variety of other miscellaneous things. That said, I feel ongoing anxiety about the quality of the work we are doing together.

Day 83 - Inaguration

Our shortened week got off to a wierd start. I hurt my back shoveling snow on Sunday and was out of commission the rest of that day and all day yesterday. I stayed off the pain medication so we could have a school day today. It was poorly prepared for but we made it through.

It was inaguration day for President Obama. Ben and I enjoyed watching the coverage from Bush and Obama leaving the White House together until after the final benedicition at the ceremony. I was surprised how closely Ben paid attention. We both were quite curious about what various participants were thinking as they participated in the event.

Day 81 & 82 - Skipped

Last days without posts for the year.

Day 80 - Tough Choice

We have had a hard time picking our next group read. Given Ben's project relating to Australia, I thought it would be a good idea to find a book with a Australia connection. A few were recommended but rejected for various reasons. ("I do not want to read a book with 'pony' or 'cannibal' in the title." "I do not like the idea of an Evil Genious.")

I gave up on the Australia angle and looked for something with a 'little guy wins' theme. I recieved three recommendations. Ben has read them all.

I am not sure what Plan C will be.

Day 79 - Australia

Ben began working on a social studies project involving Australia. He is currently doing some research. Next he will diary a 5 day trip to Australia. Finally he will create a powerpoint of the trip. (He is following a Social Studies Fair project outline from the school that our writing helper works at.)

We have enjoyed learning about the land down under. For our weekly cooking last week we made ANZAC Bikkees -an australian cookie designed to provide nourishment to WWI soldiers. We have been looking for a book set in Australia for our group read but have yet to find one that looks exciting. (I wanted Ben to go with me to see the current Movie 'Australia'. He liked the idea until he saw it was almost 3 hours long.)

Day 78 - Forgot

Forgot to add a note

Day 77 - Hand Writing

I have been trying to get Ben to write in a journal since the first days of the School of Dad. I have told him that how he writes (by hand or by typing) and what he writes about is not important but I wanted him to do it daily. I have had periods of success but his journal writing was directly related to my vigilence.

Beginning with the new year we have done something different. I got us both a journal and at an appoionted (variable) time we sit and write together. The writing is done by hand and we do not read what the other has written.

I have found hand writing quite satisfying. It requires a different thought process then typing and it is gratifying se see the final product. My writing content is nothing special and may evolve to something more introspective over time but right now I just enjoy the moments.

Day 76 - Library

Ben and I headed to the Main branch on the Columbus Public Library this morning. We have a branch near our home but it did not have a couple of videos that we wanted to we took the ride to downtown Columbus.

I do not remember spending any significant time in the library as a student. This is even more remarkable given that was pre-internet days so if research was to be done that is where it was to be done. It probably speaks to the quality of the work product that I was producing.

I enjoyed the library today. I was thinking it would be nice to come back by myself and browse at leasure.

As I said to Ben, it is humbling to be in a library because you realize how much there is to know - and how little of it you can hope to actually acquire. I did not mean it to be discouraging and I do not think he took it that way.

Day 75 - Easing into it

Ben and I had another good day today. We (broadly) reviewed the topics to be covered in the weeks ahead and began review of the math we had completed before break. We have a solid list of things we would like to accomplish.

We reviewed half of the 180 spelling words that we had covered in the first part of the year. Ben spelled 87 of them correctly - and only could use about 65 of them in a sentance. Clearly we will need to do some more review there.

I am writing at 8pm which is always the low point of the day for me. Fortunately the best time my day (morning) is when Ben and I are working together but I am often finding myself with little in the tank when planning time comes in the evening.

Day 74 - Back at it

Ben and I had a good day today as we got back into the swing of things at the School of Dad. Ben's Aunt had sent him a 'Flat Stanley'. We started the new year by doing a little research, taking Stanley to a local monument, and then preparing a letter. We sent off the report early afternoon. The excercise got us thinking again and was a good 'warm-up'.

I have been struggling all year to get Ben to write in his journal. I decided that from now on each day we will have a period of silent time were we will read and write at the same time. After mailing our letter we stopped at the Library for a couple of research books. We took the opportunity to sit at one of the library tables and do our journaling for the day. We both have new journals and are hand writing them. I enjoyed the moment. I am not sure what I will choose to write about myself.

Tomorrow we will focus on some goal setting and think about how to meassure our progress.

Days - 71,72,73

I got lazy as the pre-Christmas week came to a close. Ben and I were busy wrapping some math, reading, and writing up before the two week haitus. We both needed a break.