September 21, 2010

Our Re-vamping Week

Jacob and I have had a terrible few weeks of school lately. He is off his ADHD medicine (which helps him tremendously), because it was setting off psoriasis. This is so discouraging to me! He has so much more trouble with everything when he's not getting the help of his medicine, yet the medicine causes him more trouble so he can't have it.

But we had a little meeting late last week so I could get his perspective on things and change what I needed to change in order for us to survive our school day. We started off with "I just don't like anything about it" and ended up with "I guess it's just grammar (Rod and Staff) I really don't like. Let's just keep doing the rest of it the way we've been doing it." Hmmm... I guess grammar pretty bad!! Basically, he hates having to put pencil to paper in busywork. All the rest is perfectly acceptable to him.

So I've ordered a different curriculum that will require much less writing but still allow him to learn some grammar skills. We'll pick this book up again later. But another thing that came out of our conversation was that he'd like to write on a blog! Who knew?

So we sat down a day or two later and set it all up. He chose everything about it. I'll make it private later if I see the need, but thought I'd leave it open at first for you guys to look at it. He's asked to write on it every day and seems to really enjoy it! And because it doesn't involve erasing, he's correcting his own stuff! I do have him read it out loud to see if it reads like he'd like it to (because he's very good at noticing punctuation in the written word and reading it appropriately - he corrects me when I read and don't acknowledge the comma appropriately), and we talk about how he can change things. But I'm not standing over his shoulder pointing things out.

The fun part is that he enjoys it and he's writing! He wrote one post yesterday that was a classic "narration" activity (restating what he read in order to demonstrate understanding about it - a Charlotte Mason staple) and I didn't even tell him too. He's asking to do it as opposed to the other way around.

So without further ado, "Moving at the Speed of Light."

And yes, I did laugh at the title he chose! It could not be more appropriate!

If you look at it and like it, he'd love it if you'd take a minute to leave him a comment. Quite frankly, I like that too!

4 comments:

A girl who sees said...

That's so fun!! I love it :) It looks just like him with all those bright happy colors.

I'm sorry that school has been so frustrating for you guys recently, you are frequently in my thoughts and prayers! Love you.

Valerie said...

What a great idea! I checked it out and left him a comment! He's a great little writer!

mom said...

I checked it out, but my iPad was giving me fits! Now that I know I can leave a message, I"ll try again. Great idea! I can't view your photo bucket though, since I can't get adobe flash on it. Guess I'll have to go to the dinosaur in the office! LY. Mom

Anonymous said...

Hi Melissa,

I came over from Candace blog, and was thinking about your son. How about detoxifying him?

Look for some interesting proven ways:
http://www.whitehorsemedia.com/health/

(I know the family and their son. I will try on our son the PCA-RX, as he has some hyperactive tendencies as well.
I find also, that computer games are bad for some kids, and their mind just goes wild on it. We do not have computer games at all...)

Love and hugs to your son,
Sara