Way back in June, for various reasons--mainly that he's a bright kid who is not "neurotypical" and school hasn't been working out despite his teachers' best efforts--I decided to spend this year homeschooling my ten-year-old son, Theo.
(you know, while revising and writing books...!)
This summer, Theo and I went to the non-fiction section in the library and he made a list of all the subjects he thought were interesting. Stuff like feudal era Japan, and dragons, and ancient Rome, and Norse mythology, and comic books, and owls.
Then I built a curriculum so that the subject areas would be connected during each month-long unit. So, for example, during August we've done butterflies and moths for science, prairies for nature, the history of prairies in Iowa for history, and Laura Ingalls Wilder's On the Banks of Plum Creek for English/language. We went on a field trip to a prairie where we saw lots of butterflies and grasses and flowers (but no bison, alas). We also walked in our neighborhood and saw a monarch lay an egg on a milkweed leaf and are now raising our own caterpillars (one hatched this morning!).
Every day the kid does math for an hour with J, who as physics guy is in charge of the numbers. And he writes and reads and thinks and discusses. We've been homeschooling for three weeks now.
I swear, if his teachers could see the work he's done so far, they'd have trouble believing it was really him.
It's a good start, and on we go! Wish us luck.
new posts in all blogs
Blog of fantasy author Sarah Prineas, author of Magic Thief:Stolen.
By: Sarah Prineas,
on 8/30/2010
Blog: Sarah Prineas (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Add a tag
Viewing Post from: Sarah Prineas
Blog of fantasy author Sarah Prineas, author of Magic Thief:Stolen.
By: Sarah Prineas,
on 8/30/2010
Blog: Sarah Prineas (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Add a tag