Day 31

Today was hot, so the kids filled the pool--one of those inflatable, family-sized pools. They just love that. It heats up during school and they get in, in the afternoon. Rachel especially loves it; she needs more sun than the rest of us. While the pool was heating up, everyone did their science and math. I can't think what else we did. That's funny. Jeff did school with them all day.

I love that their science books are so clear and easy to understand most of the time. They're always telling us about what they're reading about. Whenever one of them talks about their science, someone that's done that book before reminisces about how much they liked it and they want to read it again. I can't imagine wanting to read one of my school science texts again, can you? Of course, my goal was just to get through my homework. I don't remember having too much of an interest in real learning. 

Sam and Sarah both worked on the Pre-Algebra today. Jeff wasn't sure how to explain what they were supposed to learn, so I ended up doing it. But my head was still hurting, so it didn't go extremely well. I think they understood enough to get it the next time we talk about it, though. I think we'd better work on it tomorrow and not wait til Monday.

We ordered MathUSee for Rachel. She's still worried about getting her 2 credits done, but the only way through is hard work. We all have to do it at some point--work harder than we really want to. She'll make it, I'm sure. She doesn't have that many other credits to get this year. I don't like thinking of it in terms of what credits someone needs, but that's what we're down to. And it's ok. Several years ago, I knew a homeschool family where the dad was the one at home. They were doing a charter school, and he told me one day that he just, "administered the program." I was sad about that for a long time. Until one day, I really looked at them. They were having more fun with their homeschool than I was, and it was so much easier. It didn't wear them out like it was doing to me. They did the program, they had brilliant kids, and they loved it. It really worked for them. So if something can make it easier on us, I'm going to love it!

Hopefully tomorrow I can make a list for them to work on whether I can help or not. I know it sounds like a no-brainer, but I'm not really a nitty gritty planner. We have the books we're reading, and we just do what we need to do each day. But if all that's stored in my head, it gets trapped there when I have a migraine. I don't even have access to it, so how could I give it to them? I need to put it on paper.

Jeff's been reading Jules Verne's Mysterious Island to us. I hope we have better luck liking this one than we've been having this year with our books. I started The Princess Bride before my headache, but I'm not sure it's really the kind of book we want to read. And we pretty much gave up on Matilda, and they don't love Life of Pi. I think they're might have been another since we started in July. I usually do a better job of choosing. I think I've hit a slump. Maybe I'll read them something we know we love, just to get back in the groove.

See you next week!