17 August 2011

Today, I Remember Socrates...

...and his wise, wise immortal words: all I really know is that I know nothing.


Most of you regular readers here know I'm homeschooling my son for the first time ever.  We started class on Monday.


I went into this thing with delusions of grandeur, let me tell you.  First, I thought very highly of my son's academic abilities...all the data and numbers seemed to indicate that I had a very bright child indeed. 


And while I do believe I have a intelligent child, what he was measured with causes me concern.  I assumed he would know how to take notes (a simple outline) and be able to pick out major plot events in a novel he was reading.


He didn't.  Whether that means he did learn it at one point and it didn't stick, or he never learned it, I don't know.  It doesn't matter.  We've got to get back to basics.  So, I assigned him a crossword puzzle today in lieu of reading his novel.  Each clue was embedded within a sentence; the puzzle was designed with comprehension in mind.  As he mentioned in his blog today, there were some difficult clues...but still it took him most of the morning to finish it.


I thought, as a public school teacher with twelve years' experience under my belt, I'd just waltz in, give my kid some work, do a little instruction, then he'd get right to it, and awesome learning would take place.  As it turns out, these things are happening, but at a slower pace than I'd imagined and after my tweaking on my part. 


But, here's the reason I'm doing it.  Yesterday, Spencer checks out this book from the library: Science Goes To War.  He's doing his history composition on Greek Fire, and there's some information on it in this book.  So, today, he reads and takes notes on the two pages (out of 288) he'll need for his essay.  I figure he's done after that...but no, he spends a couple of hours tonight with his nose in it!  He's reading it when I come down to say goodnight!  He then proceeds to tell me that it's "getting really good now".


And that's the one amazing thing (today) about homeschooling.  He's excited about learning again.

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