Neil's deciding....

Neil has heard from at least four sources that the fifth grade teacher is awesome and cool and rad and altogether not to be missed. He had decided that he was going to do one more year of home school but now is back on the fence... Trent is encouraging him to go and meet the teacher. I am encouraging Trent to go and meet the teacher WITH Neil. I've been given the go ahead to set up an appointment. I am 90% certain that Neil will LOVE Mr Rooney (Neil likes to like people) and 95% certain that he will sign up for fifth grade before the end of this month. I told him that I'd like him to decide before summer begins so that the school knows, the home school group knows and I know (so that I don't spend the month of August figuring out curriculum). It will seem crazy to have all three gone to school each day and just me and Bay at home. Crazy. And easy. And lazy. And fun.

... or not...

I spoke too soon. Apparently, tonight's homework was particularly "stupid" and "about a thousand pages" and his school is "THE dumbest EVER". (This made me feel good... for the longest time MY school was THE dumbest ever...) So, tonight was fraught with negativity and aggression... I managed to keep the "f" word IN my head though, so THAT was good.

The new Gus and the other Gus

According to Merriam Webster a ball buster is ...."sometimes vulgar : a person who is relentlessly aggressive, intimidating, or domineering". Vulgar or not... we have always described Gus as a ball buster. This label is most often used following any kind of academic exercise... i.e. homeschooling... or homework.... Lately however, he tackles his homework with less negativity than ever before. It is as if the light bulb has flipped on and he "gets it". It's very encouraging (to say the least) and has meant that our evenings are not so fraught with volatility! There is almost a sense of calm... and he seems less inclined to throw things and slump in his chair sighing dramatically. I'm not saying we won't see that side of him again... I'm sure he'll show up about the fourth day of summer holidays when I suggest some writing....

Math... home school style

as Neil said... "six and six fell on the floor... picked them up and there were eighty-four"... Guess what WE'LL be reviewing next week... and NO RHYMING this time....

Calm....

Things have greatly calmed down since Gus went back to school. However that can also be translated to read that things are completely frigging boring since Gus went back to school. Neil and I get through his work easily in two to three hours. It's enjoyable to spend school time with him, he is focused on getting the job done and loves to be read to. His main goal is to finish early, but who cares? Without Gus, there is a missing element of unpredictability... which is nice... sort of! We don't seem to have those incidents where I turn around and everyone has disappeared, we don't have as much random violence involved Lego guns or sticks. Yes, things have greatly calmed down since Gus went back to school but it is also a lot less FUN.

Gus does NOT like school and is extremely verbal about it. It took all of four days to get to that point. His first words off the bus are ... "well... school wasn't so good today... " or "school is SO dumb..." He has also managed to clock up a record number of sick-room visits due to playground accidents... Last Friday he spent the last hour of school with a HUGE bandage around his forehead for a gash from some playground equipment. He reported that the school have added a "safety bar" to some piece of jungle jim where he got whacked with something. Yesterday I not only got a call from his teacher reporting that the ran into something during recess and put his tooth into his lip (oWWWWW), I also got a call from the nurse saying that during the routine annual vision screening he had a lot of trouble with "his eyes burning" and he really does not seem to have strong vision at ALL! She also added that he was a "very pleasant boy". Jesus... he is SO putting one over on them.... I now have to make him an optometrist appointment to check his perfect vision. Oh, lets see... I guess that will involve taking him out of school for a half day....

Homeschooling

Our first official day of Homeschool. Everyone was pretty enthusiastic (I know that this will change.....) We started a very cool history book called The Story of the World by Susan Wise Bauer. It is a read aloud history book for elementary ages. I love it and the boys seemed to. Again, time will tell... One of the hardest things for me will be not only doing what "I love"...