The Beginnings of School

The school year has now officially began in our house. We haven't started every subject yet, which we should begin after Labor Day. I guess things have gone OK for a beginning of a school year. The second day I did run into some "frustrations". With Preston, we started Switched On Schoolhouse in his Language Arts, which this basically took away the workbooks and made it computerized. Well on day 2 we were unable to get into Lesson 2. I tried to figure out through 'help' what was wrong and couldn't so I ended up having the call for Tech Support. After 1 1/2 hours Preston was ready to go!



Preston has had great excitement this year for school. I'm sure it is because he is working on the computer and not having to write so much. He is also learning how to type. We got a kids typing instruction software and he is loving that. I figured if he has to do his work on the computer it will be very advantageous if he knows how to type correctly.



Tanner has not started with as much excitement. I've had to deal with a bad attitude everyday before we begin. Once we get into the lesson his attitude gets better but it is never good, for mom or child, to begin with such a rotten attitude. I decided to really work on his reading. For some reason the whole reading thing has been harder for him to pick up then it was for Preston. Tanner picked up the names of the letters and their sounds very quickly and he also remembers the "rules" very well. Which when words don't follow the "rules" it is a huge frustration to him. What has been a difficulty for him is putting the sounds together to make a word. I think with lots of practice it will all get easier and easier for him.



This is the first year for Landon. He has also been very excited to begin. Now this may be a shock to some, but I have not done "pre-school" with any of my kids! I was just trying to stay afloat with teaching multiple grades without throwing in something for "fun". There are many letters that Landon doesn't know (which I don't know what his knowledge would be compared to an average kindergartner), but he does know all of his numbers! I believe he learned his numbers through his brothers always talking about the "time" in their bedroom. In these past few days he seems to picking up very quickly on things, such as writing these letters.

I truly pray that this year goes well for me and for the kids. If you think about it, please lift us in your prayers.