Friday, January 15, 2016

Cities of the World

Last year, Lu worked on an independent research project on fifteen of the world's most influential cities. He worked on it over several months. He had many technical difficulties: his computer breaking down, realizing that he had only downloaded the thumbnails of the hundreds of images he'd found for his presentation, and losing information several times. He continued working over the Christmas break and finally gave his presentation. It worked out nicely because grandma, aunts and uncle were visiting, so Lu had a good audience.







Saturday, January 2, 2016

2016 Homeschool Resolutions

 

After a fabulous holiday with family, friends, 
parties, wining and dining, 
we'll be starting our school year in a week or two. 



We're in middle school, but not any specific year. 
In a regular school, Lu would probably be placed in the 7th grade. 

He's 13 now and he's a very busy young man. 


He's got goats. 


He's got a girlfriend.


He's got ongoing (non-alcoholic) fermentation projects. 
And he's got occasional catering jobs.


It's going to be tricky fitting in our homeschool schedule with all of this. Goats and fermentation can be called Science Class, but there are still many things I want to cover: reading the classics, developing essay-writing skills, ALGEBRA, world history and Guatemalan history.... And there are things that Lu wants to cover: developing culinary skills (workshops, tutorials, recipe books, experimentation...), guitar, carpentry, photography...


There are only so many hours in the day, so we have a lot of planning and decision-making ahead. We're going to have to give and take, and negotiate, and come up with something that works for us.


 But before I sit down with Lu to do all of this, 
I want to commit to these 2016 Homeschool Resolutions:

I will give priority to Lu's interests.

I will be supportive of projects that Lu decides to undertake.

I will let go of conventional ideas like 
"Math HAS TO BE an every day class." 

I will trust in Lu's desire to learn.

If something isn't working, I won't try to force it.