It’s hard having a big brother.

I know, I’ve been there.

You want to play with his toys; he doesn’t let you.  You want to play the game he’s playing; he doesn’t want you to.  He’s impossibly faster than you, being older, and you can never keep up.  Playing hide and seek with him isn’t fair, either; he knows all the best hiding places and he can run faster than you so you pretty much are always “it.”

I see Xander trying to keep up with Beau in everything.  Mostly, they play together really nicely – best friends.  But Beau *is* older, and he doesn’t always want his little brother constantly tagging along everywhere he goes.  Xander is almost lost without Beau sometimes; he misses him when Beau spends some quality alone time with his Nana.

Bella gets a double dose.  Beau is really good with her; he lets her play all his games and makes allowances for her since she’s smaller. 

But.

Xander has gotten it into his head that girls can’t do things that boys do.  He doesn’t like to play with Bella, and this really makes Bella sad.  She doesn’t understand, and I hate to see this “sex discrimination” in my own household, lol.  But there isn’t anything I can do, really, except try to argue with a four year old that girls can do everything boys can and that he should let his sister play.

It doesn’t help that he’s already pretty bossy, lol.  I see a lot of my bossiness in him.  I remember being that way when I was his age.  Talk about reaping what you sow!

It’s been a while.

It HAS been a while…since I posted.

That doesn’t mean that learning hasn’t taken place, though.  Beau has picked up reading SO quickly that it’s almost given me whiplash.  He has gone from not being able to read Kindergarten-level things at the beginning of the “school" year to being able to read at almost a second-grade level now.  His only problem is the fluency bit – he still sounds a little like a robot when he reads aloud.  :)  He is DEFINITELY getting there, though.

I’ve been checking my copy of “Home Learning Year by Year” this afternoon, trying to see the gaps that need to be filled in.  Beau is right on track to be considered a first-grader; he’s only behind in history and a bit in science.  I’m going to make a trip to the library (with or without the kids) to check out some books “Year by Year” recommended for history.  Science can be filled in using Lesson Pathways once we get signed up again next month.

Also, something very strange occurred to me just now.  I realized just how much I had been letting the traditional “school year” hold me back.  I’d been reluctant to consider starting new material on a new grade level with Beau because it’s the “middle of the year.”  What nonsense! 

That’s part of the beauty of homeschooling, isn’t it?  We can learn what and how we like, no matter what the school system is doing. 

So I considered making OUR school year begin in January, contrary to the traditional school year.  Or maybe I could just let go of the concept of a “school year” altogether and just focus on what the kids are learning and how much they know to classify them in “grade levels” (for the benefit of family members’ collective sanity, lol). 

I thought a bit about standardized testing.  I don’t really know how I feel about it and won’t until we actually pick a program and try it on for size.  I know I don’t personally agree with testing and grading in *general*, but for assessment purposes, I can see the appeal.  It would help assuage everyone’s worries about whether or not Beau is getting a proper education and is on par with others his age.  At any rate, I’m thinking we’ll wait until next year (or next semester) to worry about it.

I generally regroup about twice a year and assess the progress and direction of our homeschooling.  For my own purposes, I’m calling them “semesters,” because that’s a term I’m familiar with and it’s the best word I can think of to describe dividing the year into essentially two parts: Spring and Fall.

So now is really the beginning of the spring semester.  The “plan” for this semester is to get signed up with Lesson Pathways (already in the process of that) for the Science and Math sections, at least; library it for the History section; continue to be hands-off in Reading, except to possibly read more books with the kids and take more trips to the library.

Goodness, I feel like I could write TONS more, but the kids want to go outside and play and I’ve got to get them bundled up!