St Gabriel Windows

St Gabriel Windows
Photocopy c. 2013 Jamie Laubacher

Friday, September 13, 2013

Winnie Ille Pu ….and other things, oh bother…;)

There is just nothing like hitting Friday after a long and productive home school week. Even if you were in school…Friday was the most welcome day…and rightly so; who doesn’t look forward to a break after putting in a long week’s worth of work?

Our school year is up and running; we completed our second full week.  There are several things I am so pleased with, and rather surprised by.

One, my ninth grade son is actually doing the work and doing it spectacularly.  All the reading, all the writing, the Latin, the tough Algebra 1…the hard stuff.  In fact, he’s moving so quickly through the algebra, and loves it, he may be in Alg II into the second semester. And he loves the Latin; it is a nicely done program (Cambridge Latin)[1].  Seriously, I know he is capable of challenging work, but I wasn’t sure with his anxiety disorder, that he’d face it well.  Hmm, he has really surprised me.  In fact, he may end up being my best high school student so far (my apologies to his older brother and sister :) haha……oh, they would understand, because we have been through so much with this child, sooooo much.   I like to think that hard work over the last five years is paying off – and in fact, I have seen leaps this summer.  A big leap is bound to happen this upcoming Monday evening as I have to go away for about 4 hours and leave him with his younger brother and grandma here at home…..But, this son has gone away from me (not I from him, there is a difference when he’s in control), for up to 5 hours+, so I think he is very capable of eventually being left to even care for his young brother.  I have left for small errand running – up to 30 mins at the most, but left often; so many times this last couple months, I’ve lost count.  And he has been fine  - only once he texted me….and I think it was to be sure to bring back a certain candy!  So, I feel he has “arrived” finally……Monday will tell us a lot.  Pray for us!!!

So, yes, I am thrilled with this progress. 

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Then there’s another fourth grader….hmmm…..He is my autism spectrum son, and while he is doing quite well academically speaking, it’s not stellar that’s for sure.  His super power is reading however…..but, I don’t know what it is about fourth grade,  it’s never been an easy grade at home for us.  Yes, the math is challenging (A Beka in particular), but we are sticking to it ….maybe moving slower until the concepts are better cemented.  We have just started, so two weeks doesn’t tell us everything….we’ll see where we are in a month, maybe two.

I’m exhausted and it’s only the end of week two….getting back into the swing of it is never easy, but it is welcome.  I am glad for the routine and ever so grateful for the freedom of home education.  Today, I am even more grateful for finally seeing a bit of light at the end of the tunnel with my anxiety suffering son.  It’s quite a relief.  We have a lot more work to do in many areas, but we are chipping away and making progress. Praise God for that!

MarkLaubacher

[1] With Cambridge Latin, we are doing Unit 1 (I wish we had done it last year – had I known what a nicely laid out program it was, I would have).  My son wants to do “all the books”, and read Winnie Ille Pu as a senior!  I admire his goal – and it is a 12th grade Latin pursuit with Mother of Divine Grace, so I think he is capable of achieving it.  So I have this adorable book sitting on my book shelf (it’s been there since 2004)…..waiting for my son’s eager eyes and analytical abilities!

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