Now that I am at home, I have thrown myself into Lucas' school life with as much eagerness, diligence and thoroughness as I did my work and I am sure working parents of school-age children know exactly the type I have become. Yes, I have become one of those...one of those with time on my hands.
Lucas did a class project in Kindergarten where they mailed a paper boy (Flat Stanley) to different places to get pictures and to map where they were sent. When Lucas came home from school after we'd sent in the envelopes, he berated me - "Mom! Just how many of those did you do? I was coloring Flat Stanleys all day until my arm hurt!" Poor Lucas! You see, I had photocopied the Flat Stanley we got and sent it to friends and family in fun places, like Germany, Japan, Trinidad and more....Ooops! His teacher said she had to get a map of Europe and Asia because of Lucas.
Now that he is in first grade and we are concerned about whether he is being challenged appropriately, you can well imagine what gear I've been in. I borrowed every book I could on home-schooling I could find..AND read them! He was behind in reading, so I looked at the entire AISD reading curriculum, picked out books he should be reading, topics to discuss and prepared a working summary sheet as a guide for myself. And now, I am on to Maths using a textbook the teachers use. Poor Lucas!
Since he is naturally interested in Math, my approach to keep him engaged has been more sneaky. I casually lay out a problem or Sudoku puzzle or number crossword puzzle on the table, which he would naturally take a look at and being the (over)confident child he is, he would bet me he could do it. Poor Lucas! Math by stealth.
I feel it necessary to qualify that despite doing extra stuff at home, he gets more than his quota of play time, so no need to call Child Services on me. I should also say, that even though all the above sounds excessive, I am still an amateur compared to some parents. Lucas handed in a report on Native Indian tribes today and included a model of a teepee which I thought looked pretty good..that is until I saw his classmate's model of an exquisite brown mud house. Well, the sticks we used from our yard to build the teepee didn't look so impressive anymore, neither did the paint that dried purple and grey even though it looked brown to us!
In the end, it is all about expectations and getting Lucas to expect that his work is different from others and he has to always try and do his best. (Un)Reasonable parental expectations - it is the plight of the first-born.
P.S. On top of everything, we do Islamic Studies every week and he starts Arabic lessons in December. Poor Lucas!
Lucas did a class project in Kindergarten where they mailed a paper boy (Flat Stanley) to different places to get pictures and to map where they were sent. When Lucas came home from school after we'd sent in the envelopes, he berated me - "Mom! Just how many of those did you do? I was coloring Flat Stanleys all day until my arm hurt!" Poor Lucas! You see, I had photocopied the Flat Stanley we got and sent it to friends and family in fun places, like Germany, Japan, Trinidad and more....Ooops! His teacher said she had to get a map of Europe and Asia because of Lucas.
Now that he is in first grade and we are concerned about whether he is being challenged appropriately, you can well imagine what gear I've been in. I borrowed every book I could on home-schooling I could find..AND read them! He was behind in reading, so I looked at the entire AISD reading curriculum, picked out books he should be reading, topics to discuss and prepared a working summary sheet as a guide for myself. And now, I am on to Maths using a textbook the teachers use. Poor Lucas!
Since he is naturally interested in Math, my approach to keep him engaged has been more sneaky. I casually lay out a problem or Sudoku puzzle or number crossword puzzle on the table, which he would naturally take a look at and being the (over)confident child he is, he would bet me he could do it. Poor Lucas! Math by stealth.
I feel it necessary to qualify that despite doing extra stuff at home, he gets more than his quota of play time, so no need to call Child Services on me. I should also say, that even though all the above sounds excessive, I am still an amateur compared to some parents. Lucas handed in a report on Native Indian tribes today and included a model of a teepee which I thought looked pretty good..that is until I saw his classmate's model of an exquisite brown mud house. Well, the sticks we used from our yard to build the teepee didn't look so impressive anymore, neither did the paint that dried purple and grey even though it looked brown to us!
In the end, it is all about expectations and getting Lucas to expect that his work is different from others and he has to always try and do his best. (Un)Reasonable parental expectations - it is the plight of the first-born.
P.S. On top of everything, we do Islamic Studies every week and he starts Arabic lessons in December. Poor Lucas!
Comments