Day 2, Week 2

Yesterday, we did very well. Finished school by 1 pm. Today, since we had science, we only finished school at 3:43 pm. For science, we learned about weather. What I did was to combine S's and N's science lessons, and teach them together. Topics covered were weather forecasts, wind speed, wind direction, four kinds of precipitation, four cloud types, humidity, weather fronts and water cycle.

We started last week and only got as far as weather forecasts, wind speed and wind direction. I had S learn hers online and then join N and me. We made a weather vane, an anemometer and did some models depicting water cycle, evaporation, condensation and cloud formation.

It was a very trying session for me, as N couldn't get the terms evaporation and condensation inside her head. She didn't even get the concept of water turning into water vapor. So, my hands in the air, I stopped the lesson and ended school. That was last week.

Today, I resumed where we left off, making sure to drop in the terms evaporation and condensation all throughout last weekend. Sure enough, it paid off. N can now spout out evaporation and condensation with ease together with comprehension as to what they actually are.

However, my new challenge is having S understand what happens when the weather fronts meet each other and what kind of weather they each bring. While N was doing her worksheet on water cycle, I went over the online lesson on weather fronts, which I had told S to read by herself. Turned out, she didn't quite grasped the concept until I went over it with her. I'm getting quite worried about her comprehension of passages.

I've been having her do practice tests for her reading achievement test. Her comprehension of the passages seemed fine.

Then, after we got over that hurdle of understanding weather fronts, there was humidity. N was playfully squinting her eyes at me while I explained what humidity is, and that just drove me crazy, though I didn't actually show it. After some question and answer session with them, makig sure they understand before I pressed on, I shut up and took deep breaths, to counter the irritation I was feeling.

There I was trying very hard to make them understand what was being taught, with visual aids and what nots, yet their brains simply resisted my effort. I almost quit and ended the lesson, but I was already more than halfway into it. Might as well get it over with. I could always reinforce it with more trips to the library if they still don't get it.

My effort at restraining anger and frustrations was put to the full test and I suppose I can say I persevered, though not with a smilling face, as I would have liked. Never thought teachig could be this tiring. It's more difficult to teach a kid than an adult. if given the choice to teach in elementary and university, I guess I'd choose university. I can just lecture and let them do the work themselves. It's such a shame that school teachers get paid less than professors for the amount of work they have to do. I have to say the elementary teachers have it tougher, if they do their work properly that is. A teacher can simply teach a whole class, give them homework and let the parents and outside tutors do the rest.

Homeschooling is a whole other creature. You yourself are responsible for your student's success and it's a very big burden to uphold. Nevertheless, I've chosen to be an Atlas and so I'm stuck with the world on my back.

The science lesson for today was ended with studying the four kinds of clouds and the type of weather they bring. I left them making a cloud chart using cotton balls, black paint and a blue construction paper. We also made a humidity tester, which almost got me into a fit for the trouble it caused just trying to tape together two sides of contruction paper.

I had hated doing science all these years, just because I had to get out all the materials, set them up and do a hands on activity, which does take up a lot of time. But this year, I resolved to have fun doing those and so far, I still have my sanity.

S had a wee bit of a problem with math today. She was supposed to learn about rounding numbers to the nearest ten, hundreds and thousands. Alhamdulillah, we got over that hump.

Tomorrow, H's going to be reading Jack and the beanstalk. I hate Language Arts too, for the simple reason that I have to be doing the reading aloud. Reading aloud by itself is okay, but checking comprehension and going back to the passages for evidence is very taxing. It maks my mouth dry and my patience thin, especially when I hear responses like,

"I don't like doing this,"
or
"I don't want to talk about the story."

Heck, I don't want to either(especially when I've been talking for the past hour), but baby, we have to make sure you grow up understanding what you read, and acquiring those vocabularies strewn about like priceless diamonds out there now don't we?

I can't believe how some mothers are actually reading Harry Potter out loud to their children. I can't even go through one thin picture book without fighting the urge to put the book on the shelf forever once I'm done.

All the mental juggling is draining my mental capacity, and coupled with bouts of anger management and impatience, I'm really a wreck by the end of the day. On the other hand, it does feel good to reach the end of the day accomplishing what we've set out to accomplish. Their white boards are wiped clean, signifying that they've done what they needed to do for the day. The lessons are marked done, and their brains are filled, I hope.

Thus ends Day 2 of Week 2 for 2005/2006 school year.