Wednesday, June 10, 2015

Schooling year round

I wasn't sure what I was going to do the rest of this school year since it has been so hard. My 12 year old spent the year suffering through depression that I didn't know about, being bullied by who she thought was her best friend, and by February attempting suicide. I mean, what do I do! I wrote on the Ambleside Online Forum and asked for advice and between that and close friends I felt comfortable stopping all curriculum and focusing on my daughters health. But knowing that she felt like she was "stupid", "doesn't know how to spell", or "know basic math" I felt like we had to continue learning.
I am so glad I did! I set up a basket of books that I know I didn't want her to miss this school year.

 We follow http://www.amblesideonline.org so I already knew which books to pick. 12 year old books are in the wicker basket and clear basket is for my 9 year old.  Basically we will finish up those books by the end of summer before we start AO year 8 and on top of that she will do math and spelling. I was afraid this year was going to be a loss and to expect her to be very behind. But we got back her CAT scores and she is actually doing great! I was very surprised but I should of known to trust Miss Charlotte Mason. If you don't know who Charlotte Mason was or how she lives on in modern home schools today, look here http://www.amblesideonline.org/WhatIsCM.shtml.

We can't have a strict school schedule right now because of so many doctor appointment for my daughter but I know we can pick up a book and read at our own pace and also listen to https://librivox.org to the many amazing books suggested by Ambleside.
I feel so good about relaxing when we need to and focusing on school as needed. I don't feel guilty about giving my daughter a few months or even a year to work on what's more important, which is herself. She needs to build her self confidence, learn to trust in friendships again, and spend quiet time in nature and being with our Lord. By the way her EOG test showed she is NOT stupid, she spells as well as a 10th grader, and is on grade level in math.  Seeing that made her smile, it made her happy, it boosted her confidence and although I don't like the end of grade testing, this year it was completely worth it!

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