Interviews......

Today was our big day - we had our interview to see if Paul will be accepted into Elim as a 'Minister in Training'. It's scary, as really our future as a family hinge-pins on today. We will not know for a fortnight. We think it went OK... watch this space :)

Because we knew we were out for half the morning I didn't try to cram a whole day's schooling in, but I am amazed at how much we managed to achieve anyway; Maths, Handwriting, R.E.(looking at an old traditional story (not Biblical) of Abraham and how he discovered the 'One True God' ) - the boys drew a 'story-board' which they seemed to quite enjoy doing together and was a good way to help them remember the story. I might try that for other topics too. And Jacob also did some Science.

Having had a reasonably good start to the week I can safely say it got even better. We have finished our first week of 'school' this year and with smiles all round I think. Jacob managed to do his Maths with much less trouble today - I sent him to work at his desk in a room on his own and with less distraction he cracked on. So maybe Maths needs to be a subject he does in quieter, less distracting place. The other subjects we have done this week he seemed to be much better motivated by the bustle of family life around him - like that made his imagination & thoughts come easier. We'll play that by ear, but I guess it makes sense. I have to remember to look at how Jake functions and forget about how I work, or even how I used to work as a child. For me I ALWAYS liked to be somewhere quiet and peaceful. I needed to 'hear' the thoughts in my own head (or numbers if it was Maths) in order to produce anything. Even now I cannot read or work well with noise round me (hence I don't read much - having 5 children!!) and if I am trying to read something that I have to act on or need to retain I really need hush for it to sink in. I find myself constantly telling the children to "be quiet, can't you see I'm reading? I'm trying to concentrate on this." - poor little souls!! How are they to understand what a hard thing it is for me to read amongst chatter and noise? Reading never really became a joy for me, because it has always been such hard work and required such intense concentration from me. But Jacob seems to be quite different. He seems to need constant stimulation of his brain in order for it to produce anything much at all!! That not meant to sound as if he is stupid - he is definitely not that - but just that he doesn't really do the 'fantasy' thing and so 'thoughts in his head' are an alien idea to him (hmm - some 'double en tongues' there I think!!) - he thinks almost everything out-loud (which can be very annoying at times, especially when it tells you that his thoughts are anywhere other than where they are supposed to be at any given time - and causes a constant stream of verbal diarrohea!!) - and when it comes to writing, he likes to check that his thoughts are acceptable before he puts pen to paper. The creative writing course that we are using this year is called "Just Write" and it is so aptly named and it is SO what he needs to learn to do - to almost write before he thinks about what he's thinking about too much! When we started it on Tuesday I must have said "just write" to him about 20 times in the space of the 40 minutes we were working - I'm hoping he will begin to say it to himself in time and get the hang of actually doing so. Jacob is a real thinker, but he thinks in very concrete terms, so everything is very black and white (which is VERY like me) and like I had to, he is having to learn that he has an imagination and how to use it - it does not come naturally to him (or me). So with 'stuff' going on around it is easier for him to exercise a little imagination because he can be fired by what is happening in real-life - iyswim.

Joel is verbally reluctant to do anything, but once we get started gets on fine and joins in enthusiastically. He moaned when I said we were doing R.E today because he thought it was going to be History again - which seemed odd as he had seemed to thoroughly enjoy History on Wednesday! - but once I started asking them questions he answered with gusto - so it appears it is all down-talk with him. I did end up doing a really 'teachery' thing by telling the boys to sit on the floor with their 'legs and arms crossed', purely to prevent them fidgeting and fiddling with the chalks and the blackboard when we were trying to have a together conversation about what they believed about God. I felt a bit mean, but having never been to school they just thought it was funny!! :) - and it is next to impossible to get anything sensible out of wriggly squiggly children, let alone get them to retain anything - although it never does cease to amaze me how much children can learn whilst seeming to be ignoring everything going on around them!!

As far as the 'schedule' goes, I have managed to stick to it for the most part, but I have actually used it more as a framework/checklist. It shows me at the end of the week what I have omitted to cover this week so that I can be more vigilant to cover those things next week. I think it would be next to impossible to get everything on the program covered every week. Things always get thrown out here and there - children don't work to scheduled time slots in reality do they - and nor do baby's bottoms (she says, having just rescued Joel who lifted Ellie off his lap to find poo all over it - and up her back and on her trousers - and... eeew) !!

My friend has agreed to take on the 'art' lessons and is going to do them fortnightly on Thursday mornings for an hour - when the girls are at playgroup - and leave the boys with 'stuff to work on' in between times. She has some great ideas up her sleeve and better still wants to tie it in with teaching them about God, expressions of ourselves and our relationship with Him, our uniqueness, etc... - this term that is. FAB - that's one less subject for me to worry about and I know she will do a far better job than I ever could with my ever-so-not artiness! I might just be able to manage DT - that's less about imagination and more about putting 'plans' into action - more my thing really!!

On the imagination subject - I really am looking forward to teaching my very 'fantastical' Joel and watching him blossom as he begins to find writing less of a chore - and even more so Abbie, whose whole life seems to be one made-up story at the moment. I am so glad that I do have children who don't struggle in this way, as it has always been such an obstacle to me. I really hope that the materials I have bought will only encourage their imaginations to grow and grow. That is what I am aiming at for all my children. I know that workbooks stand a risk of stifling creativity, but I hope that the ones we use will serve only as tools to equip the children and to spark ideas that they can develop at will. So far I have seen a marked improvement from where we left off last year - even in just a week.

I am a smiling Mummy today (P.O.T seeming to have passed now) ! :)
Wow - that was a mammoth post!