ReGrouping

Today is cold and windy. It's been so hard to get Tink to study lately. She somehow lost her momentum. A lot of that is due to school changes here at home. Katy and Kimberly are both done with tutoring lessons. Kennedy has only two more weeks left and our Literature class ended this month too. So that leaves Tink adrift and she does not do well at all with change.

This began a lot of brainstorming on my part. I put out feelers everywhere and the response I got back was phenomenal. I decided it was time to go to Tink with the options, so last night I set down with her and laid out some different ideas. I told her she could take any class within a half hours drive of here. Then I told her the classes offered. We could do these classes and continue workbooks at home.

Her response was to vigorously shake her head and tell me she liked the classes she was doing now and she doesn't want to change anything.

Okay, lets move on to option two. We have an opportunity to do a morning day school with about 30 other homeschooling families one day a week next fall. Would she be interested in that?

Her response was to bury her head in her arms and to cry loudly, "I just want everything to stay the same. I don't want to make new friends. I want my old friends!"

Hmmm, time for option three. "Okay Tink, so you don't want to go anywhere else for school. Let's discuss our options on the home front then. You basically have three choices here. You can school by video, by computer, or continue using your worksheets. Which would you like or do you want a mixture of those?"

Her response was to stop crying and say gleefully,"You mean I could play on the computer all day?" Uh no, that is not what I meant. I meant doing something like Time4Learning or Education City or something along those lines.

The crying began anew. "I don't want to do school on the computer. I like school just like it is!" Waaaaa!

Well, that went well didn't it? This child hates change! I went back to the drawing board, so to speak. Here is the new school plan that is being implemented as far as possible this very day!

You see, Tink did come up with one good idea in her crying. She wondered if she could skip this Science chapter on plants since she is studying plants and birds in nature at her Wildlife Stewart's class this term. That was brilliant. I totally agreed we could skip it. She's been absolutely drowning in the terminology anyway. Chlorophyll, photosynthesis, conifer, deciduous; it was all too much for her. Now she is learning hands on at the Environmental Learning Center where her class is held so of course she doesn't have to do the bookwork! I should have thought of that myself! She's also observing and studying birds there this term so that takes care of our next chapter too.

So the new plan is to drop the Science book for this term and let her Wildlife class stand in for Science. For Literature we are again watching videos. Today she is watching The Last of The Mohicans by James Fenimore Cooper.

I've been making her read a half hour every day and all she ever wants to read is her Hannah Montana book. I ended that as well. I told her that she could read it whenever she wanted after the school day but in the school day she was going to read worthwhile books. She is now reading, Summer of the Sea Serpent, one of the more advanced Magic Treehouse books.

The rest of her school day stays the same. That will make her happy! Next fall, however, I do plan on getting her involved in the one day a week classes I mentioned earlier.

We are also going to be taking more field trips. In May we are going to do a tour of the Franz bakery with friends and also go see Sleeping Beauty at the children's theater.

So now with Tink back on track I'm feeling much better. I'm actually able to breathe and relax a little. It's amazing how she can upset the entire balance of things around here! It's like controlling a frisky puppy or trying to corral a wild stallion; depending on the day!