Beginning of School

Our school year officially began on Monday, Sept 10th. That was Austin's first official day of school, so we declared it Connor's first day too. However, if you read previous blogs you already know that all summer Connor had five hours of Math tutoring a week,three hours of Tae Kwon Do, guitar lessons and practice, swimming lessons, Chinese tutor etc. So although school didn't end for us, I now have to begin documenting our learning again. I guess it's ok though, it makes me more reflective. This past weekend we drove to Boston on Thursday night, the 10th. On Friday the 11th, we toured Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the battlefields of Lexington. Saturday, we went to Salem. There we learned about the witch trials and the battles fought there. Sunday we went on the most incredible whale watch. Yes, there on the boat I had Connor complete worksheets on the differences between baleen whales and toothed whales, and he studied various whale facts. The naturalist on board was a wealth of information, and Connor did not hesitate to ask her a hundred questions. I don't know if it is his age, the fact that he home-schools, or just his personality, but I noticed that none of the other kids on the boat seized the opportunity to speak with the marine biologist and ask questions the way that Connor did. Overall, it was an educational weekend, to say the least. Monday we knuckled down and began our official curriculum. Connor makes a list, and plows through the list each and every day. He began his John Hopkins University class on computer programming, and that took a few hours. We had some technical difficulties at first, and we realized Connor has to use my lap-top. The computer downstairs just won't cut it. Drats. Connor also began his Mavis Beacon typing program. By hunting and pecking Connor can type 16 words per minute, and using home-row he types 7 words per minute. I have to convince him that he will be a MUCH better typist if he just masters touch-typing. Connor also began his own personal blog. This spring I imported our travel blog (from our trip to Europe last year) onto a book creation software and I printed a cool book. I told Connor that he should consider making his own book, and now he is blogging furiously. Unfortunately, last night he inadvertently deleted his first blog entry, and he has to rewrite and recreate. He is NOT happy, but that too is part of the writing process. I think this book idea is going to be authentic learning, and I will try to self-publish his book at the end of the year.