Natural Learning.

Things have been going much better here lately because we have embarked on a journey of natural learning taking a much more relaxed approach to schoolwork and not just trying to replicate school at home. Rather than spending hours on content so we can tick off that something was 'done', we are spending time on building skills. From an outsiders perspective it may not look like much is happening, but from my perspective I can see so much growth in important things. Yes Jaden is 'behind' in maths, still working through a year 5 programme when he is supposed to be in year 6, but we are spending lots of time and using many different ways to get the times tables into his head which are his biggest stumbling block in his maths work. I can see him getting better and quicker at it and it's helping him do better in his maths lessons, so I know that time spent on this skill will set him up a good foundation to then move forward with his maths. I dont see the point of pushing him onto work he can't do if he doesn't have the skills he needs to do it properly.

In writing it takes Jaden a while to get his thoughts together and onto the page, but again I am not after quantity, I don't want pages of drible, I would rather he takes his time and asks about spelling, grammar etc. He is writing an adventure/exploration story inspired by reading we've been doing about explorers of Australia and he is starting to write some really good stuff. He is also doing great editing on his own work and I can see him buidling up fabulous writing skills. He has been working on his letter writing too as he has a pen pal from Vic that we hooked up with through a home schooling forum. He is learning that he needs to answer questions and acknowledge what his friend has written, share some of what he has been doing and ask questions to learn more about his friend. I know some adults that would be hard pressed to write a decent letter so I am pleased to see Jaden's progress.

He is loving scouts and has learnt lots of new skills there, and also made some new friends. He went on 2 camps on 2 consecutive weekends recently and is showing a lot more independence in packing, unpacking etc. He has also started having private swimming lessons with the special needs teacher and is starting to actually look like he is swimming instead of struggling. He is helping out around the house more without complaining because it is just part of what we do in a family, he is showing plenty of creativity with his daily lego creations and he is learning lots about Australian history by reading through a bunch of novels I bought really cheap at an ex-library sale, his current book is 'The Man from Snowy River' (adaptation of the movie, not the poem).

Today after his maths work I pulled out a box of knex I had bought second hand and gave him the task of putting it together. It seemed a simple task for him until we realised that a lot of pieces were missing. At first he got upset and I was bracing myself for a meltdown but instead he decided to look in the other boxes for pieces that would fit (I bought 3 sets at the same time from the same person) and despite a few stressful moments he managed to find pieces between all 3 sets to finish the ferris wheel and there was no meltdown!! I was so proud of him and told him so!! The skills I witnessed here today of problem solving, improvisation, and managing frustration were amazing and show how far my boy has come, he actually handled it better than I did cause I got very upset about being sold stuff that wasn't all there and he was quite calm considering. So that is how school is looking here at the moment, there will be more bookwork style learning over the next few weeks as well, but it is not our main style of learning as we all do life together. This mummy is learning lots too as God takes me on my own journey of learning as a mum, a wife and as a daughter of God, to let go of my own unrealistic expectations and continually ask for God's direction in all things!!