Changes

I have been having a difficult time going over my son's English and History work. I find that I have a hard time comprehending what it is that he's doing. For some reason I just don't focus as well as I use to on what I am reading. I've always had a problem with comprehension but in the last couple of years it's gotten much worse. I think it's a result of the medications I am on, coupled with the fact that I have Hypothyroidism (which is being treated). Unless his answers are a straight yes/no, true/false or multiple choice, I sometimes am not able to make heads or tails of his answers. When I read the answer that is in the book to my son, he says that's what he has written. Either I'm just not "seeing" it or he is lying to me, and I don't think that's what it is. lol! So to make things a little easier for me and him, I have decided to use Alpha Omega's SOS for English and History (we already use the Geometry and Chemistry).

My reasoning was this: he is assigned a lesson/project/quiz/test and it grades it automatically for him. He gets instant feedback. The only time I have to grade a problem is when he has to give a written answer or it's a project. It's not that the work is easier, it's the end result that is easier. I can spend more time on other things and not so much on reading and grading papers (no wonder the public school teachers complain about that all the time).

My son likes to know exactly what he has to do and when. SOS can provide that. It will let him know exactly what his lesson is and even when it's due. He does tend to put his projects off until right before they are due. In the past he never really got in trouble for not getting his work done on time but that will change this year. If he doesn't get it done on time, he will have his computer time taken away from him. The only time he won't be punished for it is when he has a good excuse such as these last few days when he's been sick with the flu.

I tried so hard to keep up with him on his U.S. History. I had this big idea that we could just sort of wing it this year. I printed out handouts of information, time lines, tests, work sheets and an outline of each period that he would be studying. I wrote up each lesson outline and put the correct handouts with each one. I put each lesson in the folders I'd made up for each unit. I posted what pages he was suppose to be reading each day in my planner and what unit he was to be working on. I had good intentions, but not enough know-how I guess. I still plan on using some of the handouts I printed out. I'm not going to waste the time and money I spent printing those out. And he will be watching the videos I have. I may not make him do some of the lessons that I printed out for those videos but we will definitely go over the discussion questions. Depending on what the lessons want will be the deciding factor. He'll also be reading some historical books and biographies. I want him to continue to read "A Patriot's History of the United States". I think it will give him the facts and not someone else's view points which is what almost all of the public school textbooks do. That will be discussed more later. I may just go through the book and have him read sections of it.

The English really wasn't all that hard. I just never got around to correcting his work. Between the lessons in the book, to the pre/middle/post tests he had to do, then the vocabulary tests and the Wordly Wise lessons, I was overloaded with paperwork. When I looked at the English for SOS, I saw that it covered exactly what we were covering, except for the fact that it requires him to read "The Old Man in the Sea", which he has already read. We will skip over that section. No sense in making him suffer through it again. I have novels and stories that I want him to read this year. Those he will continue to read. I told my son that I wanted him to read more this year. In the past, he only read maybe one or two books. He needs a variety and hopefully I've done that with the books he is reading.

I'm real happy with the SOS program. We've used it in the past. My only issue with it, is that it comes with a Christian perspective. My son does not mind if religion is mentioned when it is presented as part of what he is studying. His problem comes from when it says things like "What you want to remember is that God has uniquely created you with the capacity to think and reason." My son has already stated that he does not believe in God. That is his choice. If God gave us freewill like everyone says, then my son is using his freewill to choose not to believe. I have told him that he has the right to believe whatever he wants but that others may not agree with that belief. So to avoid confrontations and any problems in the future, I have told him to be tolerant of religious people even if they are not tolerant of him. We've already discussed the religious issues. If there is a problem that is religious and it has nothing to do with his subject, then he is to skip it and I will go back later and grade it so that his total grade will not be affected.

Now I am waiting on the new cd's to arrive so that I can install them. Then I'll have to go in and see if there are any parts that he can skip over. That should be fun. We will work on the schedule later, when he feels better.