While we have celebrated many holidays since the summer, we lost many days of “school”. I know, I know, a homeschool family never stops learning, but we didn’t have much time for anything but going to synagogue, or preparing for the next holiday. But somehow, my precious boy finished grade 2 math, in 4 months. I have to admit, I did very little teaching and just let him have at it with all the math test papers. He is so excited that he has completed something so quickly and so well. Yes, He is a math prodigy 🙂
With math behind us, we are now going to focus on reading and writing skills. Reading seems to be a tough subject for him. He knows the rules but just can’t seem to retain words he learns by sight (he has to sound out every word each time…). Now if he was the only beginner reader in the family I wouldn’t see this as a problem. I know boys can take longer to catch on to reading. The problem I do have is #3 is 2 grade levels behind and is reading better than #2. For now I have decided to have them read the same books and hope that nothing is noticed.
As we approach Channukah time, we have lots of learning going on in the house along with arts and crafts and baking (Mommy loves to bake cookies!!). While #1 is learning Halacha and Rambam with his Rabbi online, I am teaching the younger 2 boys the story of Channukah along with some basic laws and traditions. I love having children who are excited to learn and help prepare for such a wonderful time of year. I have eager beavers to make all the candles, worksheets coloured and filled out, and some reminding me, daily, that we need to check all the Menorahs to make sure they are all ready to be used in a few days. But while all the kids are into the fun, #2 is taking everything to heart. If there is something he excels in, besides math, its anything to do with Judaism. He soaks up everything I have told him like a sponge. Remember, this is my little rabbi-in-training we are taking about. While his Hebrew reading is going at the same pace as his English reading, the knowledge is there.
While all this talk of Education and Learning interesting, I am reminded of something I was told by a friend the other day……
I went to drop off a Bar Mitzvah rsvp at a friends house when she asked if I had a minute to talk. She wanted to tell me something. My boys were at her place for Shabbos afternoon the weekend before and were playing with her kids and anyone else that was over. While my son is 7.5 years old, he tends to end up playing with the younger kids, even though he originally goes to play with the older kids. Well, the boys were starting to get loud and too crazy for him so he walked away to get away from it all (he has sensory issues so he was looking for a “time out”). While walking back towards the house (they were in the backyard) he saw my friend’s 1 year old looking out the window. My son stopped, and started to play with him. My friend went on to tell me that they played through the window for over 20 minutes. She had never seen any child like that before, and said that he was TRULY in his element.
So why tell you story like this? Well even though we are having troubles with school and other things, there is something, deep down, that he does excel in. Knowing that my son has a passion for children, and making other people happy in general, I know that while we struggle with the “must learn subjects” we have an idea of what we can aim towards doing in life – Helping Others. Whether he gets to become the Rabbi he wants to be, or a counsler, or other profession where helping others is the goal….
Until next time, Happy Channukah!