We use the workbox system, which I love. The kids school work is loaded into the individual boxes. For Irina, I filled some boxes with core work (alphabet, letter sounds, math, handwriting). She has two boxes in which she "Works with Mom." The other boxes are meant to be worked on independently. And yes, some of them were just busy work enrichment work so I could work with Ethan and Aaron.
She couldn't wait to get started! She was so excited. We had some Bible and prayer time before Luke left for his Monday classes at a homeschool academy. (Darin takes him.) Then we got started at 8:30am. Let me remind you that the words Mommy, Mama, or Mom are used approximately 1000 times in one day. I would estimate that during the first 5 minutes of school my attention was requested at least 50 times. Maybe that's an exaggeration? I don't blame her. She was very excited and proud of her work.
And just so you remember that Aaron was in the classroom too…
he is in kindergarten and alphabetizing while he waited for his turn with mom.
We are starting Irina in 4th grade in title alone, but she is no where near ready for 4th grade work. Mostly that is due to her learning a new language. However, it is also because she had NO schooling until she was placed into the orphanage at age 8. When they tested her to place her in an orphanage, she tested very low academically due to her neglect and was therefore placed in a special needs orphanage. I don't believe she has been provided with the opportunity to shine, yet! According to my research, her learning curve will likely be exponential.
Things got a little dicey about 15 minutes into our school day. I am learning what kind of work to give her. She is all about speed and not necessarily about precision or thoroughness. Of course we need to do preschool work… letter sounds. I would assess her to be at a 1st grade math level. We're still working it out. The work I gave her today was too easy. She was flying through her workboxes. Calling for my attention and pointing out repeatedly that she was on box 7 but her brothers were only on box 2. She'd point and laugh and even with the language barrier it was obvious she was doing a bit of boasting. She is VERY competitive. Let me just say, it did not go over well with her brothers. One boy in particular was very upset by her giggling and pointing. I mean really upset. So upset that he completely shut down and refused to do his work. It was not pretty.
And yes, a haircut is on our list of things to do… her hair has a mind of its own. ;) This workbox of filling in the hundred number chart was the most time consuming and boy did she sigh and moan while she was working on it. But she finished and was proud! Then we practiced counting in English up to 20. She can do up to 11 on her own.
Once she was finished with her work (by 10!!!!), she wanted to play "teacher" and got her baby doll, "Polina," to help Ethan with his math. In the end all our school work was completed before lunch and in time to go pick up Luke, but it was not an easy, breezy school day that I hoped for. Although, I knew it wasn't likely to be easy but a girl can hope, right?
The rest of the week I'll have all four in the classroom, so please pray for all of us. My goal isn't that things will be easy (although it's tempting to pray for that). My goal is that WHEN things are hard that I'll be patient, that I'll persevere and that I will rely on the Spirit to give me the strength to do that. I was reminded today that I CANNOT do this on my own. We desire that all four kids flourish academically, but what we really hope is that they will grow to be Godly men and a Godly woman.
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