It’s certainly safe to say that this year’s “end of school year” update differs significantly from previous ones.
You’d think that measuring “success” would be harder without tests and grading but actually, I think that it’s much easier. Instead of relying on a school book, a test, or a teacher to tell me, I can SEE the progress first-hand and that’s FAR better. I can watch Eliot get the answer to a sum quicker than I can (it’s happened once or twice this week, but I blame my brain having more to do than his!) and I can SEE Jake smile when he sees something he likes or watch him laugh when he plays with the dog or see the resolve in his face when he assures me things are going to get better.
That, to me, is better than a report card full of A’s any day of the week.
Eliot is stunning me with his progress. Clearly he’s ready to learn this stuff. Some of it is definitely below his age group but it’s stuff he didn’t have a clue how to do 2 months ago. According to the site stats on the website we use, his maths age has progressed 9 months in the 2 months we’ve been educating him at home and I can see the progress every single day. The mental stuff gets quicker; the times table sheet gets referred to less often; he’s learning stuff.
Praise be!
The English is coming on slowly. I’m trying not to sit and do it as one long session each day but we grab a worksheet and do “underline the nouns/verbs” or “their/there/they’re” or “It’s/its” practice. It’s the little and often approach but it is sinking in. It’s all alien to him and definitely a full lesson would just switch him right off.
It’s baby steps.
And while we have extra time to spare, we can investigate how a 3D printer works…
Or practise shapes and space, in the tent, with Blokus.
Or make a Lego holiday home!
Or sneak off on the motorbike while the sun shines!
Or to Blyton Raceway to watch Supercars (there were Lambos, Porches, Audis and even a Maclaren on track but the boys have photos of those!)
Or study the friction of the different tyre types on Playmobile vehicles!
(Yes, I lost!)
So yeah. What with kids and school and work (and an impending VAT return due), it’s been pretty busy.
On the non-work side, we did get the garden pretty much finished. Gravel is all done, shed is built and in position, greenhouse is moved etc. We need to sort the decking out really but that’ll probably wait until next Spring now, I think. It’s “possible” the oil tank may be leaving us so that’ll free up another area of the garden which we can use somehow. We’re just waiting to see how that all pans out before doing anything much else.
Meantime though, I think it’s looking pretty good 🙂
What else have we done?
Well, we’ve booked a trip back to visit Portugal in October. It’s just Nik, Eliot and I (Jake is being juggled amongst family members back here) but it’ll be great to get back for a trip. Eliot is super-excited about re-connecting with his school friends and Nik is just glad to be making a(nother) trip back.
Me? Yeh, it’ll be nice. But I’m OK anyway. Hopefully the weather will hold out. It’s before half term (when it usually rains) so fingers crossed.
Something else Eliot is super-excited about: it’s his birthday tomorrow!
My baby will be 12.
My baby who gives me this…
and this…
and this…
He’s smart and opinionated, passionate and enthusiastic, utterly, utterly bonkers and drives me totally crazy, but we love him anyway!
So I’ll just finished with a Happy 12th Birthday to my boy.
From someone who lost a couple of years of education due to country moves (long story…) but did well later on at university, graduate studies and career: don’t worry about the loss of time… It will be completely irrelevant whether your boys finish university at 21, 22 or 25, for example. The important thing is to allow them to do well at school at whatever grade they are, so that they can succeed in whatever type of education and subject they choose to pursue long term.
Their broadening experience living abroad and learning a foreign language well, will give them a different, more comprehensive perspective that will help them in their life and career. By the way, once things stabilize a bit, don’t forget to keep investing in their ( and perhaps yours!) Portuguese language skills. Besides the prospect of an “easy A-level”, Portuguese is the 6th most widely spoken language in the world (200 million people in Brazil alone and Brazil is the 6th largest economy in the world). But, alas, it can easily be lost for lack of practice.