Academic Update

Each child works on their handwriting and spelling daily, and I can see a marked improvement in all of their handwriting. We have been using the Getty/Dubay Italic Handwriting course from the beginning but have never gone at it with such fervor. My inspiration was a book I saw at the library called Italic Handwriting for Young People by Fred Eager. He gave samples of student handwriting before and after the course. Most of the samples were within a two-month time period, and the results were very impressive. Since we've been doing the handwriting on a daily basis, and I've been insisting that ALL writing that they do be in Italic, their handwriting has improved dramatically--all of them. Even Sweetheart.

Yesterday, I assigned a paper to each of the older kids. We based the paper on this writing evaluation. The expository prompt that I gave was, "Do you like being homeschooled? Why or why not?" By definition, expository writing is:

• A setting forth of meaning or intent.
• A statement or rhetorical discourse intended to give information about or an explanation of difficult material.
• The art or technique of composing such discourses.

While I don't normally "grade" papers, I've found that the kids respond much better to receiving some kind of evaluation of their work rather than self-evaluation or simply being told that they "did well." For this expository writing, I will grade it on the same six-point scoring system that was used for the original project.

Bard went right to her paper, beginning with a proper outline.

Houdin balked, cried and gave many suggestions for alternatives.

Here's my problem:

We have come to terms that Houdin would be, in a public school setting, labeled with Attention Deficit Disorder. Since we homeschool, his learning can be tailored to his abilities. At the same time, I believe that, in a home learning setting, he can receive the amount of attention and assistance he needs to receive. Sometimes, however, it's just about impossible to deal with him.

I've been wondering if I could have him learn with another homeschooling family for a while, or if I could find a tutor for him. We just seem to clash so wildly.

Any suggestions?