Home Ed and Interviews!

Argh! I just cant shake my "Im failing with homeschooling" depression. Lucas is still no better, cant be bothered to elaborate the point, just GRRRRR! But of course his sameness means little else is happening. Emmas homeschool is a constant path of negotiation at the minute. It kind of goes like this:

E: I dont want to do music any more.
Me:(annoyed we have been paying £12/half hour for the last two years just for her to drop it) Fine, I'll let S know. What a shame.
E: Its boring having to learn all these pieces
Me: But they are to teach you terms, scales and other things.
E: I do want to do music, just not what S is teaching.
Me: Well you have to do that or what's the point of paying her. If you stopped you wouldn't have anyone to teach you and you wouldn't be learning then.
E: I want to do stuff I like.
Me: Fine, I'll buy you some Christmas Carol books, a Disney book and you can do 3 days of S music and 3 of your choice.
E: OK.

Then there's her workbooks.
Me: You haven't been doing your workbooks.
E: They are boring.
Me: Well you need to do them
E: I like workbooks but there are too many. They are boring.
Me: How can we do them so you find them more interesting
E: There are too many in a week.
Me: OK, how about half one week and half the other?
E: OK.
We go through this negotiation process about every thing she needs to do. Usually with her doing less than I'd like and more than she'd like (i.e. nothing!!). She seems set to be the master of manipulation right now and I dislike it intensely. On top of which its bloody hard work.
Seb, meanwhile, is just stuck in his 'No!' phase. There are signs of reading being a little better (Yay!) but he just doesn't want to work. Reading Eggs is a big hit and I would definitely recommend it. I can pretty much coax him to do it on most days. Study Ladder on the other hand, is turning into a big waste of money as he need my input for the large percentage of his work and I cant input whilst Lucas is crying. I think it could work for Emma but until Seb reads he wont do well with it. Jump Ahead is middle ground, sometimes it's OK and the games are quite good, mostly though its cheesy and the educational value is very well hidden. So we are back to workbooks. I took everything out of his tray and just put in the minimum: Singapore Maths,  Explode The Code, Singapore Science and a Sonlight reading book. I expect only a page of each workbook and 2-3 sentences of his reading book each day that we aren't going anywhere.. The whole thing takes less that 1/2 hour... when he co-operates. He doesn't cooperate all that often though. He seems to have stagnated with his reading and Im not sure if its lack of practice/lack of interest/or actual learning blocks that are causing the problem.I have started getting him to read to DH each evening. Just a few pages of his ORT book each night which I hope will be worthwhile. Also a friend recommended DK reading books on various topics and I spent nearly £50 on several of them from Amazon. We bought some about being a policeman, fireman and builder, as well as some about Star Wars, Indiana Jones and Lego city. He was impressed and hopefully he will be inspired once again. If not I may cry.
Abi had her Kingston Maurwood interview on Wednesday and by all accounts it went really well. We took her down to the campus for 12.45 for her tour and talk whilst the rest of us went into Dorchester for a while (and rediscovered a little shop I used to love). Then we headed back for 2pm for her interview and I took the others into the animal park and gardens whilst she was in her interview with DH. They had forgotten her which she felt disappointed about but I explained to her that the open day she attended  was probably really busy and he probably saw LOTS of kids. The head guy seemed to like her though and took her seriously. She has her enrolment day next September when she will have to take any certificates she has received, show her science portfolio (again!) and bring animal work experience references she has gained. He was happy for her to sign up for the level 3 course and didn't feel it was too hard at all. So I think that's a success. Hoping for the next year to go smoothly and to prepare her as she loves it there. Oh and we had to chuck in a quick photo opportunity too:

With his big brother

Ready for her interview

Me too

Lucas and Me