The plan thus far…
Okay. So yesterday sucked. Jeremiah was off his rocker with nervousness and not-feeling-worth-it-ness. It was baby talk and playing dumb ALL. DAY. About EVERYTHING! It was control game after control game, and I fell into the biggest one without even realizing it until afterwards. I hate that.
Anywho, with all of that I was hopeful, but not terribly optimistic with how this morning would go. I needed our journey to start well. I needed him to WANT and feel like he could be successful in this journey and know that I was looking forward to it.
He came downstairs with a surprisingly good attitude. When I asked him to please complete his tasks that he left unfinished last night because of his tantrum, he did them quickly and with a pleasant attitude. I was AMAZED!
After eating (lunch, since it took that long to get going) Miah and I sat down at the table to talk things out. Come up with a plan of how things would proceed for our homeschooling adventure. I purposely asked A LOT of questions about how he wanted things to go.
First, I asked him about things he liked to do or wanted to do in the future. He came up with a great list! Everything from video-game and TV time to taking piano lessons or karate classes. Nothing was unreasonable or unrealistic. I called this list Jeremiah’s want-to-do’s.
Next we talked about the things that he would need to accomplish each day to help him grow and learn. I called this list Jeremiah’s Need-to-do’s. This included doing his school work, doing his chores, going to counseling, and treating the family with kindness and respect.
Next we talked about how his need-to-do’s can help him accomplish his want-to-do’s. We came up with a system together called “Miah Bucks” where he will earn play money by accomplishing his need-to-do’s. He can then use those bucks to purchase some of his want-t0-do’s, such as TV time and video-game time.
Some of the want-to-do’s will be free or very cheap, and others will not have a value to them, such as the karate lessons, but will be more associated with a goal, like completing chores on time for 2 weeks.
He will keep track of his bucks in a ledger. (YAY! MATH!)
He needs to feel like he has something to work toward and that he has control over what happens. I am trying to give him that. I was also very real with him that I understood he would get angry and want to tear up said bucks. I told him that was okay, that I would not get angry, but that any bucks that were torn up would be null and void. He got that. 
And he appreciated my honesty.
We will initially be focusing on reading, spelling, and math as the core of our academic time, but we spent a good amount of time coming up with a list together of things he would like to learn outside of those areas. He is really into art and told me he would like to learn about different artists, as well as learn how to use oil paints and water colors. Very cool. I would like to learn those right along with him. He wants to learn to cook with me, which made me smile, and he also really enjoys history. We are planning on starting a unit on Abe Lincoln, his favorite president, and the Under Ground Railroad, and are really excited that Scholastic is doing a virtual tour unit on that very thing.
So tomorrow we start our new schedule.
Here’s the schedule I am starting with:
9:00 – Wake up
Get dressed
Breakfast
9:30 – Bible time
Memory work
10:00 – Exercise (Miah and I are big Richard Simmons fans.)
10:30 – Reading/Spelling
11:15 – Math
12:00 – Lunch
12:30 – Read aloud
1:00 – Chores
1:30 – Free time
Jeremiah was very excited to see that he would have all afternoon to play if he got his work done. He is enthusiastic for the moment and keeps saying things like, “You know, Mom, this homeschooling thing might be FUN!” It’s cute.
So, tomorrow the adventure continues.
Blessings!
Hannah
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