Do You Homeschool During the Holidays?

This Christmas brought two sneaky homeschool gifts to my son: one which he himself asked for and one which was given to him as not per see as a “gift”, but just because DH was going through a box of old things. Both though have caused DS to “do work”.

My F-I-L thought my son was insane when asked what he wanted to for Christmas, the answer was two three ring binders and plastic inserts. My F-I-L asked quizzically, “Are you sure?” and DS surely was. He was thrilled when he opened his box at our Christmas dinner and this was certainly one of the first gifts that he used (aside from his Nerf Gun).

DS’s plan with these books is to create a Cast Iron Cookbook and to start putting together his Eagle Scout Book. DS loves cast iron cooking, but is frustrated when pushed to think quickly and plan a menu for scouts. His plan is to begin compiling his favorite Cast Iron recipes so that he can just grab his cookbook for both planning meetings and for campouts. This has encouraged him to read carefully to choose the recipes; use the computer to cut, paste, and alter the recipes to the proper size; and to use his organizational skills to put the book together.

The other “gift” was my DH’s old palm pilot. DS has been addicted to it; putting in emergency phone numbers, writing to lists, and filling in the calendar. DS has been checking his spelling on every word he types in. This boy that I have to force to write a sentence has to have the stylus taken away in order to eat dinner. If I had known it would be this easy, I would have bought one of these machines for him. Now, I’m thinking, perhaps I’ll set him up on Facebook too. If it is technology that intrigues him, then I’ll find a way to use it.

So needless to say DS enjoyed his Christmas and mom is feeling a little better about the “time off”.