So I am going to attempt to write a blog post at 5pm in the evening - one foot on the pram keeping S asleep (at this hour he needs a little sleep but it is hard to keep him asleep). My back is rooted at the moment - weekly chiropractor and fortnightly massage cannot keep the demons of a steel-rod thoracic spine and rock solid neck/shoulder muscles away. The burden of too many years of poor posture at the piano as a teenager followed by, now, having to carry too heavy children in awkward postures to do ridiculous things (like lift a carton of soy milk from the bottom of the shopping trolley with baby in pouch) (more on shopping later ....)
So had a longish discussion with T's new teacher this week - she is awesome. We have had three years of absolutely fabulous teachers - we have been so lucky I am told. She was discussing that the latest in education philosophy (which changes all the time) is to go back to rote learning.
This means that she drills the spelling words for each week (in the morning and at home in the homework every night). That she will rote teach the times tables this year. Repetition, repetition, repetition.
I have no real opinions on education philosophy as I am myself completely novice and amateur as an educator. I am interested in it, and I read up on it, and I try various things out at home on my kids, but I would never say I know anything much about it.
However the idea of rote learning does seem to sit with the concepts that Suzuki piano is teaching us. Practice practice practice. Interestingly, or not, I googled rote learning and whoa, there is a lot of negative stuff about it. How it is not real learning, waste of time etc. Oh well, we will see. I trust the teacher.
I don't think, though I wish there was, there are any short cuts to teaching T his spelling words. If it does not come naturally from his reading, it will just be practicing again and again that he will get it. There are some spelling rules which I thought about printing off and putting up on his walls in his bedroom perhaps. I found this website teacherspayteachers.com that has some great, inexpensive resources that teachers and parents can use. There are posters for the spelling rules for each year level.
Just a thought - most of my life is just a thought at the moment - as implementation requires time which I do not have so much of. Which brings me to shopping. As you know, I am a massive Aldi fan - it is great product, quick shopping and cheap. However they do not deliver online. And with me being so disabled - the last Aldi shop with toddler and baby in pouch - with the packing, unpacking, etc - nearly killed me. Also our kitchen is upstairs so then I have to haul it all upstairs at home.
So this last week I tried Woolworths online. Firstly the variety of choice and therefore the hundreds of products to choose from gave me the irrits straight away. It was sooo time consuming to setup my list. But the list is setup for future use so hopefully that was a once off. I loved that the guy was on time and delivered my shopping up the stairs onto my kitchen counter. Oh that is gold. I am sold.
Also, as I wasn't impulse buying like a normal shop, it wasn't too expensive. I did make a wonderful mistake of thinking I was buying a kilo of bananas, peaches, nectarines each - only to have delivery one (1) banana, one (1) nectarine, one (1) peach. They actually delivered that though! What must they have thought - novice online shopper obviously.
I have ordered from Kmart and Target as well this week - boys PJs and kids sofas. Once again, I couldn't fathom to get into the car with the kids, then out at the car park, into strollers/pouch, walk to store, wander around store to find said product, carry to checkout, carry to car, pile all back in and get home. Oh it is exhausting just thinking of it. Instead I bought it in a spare minute (like how I find time to write this blog) and it got delivered to me a few days later.
Anyway S is awake now, everyone is fighting over lego and dinner is not cooked but D is home. So it is crazy but manageable. But end of this blog for sure
Labels: aldi, household management, Maths
