increasing independence

I noticed today that I am not really sure what Chana does in chazara.  She has her schedule of which aliyos she does and which days she does what.  She asks me for words when she needs them.  I hope that she understands and is translating accurately, but she no longer wants me to sit next to her and hear her do it.

As a homeschooler, I'm often asked about tests.  You don't test?  How do you know if they know the material?

That always struck me as funny because I'm sitting right next to her and I can see and hear if she knows it or doesn't.

But with Chumash nowadays I don't.  We are still doing rashi together and new pesukim.  But there are some pesukim I'm not sure if she is translating properly as a whole, or some words that mean things most of the time but once in a while is a different meaning.  I think "timeh" might mean sprinkle or pour once in a while or something like that.  In theory I can be on top of those things and ask her to run through those pesukim so I can hear and make sure.  Usually, though, these things slip through the cracks.

I have to go look up pictures of "warp" and "woof" so that I can explain or show them to Chana.  They are coming up.

what a relief

What a relief it is to be back in the story mode section of Torah.  7 pesukim yesterday in under 10 minutes, and 9 pesukim today.  zip, zip, zip.  With time for classic questions such as, "Hey, wait a minute.  Hashem told Moshe about this before he went down?  Then how come got angry he broke the luchos?  Did he not believe Hashem?"

chazak

The day that Chana went to sleepaway camp, she finished shvi'i of Tetzave (she did shishi in one day, before that).  Chamishi was tough and long, but shishi and shvi'i/maftir were quick.

What was unusual was that instead of waiting for me to open the English Artscroll Rashi, as I've been doing, she opened it herself and referred to it if she didn't know a word.  Most of the words were familiar from the previous parsha.  But it was still nice that she took that upon herself.  It felt (to her and to me) like a new level of making her learning her own.

kol hatchalot enthusiasticot

I handed chana a piece of paper with 3 things written (in hebrew)

1. write hebrew story (est 20 min)

2. chumash (20 min)

3. shemona esrei (est 15 min)

I asked her to please fill out times when she planned to do those activities.  she made a 12 next to the first one, a 1 next to the 2nd, and a "after my plans" next to the 3rd.  she drew a neutral face next to the story, an unhappy face next to chumash, and a rejoicing face next to "plans."

At ten minutes to 12, she got a notebook and writing utensil.  I told her to take her ipad to look up words she didn't know.  She had to re-download the translator app, which she apparently deleted due to lack of use.  She told me to say, "Class, you may begin," at precisely 12.  I don't know what she did for those last few minutes.  Thought of ideas?  Tried out the app?  At 12, she reminded me to say it, so I did.

After 12 minutes, she asked if she could stop.  She had written almost 3/4 of a page in small letters.  So I said yes.  I said tomorrow I would check it with her, and we would correct the first draft together.

Now, even though it is 12:30 and not 1, she is doing Chumash.  12:40, and we finished.  Chazara of half of sheni, chazara of the 2 (complicated) pesukim we did yesterday, and 3 new pesukim.

I predict that since the 3rd time was vague and not specific, she will not initiate it.  But we shall see.

We shall also see if I have the oomph to keep up with this and follow through.  Tomorrow the story draft, and today shemona esrei translation.

a new level of independence

i just realized.. it's thursday now.. chana has apparently been doing chumash all week.  i haven't been involved in a few days.  not in chazara and not in new pesukim.  (there are not that many new rashis in this parsha that i underlined.)  i just asked her where she is holding regarding new pesukim, and she said she finished rishon of Yisro.  I haven't been there doing it with her.

i kind of miss learning with chana....

but it's kind of cool that she's zipping along on her own... 

chazak!

i came home from work today to see chana babysitting 3 boys and with the chumash open.  she was blitzing her way through rashi.  we finished bo.  we are going to do a week of chazara.  she wanted to start b'shalach, but i think she needs some review since some of those aliyas were loooooooong.

chol hamoed

chana has been initiating chumash, opening it herself, reviewing, asking me for a word here and there, chazering her rashis, asking me for a translation here and there, and then telling me it's time to sit down for new pesukim.  it is really nice when she decides to do it herself and i'm not the one who says, "we have to do chumash" "when do you want to do chumash."  i wasn't even particularly thinking we'd do it over succos.

today she reviewed the pasuk "a land flowing with milk and honey" and she remarked: "that's just drinks and toppings.  what about food?"

the day has come

surely most days will not be like this.  but this morning, chana is going to see a show with her bubby.  so last night we agreed that chumash would be 10am.  she woke up early so she would have time to do what she likes to do before chumash.  at 9:55, of her own volition, she went to eat so she wouldn't be hungry for chumash.  then we started.

we started with chazara.  we have been doing chazara of one aliya per day, plus chazara of some of the pesukim of the aliyah we are in the middle of.  naturally, as we were about to get started, aharon woke up.  i told chana to please do the aliyah on her own.  she is at the point where she mostly knows it and felt comfortable running through it by herself!

then, even better, i told her to please review the rashis by reading them in hebrew aloud if she feels comfortable.  since she is at the point where if she doesn't know each word, but she overall knows the meaning of the rashi, that's good enough, she felt comfortable doing that for all but the more recent rashis.

when i came down, she was just finishing up.  then we reviewed the new rashis and did a little review of the end of shishi, and she whizzed through the rest of the pesukim til the end of the aliyah.  granted, these were pretty easy pesukim.  but she did them all with almost no help. 

it's really nice to see how much she's grown in her skills.