I'm glad we did some tefila prep before Rosh Hashana, because I really didn't get to sit next to Chana in shul much. The littles were not shul-level quiet (though Elazar sat very quietly for 10 minutes until he began fidgeting loudly enough to disturb daveners). Bizarrely, there weren't many kids in shul (most went to play at different homes) so my boys didn't have anyone to play with. Since there wasn't anyone to play with, they came into shul and were hanging out there. Since my 3yo was talking, we left.
Chana davened silent shemona esrei in shul and heard shofar and then wanted to leave. And without me there, I was hard pressed to tell her she has to stay in shul herself with nobody to show her pages. In other years, we've had aunts or cousins who looked out for my daughters in shul. Not this year.
When I was growing up, I had a good friend a year older than I was, who had a good friend a year older than she was. And their sisters were a year younger than I was and a year younger than that. We all were in shul together, copying the girls one or two years older than we were.
For Yom Kippur prep, I was going to go through some of the machzor and show her the different shemona esreis and maybe some of the avoda. I was thinking a lot about how to handle the shul thing. Chana doesn't find shul meaningful, doesn't understand most of the tefilos (even with English), and hates it. I'm not there to guide her. To prepare, I will go through shacharis shemona esrei with her and make sure she generally knows what to say and has some of the general concepts. This week, instead of chumash, we'll read Yona together. On Yom Kippur itself, if we aren't in shul, she agreed to learn the Viduy with me for an hour. I would also like to do Avinu Malkenu with her. I think I will forgo the avoda this year and show her the structure of the 5 tefilos and see if we can squeeze in Avinu Malkenu in advance. On the day, she will daven shacharis shemona esrei only, and we will hopefully learn Viduy. If I want to be in shul, she will be in charge of the little ones. (I don't make her watch them all day because she is still young, 13, and not so used to fasting yet, and I don't want her to yell at them from hungry grouchiness as the day goes on and they get rambunctious.)
Tuesday, September 30, 2014
Wednesday, September 24, 2014
Rosh Hashana prep for 13yo girl
I woke up this morning at 5am when Ari went to selichos, and I realized that I had forgotten to do any Rosh Hashana tefila prep with Chana. We didn't go through the Torah readings in advance, or talk about Rosh Hashana, or anything.
So in the morning, I asked Chana if she would be willing to set aside an hour to go through the machzor with me in preparation for davening. She agreed.
First, we went through Shacharis shemona esrei. I post-it-ed for her, and showed her where it differs from the basic shemona esrei. I showed her the bolded statements ("remember us for life" etc.) and I decided not to go through the "uv'chen ten"s, all those extra paragraphs in the 3rd bracha. I figured she knows she can read or say any part in English, and it will give her something new to read and think about on the day. I showed her the kedushas hayom, the part of shemona esrei that is special for Rosh Hashana, and showed her where the final 3 brachos were, and back to familiar territory, showing her the bolded statements she has to add in.
That is her basic chiyuv, and if she runs out of steam in shul, that is what she has to make sure she says.
Then we moved on to musaf. I wasn't sure how to handle it, so I asked her how she wanted to go about it. She said I should read it in English and explain it to her. She didn't want to read it, didn't want to translate it, and wanted to sit passively. As a general rule, Chana is a kinesthetic learner, and loathes sitting and listening passively to anything. She tunes out quickly. However, she clearly stated she didn't want to be an active participant, so I figured it makes sense to listen to her.
I showed her the beginning, again noting the bold statements, and showed her the "uv'chen ten"s. Then I talked about how musaf talks about the korbanos. She rolled her eyes (we just finished Vayikra) so I said they'll sound familiar to her. Then I went through Malchiyos, Zichronos, and Shofaros with her.
In Malchiyos I emphasized how the other nations believe in hevel varik but we bow to the Creator and that we hope all nations will stop doing idolatry and recognize Hashem as King. We skipped over the pesukim. I just said that there are 3 pesukim from torah, tehilim, and navi. Chana noted that it says in many places that Hashem is King. I explained the bracha that Hashem rules over the whole land and makes Israel and Yom Hazikaron holy. We talked a little about why Rosh Hashana is the day of Remembrance. (And asked the question, does Hashem ever forget?)
In Zichronos, Chana asked why the previous bracha talks about remembrance if the next bracha is remembrance. I said Hashem's kingship implies remembrance, and that's what we speak about next. In that bracha, I talked about how there is no need to present an image or try to pretend we don't feel what we feel or don't think what we think, because Hashem knows everything, and there is a certain relief in that. Chana disagreed a bit and said that thinking that someone knows secrets you don't want anyone to know is disconcerting. I read in the tefila that Hashem knows everything and sees everything, and that this day is the anniversary of Creation (of man), and it became a law for us to focus on Hashem's remembrance on this day of the anniversary.
I read that on this day it is decided what happens to different nations; war, peace, famine, enough food. And this is also for all the people, and everyone is remembered on this day. Fortunate is the person who doesn't forget You, Hashem. Because those who seek You never stumble.
This intrigued Chana. She brought up the four who went into Pardes and said, "Didn't people who seeked Hashem go crazy?" (That was a tough question!) I ended up saying that trying to become closer to Hashem or thinking about what Hashem would want can help us and that even if we stumble, it can be for growth.
Then I reviewed the pesukim of how Hashem remembered Noach and the Jews in Egypt and the bris. And we talked about the Akeida and how Avraham conquered his feelings do do Hashem's will, and will Hashem's mercy conquer his anger.
Then we talked about Shofaros, and I asked when she thought Hashem was revealed in the cloud of His glory. She guessed Succos or in the desert when He was leading them where to go. I said it's talking about Har Sinai. And how there was lightning and thunder and and the voice of the shofar increasing. And how the shofar proclaims the King. And Chana asked if the Shofar would sound for the Final Judgment. She was making a joke and I said the pesukim do say it will proclaim Moshiach.
All that took about half an hour.
Ksiva V'chasima Tova!
So in the morning, I asked Chana if she would be willing to set aside an hour to go through the machzor with me in preparation for davening. She agreed.
First, we went through Shacharis shemona esrei. I post-it-ed for her, and showed her where it differs from the basic shemona esrei. I showed her the bolded statements ("remember us for life" etc.) and I decided not to go through the "uv'chen ten"s, all those extra paragraphs in the 3rd bracha. I figured she knows she can read or say any part in English, and it will give her something new to read and think about on the day. I showed her the kedushas hayom, the part of shemona esrei that is special for Rosh Hashana, and showed her where the final 3 brachos were, and back to familiar territory, showing her the bolded statements she has to add in.
That is her basic chiyuv, and if she runs out of steam in shul, that is what she has to make sure she says.
Then we moved on to musaf. I wasn't sure how to handle it, so I asked her how she wanted to go about it. She said I should read it in English and explain it to her. She didn't want to read it, didn't want to translate it, and wanted to sit passively. As a general rule, Chana is a kinesthetic learner, and loathes sitting and listening passively to anything. She tunes out quickly. However, she clearly stated she didn't want to be an active participant, so I figured it makes sense to listen to her.
I showed her the beginning, again noting the bold statements, and showed her the "uv'chen ten"s. Then I talked about how musaf talks about the korbanos. She rolled her eyes (we just finished Vayikra) so I said they'll sound familiar to her. Then I went through Malchiyos, Zichronos, and Shofaros with her.
In Malchiyos I emphasized how the other nations believe in hevel varik but we bow to the Creator and that we hope all nations will stop doing idolatry and recognize Hashem as King. We skipped over the pesukim. I just said that there are 3 pesukim from torah, tehilim, and navi. Chana noted that it says in many places that Hashem is King. I explained the bracha that Hashem rules over the whole land and makes Israel and Yom Hazikaron holy. We talked a little about why Rosh Hashana is the day of Remembrance. (And asked the question, does Hashem ever forget?)
In Zichronos, Chana asked why the previous bracha talks about remembrance if the next bracha is remembrance. I said Hashem's kingship implies remembrance, and that's what we speak about next. In that bracha, I talked about how there is no need to present an image or try to pretend we don't feel what we feel or don't think what we think, because Hashem knows everything, and there is a certain relief in that. Chana disagreed a bit and said that thinking that someone knows secrets you don't want anyone to know is disconcerting. I read in the tefila that Hashem knows everything and sees everything, and that this day is the anniversary of Creation (of man), and it became a law for us to focus on Hashem's remembrance on this day of the anniversary.
I read that on this day it is decided what happens to different nations; war, peace, famine, enough food. And this is also for all the people, and everyone is remembered on this day. Fortunate is the person who doesn't forget You, Hashem. Because those who seek You never stumble.
This intrigued Chana. She brought up the four who went into Pardes and said, "Didn't people who seeked Hashem go crazy?" (That was a tough question!) I ended up saying that trying to become closer to Hashem or thinking about what Hashem would want can help us and that even if we stumble, it can be for growth.
Then I reviewed the pesukim of how Hashem remembered Noach and the Jews in Egypt and the bris. And we talked about the Akeida and how Avraham conquered his feelings do do Hashem's will, and will Hashem's mercy conquer his anger.
Then we talked about Shofaros, and I asked when she thought Hashem was revealed in the cloud of His glory. She guessed Succos or in the desert when He was leading them where to go. I said it's talking about Har Sinai. And how there was lightning and thunder and and the voice of the shofar increasing. And how the shofar proclaims the King. And Chana asked if the Shofar would sound for the Final Judgment. She was making a joke and I said the pesukim do say it will proclaim Moshiach.
All that took about half an hour.
Ksiva V'chasima Tova!
Sunday, September 21, 2014
unschooling reading
The theory of unschooling is that children realize that reading is a way of acquiring information. They ask you to read things for them in their pursuit of information. You do. Eventually you or their siblings get sick of reading things for them, and they hit a point where they really want to be able to read in the course of doing something that they love a lot and are being hampered by their lack of reading ability. At that point (could be as early as 3, but often 6 or 7, or as late as 11) they learn to read pretty quickly and easily.
Elazar is 7 (2nd grade). We are in the phase of me or others reading to him/getting kind of sick of it. His siblings will read to him if they aren't busy. And I will read to him but he often has to wait until I can get there. He can kind of sometimes sound things out and when he shows interest, we do that. But mostly he does half of word or one word and then runs out of interest.
It will be interesting to see if unschooling will work with reading. I feel pretty confident that it will be fine, and that eventually, before he's a teenager, he'll begin reading, learn to read within days or weeks, and be on grade level. This is what I read occurs with unschooling reading, and I'm very curious to see how it plays out.
I suppose it's possible that a. he won't learn to read or b. he has a reading problem. My sense is that he doesn't have a reading problem.*
If he doesn't learn to read (which I think unlikely), there are two approaches. a. Teach him to read when I get too nervous to let it go on any further, in which case I'm basically in the same position I'm in now except that he has some extra years of maturity and can sit better. b. Continue with the theory of unschooling that if he finds it relevant and is motivated to do it, he'll either figure it out himself or ask me or someone else to teach him.
______
*I'm not professional, but I've taught kindergarten and first grade many times, and actually worked with a range of children who were considered to have learning difficulties (as a homeschooler, I tend to take the approach that the child is fine, we just have to figure out how s/he learns and tailor the teaching) that I've successfully gotten reading. Actually, since I've gotten paid for it, that actually does make me a professional. What I mean is that I haven't received a degree in special ed.
Tuesday, September 2, 2014
un-back to school
I'm seeing a lot of back to school posts. We are not back to school. Because there is no school. We never stopped school and we never have school. We have life and the learning and knowledge that emerges from life.
It's 10:30am. The 8th grader is still sleeping until I wake her up or until she wakes up on her own. This summer she finished Sefer Vayikra and is currently in the middle of revi'i in Parshas Naso. We did factoring and graphing in algebra, and are in the middle of radicals. She wants to take trapeze again, but the Yom Tov schedule means she'll miss 3 out of 6 classes.
The 2nd grader is not in the house. Presumably he's with the neighbors or playing outside. He's done some writing this summer, which he never showed interest in before. But he doesn't read. We figure by the time he's 11 he'll be reading. Maybe before. Maybe not. He's much more interested in moving and playing and figuring out all sorts of projects he thinks up. His mind and concentration abilities have really taken a cognitive leap in the last few months. He's signed up for once a week science class this fall. It's very hands on and has a lot of experiments. It's for K-2 so he will be one of the oldest in the group. That means he'll be expected to sit like a kindergartener. He has shown very little interest in Hebrew reading or Chumash this summer, though the two times he did, the book was there and we did it for the 20 minutes or so. He continues to enjoy learning halacha orally at night before bedtime.
The 4yo and 3yo are playing play-doh. This morning, at 7:30, when 4yo crept into bed to snuggle me, he tiptoed out of bed and opened the sliding door a bit. When he got back into bed, I asked him why he did that. He said he wanted to know if the metal pieces that were attached to the door would slide with the door or not. Observation, hypothesis, experiment, conclusion. We grinned at each other. A successful experiment.
I was remembering, this morning, that a half a decade ago, I saw a trailer for a movie about this crazy homeschooling family who lived in a van and didn't have formal lessons. I was both intrigued and skeptical. No math? Really? Is it really possible to become an adult without the lessons that society insists our children need? Not just an adult, but a successful adult? Who can hold down a job and be eloquent and function happily in society? I watched the poised adult children being interviewed and I wondered.
I wondered what it would be like to be free from educational expectations and to focus on the type of learning that is a true and enjoyable discovery of the world. The type of learning that has no schedules and no grade levels.
At the time, I was not bold enough to go for it. It's a scary thing to play with children's lives like that. But the seed of the idea was there. It happened gradually.
Here we are. I found from experience with my grown daughter that I have no problem unschooling every subject except math and Chumash. I found from experience with my 8th grade daughter that I have no problem completely unschooling until grade 3, and I even learned to successfully let go of math. Here we are with the boys, unschooling whole-heartedly. Child led. No grade levels. Breaking out of the mindset of what "should" be taught or what they "need" to know or learn. I still have a lot of premises about education, both from society and from what I've read and learned and thought about.
I'm reminded of something I read in Emerson this summer: "Speak what you think now in hard words, and tomorrow speak what tomorrow thinks in hard words again, though it contradict every thing you said today."
What we understand is fluid and partial and we need to leave room for growth. But we also must live according to what we understand to be true now. Even knowing that it will change as we learn and grow. This reminds me a lot of my homeschooling journey and how it has evolved and continues to evolve. But isn't that the unschooling mindset?
It's 10:30am. The 8th grader is still sleeping until I wake her up or until she wakes up on her own. This summer she finished Sefer Vayikra and is currently in the middle of revi'i in Parshas Naso. We did factoring and graphing in algebra, and are in the middle of radicals. She wants to take trapeze again, but the Yom Tov schedule means she'll miss 3 out of 6 classes.
The 2nd grader is not in the house. Presumably he's with the neighbors or playing outside. He's done some writing this summer, which he never showed interest in before. But he doesn't read. We figure by the time he's 11 he'll be reading. Maybe before. Maybe not. He's much more interested in moving and playing and figuring out all sorts of projects he thinks up. His mind and concentration abilities have really taken a cognitive leap in the last few months. He's signed up for once a week science class this fall. It's very hands on and has a lot of experiments. It's for K-2 so he will be one of the oldest in the group. That means he'll be expected to sit like a kindergartener. He has shown very little interest in Hebrew reading or Chumash this summer, though the two times he did, the book was there and we did it for the 20 minutes or so. He continues to enjoy learning halacha orally at night before bedtime.
The 4yo and 3yo are playing play-doh. This morning, at 7:30, when 4yo crept into bed to snuggle me, he tiptoed out of bed and opened the sliding door a bit. When he got back into bed, I asked him why he did that. He said he wanted to know if the metal pieces that were attached to the door would slide with the door or not. Observation, hypothesis, experiment, conclusion. We grinned at each other. A successful experiment.
I was remembering, this morning, that a half a decade ago, I saw a trailer for a movie about this crazy homeschooling family who lived in a van and didn't have formal lessons. I was both intrigued and skeptical. No math? Really? Is it really possible to become an adult without the lessons that society insists our children need? Not just an adult, but a successful adult? Who can hold down a job and be eloquent and function happily in society? I watched the poised adult children being interviewed and I wondered.
I wondered what it would be like to be free from educational expectations and to focus on the type of learning that is a true and enjoyable discovery of the world. The type of learning that has no schedules and no grade levels.
At the time, I was not bold enough to go for it. It's a scary thing to play with children's lives like that. But the seed of the idea was there. It happened gradually.
Here we are. I found from experience with my grown daughter that I have no problem unschooling every subject except math and Chumash. I found from experience with my 8th grade daughter that I have no problem completely unschooling until grade 3, and I even learned to successfully let go of math. Here we are with the boys, unschooling whole-heartedly. Child led. No grade levels. Breaking out of the mindset of what "should" be taught or what they "need" to know or learn. I still have a lot of premises about education, both from society and from what I've read and learned and thought about.
I'm reminded of something I read in Emerson this summer: "Speak what you think now in hard words, and tomorrow speak what tomorrow thinks in hard words again, though it contradict every thing you said today."
What we understand is fluid and partial and we need to leave room for growth. But we also must live according to what we understand to be true now. Even knowing that it will change as we learn and grow. This reminds me a lot of my homeschooling journey and how it has evolved and continues to evolve. But isn't that the unschooling mindset?
Friday, August 22, 2014
fretting
I woke up this morning fretting about Chana. We are spending the week with my parents and we forgot her Chumash. I was planning to do Chumash and math with her yesterday but we didn't get to it. It's not such a big deal to have a week off. But this morning, my brain was worrying. First I was thinking about algebra. Things are still under control to have her take the regents in June. That got me thinking if I should have her take the BJEs. If I do, I have to sign her up. Most likely, she'll get into high school without them. But if she takes them, they'll have a more accurate sense of her skills. But on the other hand, she doesn't have much experience with tests, and is a bit slow taking tests, so is that actually an accurate reflection of her abilities? I could have her practice taking the exam, but isn't that a lot of effort and for what end? That got me started thinking about Hebrew regents and her generally dismal ability to write Hebrew. I've started and fallen off the wagon on regularly working on that more times than I can remember. Maybe I can talk to Chana about doing it twice a week and have her be in charge somehow. Then I started thinking about Bamidbar. We are only in the second parsha. I wanted to finish Bamidbar and Devarim before she goes to high school. Can we do that in one year? Is that too much and too fast?
I realized amidst all this that if Chana were planning to stay home for high school, all of these concerns would melt away. All of this is based on artificial criteria of "keeping up" to certain standards and has very little to do with actual knowledge or learning.
Chana wants to go to high school to make more friends. I was once told by a sage Rebbetzin that if your teenager wants socialization, and you want academics, if you don't give them the socialization, you won't get the intellectual growth, either.
I would love to homeschool for high school. It's a time with so much potential for learning and thinking. Without the fetters of standards and testing and keeping up and memorization and grades, a self-directed learner can think deeply and creatively and have a fantastic education. At least in my imagination. I wonder if any of my children will choose that path. In the meantime, Chana wants to go to high school and we are preparing for it. I'm calming down all my concerns because she will be just fine.
I realized amidst all this that if Chana were planning to stay home for high school, all of these concerns would melt away. All of this is based on artificial criteria of "keeping up" to certain standards and has very little to do with actual knowledge or learning.
Chana wants to go to high school to make more friends. I was once told by a sage Rebbetzin that if your teenager wants socialization, and you want academics, if you don't give them the socialization, you won't get the intellectual growth, either.
I would love to homeschool for high school. It's a time with so much potential for learning and thinking. Without the fetters of standards and testing and keeping up and memorization and grades, a self-directed learner can think deeply and creatively and have a fantastic education. At least in my imagination. I wonder if any of my children will choose that path. In the meantime, Chana wants to go to high school and we are preparing for it. I'm calming down all my concerns because she will be just fine.
Thursday, July 31, 2014
Just an average homeschool day
"Vayedaber Hashem el Moshe..."
"Mommy, the sauce is finished!"
"Great."
"And Hashem sai--"
"I'm putting it in recycling."
"And Hash--"
"Wash the jar out first."
"And Hashem spoke to Moshe in Midbar Sinai sayi--"
"Hey, look! It made like a very thin, lot of sauce!" He's jiggling with excitement and the very thin lot of sauce is bouncing accordingly.
"Cool. Pour it out before you recycle it."
Chana continues reading and translating.
"Where is a new sauce?"
"In the pantry, bottom right." Chana continues.
"Where is the sauce?"
Chana pauses. "Does he forget right when he goes in?" she asked.
"Pantry, bottom right." Chana continues.
"I can't find the sauce in the fridge."
Me: "Pantry, bottom right."
"Oooooh." Chana continues.
"Mommy, I put my pizza in the toaster. Can you turn it on?" I get up and turn it on.
Chana continues reading and translating. Elazar hanging literally on my shoulders like a baby koala waiting for pizza. Pizza dings. Chana pauses. I get pizza. I return. Chana continues.
Jack says he wants pizza cooked second and the neighbor said that his little sister gets cooked second because they're cooking them in age order. I say ok. Chana continues. Jack says, "Tell them!" Chana is reading around him. I nod. Chana reads more. "Tell them!!!" Jack insists. I tell Jack to bring in his pizza.
Chana keeps translating.
"Mommy, where is the pizza cutter?" Chana pauses.
"Dishwasher."
"Which one?"
"Milcheg."
"Black or gray?"
Chana gets exasperated. "Elazar, I'm doing chumash now!"
"Gray."
Chana says, "How do you say black?" I say, "Shachor." She said, "Afor and Shachor sound similar." "Yep." Back to Chumash.
Aharon brings in his pizza. He spilled the cheese. I go get him new cheese. I cook it. Chana continues.
Jack comes in screaming, "Is Aharon's pizza second?! Is it? IS IT?!"
Chana: "I'm trying to do chumash!"
Jack is screaming. Chana's reading. It's hard to hear. I tell Jack that I told him to bring his pizza, and he didn't. Aharon did, so it's cooking. Jack screams and Chana reads loudly, screaming over him.
Aharon's pizza dings and I give it to him. Jack races after him, screaming, "Nooo! Don't eat it. Mine has to be second!" Aharon hesitates. I say, "No, Aharon is allowed to eat it. Aharon, take your pizza." He does. Jack starts racing after him. I hold Jack. He's shrieking. I hold him until he says he will let Aharon eat his pizza. I come back to Chumash. Chana has disappeared. I call her back.
Aharon brings in Jack's pizza for him. He spills the cheese all over the floor. I dump some of it back on. Chana says, "Hey, you got up again." She leaves again. I put Jack's pizza in the oven. I call Chana back. We do Rashi. Jack's pizza is done. Chana says, "One more! One more! Just finish the Rashi! Don't walk away!" But I do or else I'll forget about it.
"Mommy, the sauce is finished!"
"Great."
"And Hashem sai--"
"I'm putting it in recycling."
"And Hash--"
"Wash the jar out first."
"And Hashem spoke to Moshe in Midbar Sinai sayi--"
"Hey, look! It made like a very thin, lot of sauce!" He's jiggling with excitement and the very thin lot of sauce is bouncing accordingly.
"Cool. Pour it out before you recycle it."
Chana continues reading and translating.
"Where is a new sauce?"
"In the pantry, bottom right." Chana continues.
"Where is the sauce?"
Chana pauses. "Does he forget right when he goes in?" she asked.
"Pantry, bottom right." Chana continues.
"I can't find the sauce in the fridge."
Me: "Pantry, bottom right."
"Oooooh." Chana continues.
"Mommy, I put my pizza in the toaster. Can you turn it on?" I get up and turn it on.
Chana continues reading and translating. Elazar hanging literally on my shoulders like a baby koala waiting for pizza. Pizza dings. Chana pauses. I get pizza. I return. Chana continues.
Jack says he wants pizza cooked second and the neighbor said that his little sister gets cooked second because they're cooking them in age order. I say ok. Chana continues. Jack says, "Tell them!" Chana is reading around him. I nod. Chana reads more. "Tell them!!!" Jack insists. I tell Jack to bring in his pizza.
Chana keeps translating.
"Mommy, where is the pizza cutter?" Chana pauses.
"Dishwasher."
"Which one?"
"Milcheg."
"Black or gray?"
Chana gets exasperated. "Elazar, I'm doing chumash now!"
"Gray."
Chana says, "How do you say black?" I say, "Shachor." She said, "Afor and Shachor sound similar." "Yep." Back to Chumash.
Aharon brings in his pizza. He spilled the cheese. I go get him new cheese. I cook it. Chana continues.
Jack comes in screaming, "Is Aharon's pizza second?! Is it? IS IT?!"
Chana: "I'm trying to do chumash!"
Jack is screaming. Chana's reading. It's hard to hear. I tell Jack that I told him to bring his pizza, and he didn't. Aharon did, so it's cooking. Jack screams and Chana reads loudly, screaming over him.
Aharon's pizza dings and I give it to him. Jack races after him, screaming, "Nooo! Don't eat it. Mine has to be second!" Aharon hesitates. I say, "No, Aharon is allowed to eat it. Aharon, take your pizza." He does. Jack starts racing after him. I hold Jack. He's shrieking. I hold him until he says he will let Aharon eat his pizza. I come back to Chumash. Chana has disappeared. I call her back.
Aharon brings in Jack's pizza for him. He spills the cheese all over the floor. I dump some of it back on. Chana says, "Hey, you got up again." She leaves again. I put Jack's pizza in the oven. I call Chana back. We do Rashi. Jack's pizza is done. Chana says, "One more! One more! Just finish the Rashi! Don't walk away!" But I do or else I'll forget about it.
Wednesday, July 30, 2014
hinei ma tov uma na'im
I had such pleasant learning with Chana yesterday and today. She's been so cheerful, making jokes, smiling a lot. It's amazing how much in homeschooling I sometimes perceive it's about the learning or even about the parent-child relationship, when it's just a phase that the child is going through.
Today, randomly, in the middle of Chumash, Chana asked me if a person davens for something halfheartedly, is it answered. (Bear in mind, she's 13, so we don't really speak unless I call her over to do work. So when we sit down to do work, other things often come up, which I'm delighted about.) I have not, sadly, made the time to do the tefila chabura that I had wanted to do this summer. (I've chosen learning with my aunt, shiur prep, and date night as priorities.) So when this question came up, I was excited. I said if you made an appointment to speak to someone in charge, and then you halfheartedly asked, would it likely be granted?
Then I asked her if she could think of some benefits to asking for something, even if it is halfhearted, and even if there is a strong possibility it won't be answered. So we are having a conversation about what tefila does for the beseecher.
I've also been asking Chana to write a couple of Ivrit sentences every night when I'm not there. I told her to use a dictionary (online of course!). And I check them in the morning. So far they've been understandable and legible!
Today, randomly, in the middle of Chumash, Chana asked me if a person davens for something halfheartedly, is it answered. (Bear in mind, she's 13, so we don't really speak unless I call her over to do work. So when we sit down to do work, other things often come up, which I'm delighted about.) I have not, sadly, made the time to do the tefila chabura that I had wanted to do this summer. (I've chosen learning with my aunt, shiur prep, and date night as priorities.) So when this question came up, I was excited. I said if you made an appointment to speak to someone in charge, and then you halfheartedly asked, would it likely be granted?
Then I asked her if she could think of some benefits to asking for something, even if it is halfhearted, and even if there is a strong possibility it won't be answered. So we are having a conversation about what tefila does for the beseecher.
I've also been asking Chana to write a couple of Ivrit sentences every night when I'm not there. I told her to use a dictionary (online of course!). And I check them in the morning. So far they've been understandable and legible!
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