Teacher Notes…At Least in Theory

 We seem to be getting snow after snow after snow.  So since the kids and I were aching for some soil and flowers, I decided we needed to remedy that.  So I picked up a few house plants and raided the summer kitchen for some old pots.  We currently don’t have any houseplants because I kill them all.  I was reading some blog post someone posted about the importance of house plants and air quality.  By her calculations, a house our size should have about 18 house plants to have proper air quality.  So we stepped it up from 0 to 4.  Baby steps.  I added watering to Silje’s chore list because she enjoys it, and she might actually remember…as opposed to me.

 The plants were good for the soul, and initiated by these new lovely living things in the house, I was spurred on to clean every surface of the house, and bring out as many spring-ish things I could find.  Something about having flowers makes me want to clean everything in sight.

 Silje has started Saxon Math 5/4 the week before last.  I really wanted to switch her to Teaching Textbooks, as I’ve heard so many good things about it, and I wanted to delegate, if you will, the task of explaining math concepts to her to a computer.  I understand math as it used to be one of my better subjects, but I have a tough time explaining.  I haven’t been buying the teachers manuals up to now because I thought they were a bit boring and redundant, and I just never grabbed them when I had them.

Knut really likes the Saxon program, not because he’s used it but because so many teachers and homeschoolers he respects use it.  He didn’t want me to switch,  but instead suggested that I actually buy the teacher’s manual for this level.  I found a happy compromise when I went to buy it I saw that another company had made a computer taught lesson cd to match up with Saxon 5/4.  So at the beginning of each math lesson, Silje pops the cd into my computer, and watches a 5 minute lesson, and then does the work.  So far this has been great.  She loves being able to do computer things, and I have delegated this task that was overwhelming me, and Knut got to keep the Saxon he loves so much.

It’s really a very simplistic lesson, and is not hi-tech in any way.  Honestly the technology on it seems a bit crude and old, but the guy teaching it does such a great job.  While Saxon is non-religious, he teaches from a Christian perspective, and I enjoy listening in.  I overhear his voice on the cd telling her how blessed she is that she is able to have a computer, how blessed she is to get an education.  I hear him marvel about the design of mathematics, and explain that it is the language of science, and so important to understanding God’s world.  Silje loves it so much and her attitude towards math has skyrocketed.