I had my first meeting (yesterday) with our homestudy advisor (school
district's teacher who supervises us)... and was not completely happy about 
what transpired though there were some good points.  I like the lady... she 
was very nice indeed and the school district is very supportive of 
homeschooling -- she showered us with art supplies and other materials.  
What surprised me was that she now tells me that not only do I have to keep 
the journal, I also have to keep a time sheet... and she wants me to spend 
4+1/2 hours per week studying spelling and writing with my son.  My son, on 
the other hand, has little to no interest in being pushed into reading.  He 
likes to make the letter shapes but doesn't even know the names for them 
because that is just not very important to him right now.  In addition, 
aron,
my son, seems to have a big aversion to this subject.  Today I made letter, 
phonics and simple word flashcards.  He took one look and literally /ran/ out
of the room! :(  Later he got hold of a pipe cleaner and was making letter 
shapes.  I eventually got him to do two rows of the letter S with a crayon, 
but he was not very thrilled with this, refused to finish and wouldn't draw a 
picture to go with it.  I am all for him learning to read and write, but am 
feeling that pushing him is not right and that he'll learn in his own sweet 
time... but in the meantime, how do I honestly satisfy a requirement for 4.5 
hours a week of spelling and writing?  Any suggestions??
A homeschooling friend tells me of a book called _Better Late Than Early_ 
regarding children who have this aversion to spelling and writing... even up 
to age ten... my son is now six.  Has anyone here read it?
The other requirements sound like they'll be easy for us... Here's the 
lineup..
Hrs/Wk             Subject
~~~~~~             ~~~~~~~
 4.5             Spelling/Writing
 3.5             Reading/Literature
 4               Math
 2               Social Studies
 2.5             Science/Health
 1.5             Art/Music
 2               P.E.
~~~~~
 20.5 hrs/wk total.... 1200 minutes, or 240 minutes per day
They have Aaron classified as a kindergartener again... and I'm wondering if 

can get these requirements changed because of that.  The kindergarteners are 
supposed to have 200 minutes per day of instruction, not 240... though it 
seems that we go over that amount every day.
Aaron's strong subjects (areas of interest) are science and art.  I am 
wondering if I'm doing him a disservice in pushing writing skills when he 
really wants to do science... and it seems that every spare minute is spent 
n
art projects, so we're going way over the mere 1.5 hours per week that are 
required.
One more thing I'd like to ask... what kinds of P.E. activities do your 
children like?  The advisor tells me that taking the kids to the park is not 
enough -- I have to /teach/ him something.  Today we did broad jumping and 
playing frisbee.  Any other suggestions for a six year old??
Zaynab
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