Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Much Better

Day three homeschooling. Things are much better. Athena would agree. Things we have changed:

Scrapped the Science program and began to study Fall. Today we read A Day in the Pumpkin Patch. Learned about pollination, types of pumpkins and their uses, related curcubites, tendrils and harvest. Read Cinderella aloud while she drew a picture of a pumpkin patch. Much better.


Used manipulatives for math. Popsicle sticks and an abacus. The "making tens" lesson just clicked this way. Much better.


Did the copy work (D'nealean script) early in the day. She hates this but obviously needs to work on handwriting. Much better.




Used the Staples Easy Button for each time she completed an assignment. "That Was Easy". Much better.

Did about an hour of work, took a break. Did an hour of work, took a break. Etc... Much better.



Postponed the Ancient History segment for now. Just until we are into a groove. Much better.

Spent more time outside. We searched for signs of fall. We looked for mushrooms. We did a visual history of our town. Post to come. Lots of fun. Lots of learning. Much better.



I have begun to do the art lessons along side of her. Everything I assign her, I do as well. Good for me, good for her. Much better.

Lowered my expectations a bit. I revisited my reasons for home schooling in the first place and realized that I was trying to recreate a school room atmosphere at home. Was it not what I was trying to avoid in the first place? Of course it was. (silently chides herself) Much better.



And these past two days have been much better. More learning. Less frustration. More joy. Thank you for your encouraging comments on my last post. They helped a lot.

PS Paul came home from the city and brought me a small block of my favorite St. Agur blue chees and a baguette for lunch. Of course I had to add a teeny tiny glass of Chardonnay. I promise it was a teeny tiny glass.




PSS My sweater is coming along nicely. :)

4 comments:

Tara said...

That is the beauty of homeschooling - do what works and set aside what isn't working for the moment. Tweak, adjust, revise.

Athena is so lucky to have someone who is in tune with her interests and motivations.

Now my problem will be gently moving Owen away from his robotics kit to consider learning some other things. I've given him a week of " immersion" then we'll try and move on... :0)

Jen said...

So glad yesterday was better for both of you.

I see Josie on your family tree! haha!

Dawn said...

So happy to read that things are going much better! You sound like a wise mom, very attuned to your daughter's individual needs. I think you're both going to have a great year!

affectioknit said...

Yep - that sounds much better!