Determination, and knowing when to quit.

Thinking this morning about how determined I was at the beginning of the year. Not to imply I'm not now, but definitely in a different way. I've learned my daughter is the kind of child whom when pushed, will dig in her heels and stop. I'm also this kind of person, which makes it hard to "give in" and not push her.

Home schooling has taught me a lot about my daughter, and also myself. I'm learning that setting a time limit for our lessons is probably the single best thing I could have done to increase her chances of success. About half the time, she'll want to finish what she's working on anyway, and will continue working into the 10-minute break we've instated between each subject. But the nice thing is, she does this of her own choice. Not me pushing. :)

Of course, if it's her idea, it goes more smoothly. Not a real surprise. :) Last week we had fun, we did some science experiments, which are her favorite, because we got done with our work early. Here is what we did:

Milk Experiment: This one is awesome and so easy. Pour some milk onto a plate (one with high enough edges it's not going to go everywhere lol). Drop a few drops of any (or multiple) colors liquid food coloring into it in random places. Take a q-tip and get some dish soap on it, then touch it to the milk. It's a surfactant, so when it breaks the surface tension, the colors go everywhere! So much fun!

We also did some playing with food coloring in water, but that was just for fun. :)

Reflections, and staying with my convictions

Well, today I just wanted to mention how happy I am Stevi is being home schooled again. No, I don't think all public schools are bad. However, I think whenever possible, home schooling benefits the children more than being in a large classroom.

We've just spent the day going to the Library for story time, picking out SIXTEEN books for Stevi (5 of which she's already read lol), coming home and enjoying lunch and reading the books (Stevi found some really cute Dirk Bones books - adorable mysteries for early readers), and then finishing up our school time. We've had really good lessons, talking about the pioneers and early America, we learned the National Anthem (that one's going to take time, I can tell).

We also just had fun comparing double-jointedness on our fingers. :) Not all the lessons are profound, I assure you. It's been a great day. Not remarkable, nothing impressive, just the kind of day I was looking for when I pulled her from school again. I just read a wonderful blog from Homeschool Diaries. I love this lady's blog. She's so down-to-earth and reassuring.

So, the main point of this whole thing was to say how happy I am we decided to stick with our convictions and return to home schooling. I know Stevi was enjoy the more social aspects of public school, but we are more than capable of interacting with others daily. Plus, we just joined a home school co-op, and our first group get together is Thursday. We're taking the kids to the Fire Station! How cool is that?!