We had to take my older daughter out of her beloved school (on 20 rural, wooded acres, with goats even!) for a variety of reasons, none of which was dissatisfaction of any kind (except perhaps the daily commute). And we've decided to homeschool until we've worked out what to do next.
She's taking it brilliantly. I'm a little more, um, shaky.
Around here we have a sort of relaxed way of moving through the day. For example, a fair number of days this summer the kids stayed in their swimsuits from dawn (ok, 8:30-ish) to dusk (remember, during summer that's around 9:00 pm). And that's cool with me. So I was a little concerned that school would suddenly become, well, a lot of that.
And who knows, maybe it will eventually be a fly-the-seat-of-our-pants sort of thing, but for now, I've devised a schedule. Oh, and let me tell you, that's the kind of thing my daughter really, really likes.
Included in this yet-to-be-tested schedule is...(dum da da dum...) craft hour. Daily. Yep, an hour of crafts, art, projects, what have you every single day.
I figured it would be a good way to keep my sanity.
Here's the best part: what do you suppose my sweet, amazing, brilliant, and fabulous-in-every-way seven-year-old wanted to try first?
Knitting!
Gah! (happy, happy!)
So did I hesitate? Nope. And here she is, concentrating very hard on a scarf for her baby sister. (How cute is that?)
Next she plans to make a sweater for her brother.
Happy knitting!
9 comments:
That's awesome!
I have a friend whose family is making the change to homeschool, and their daughter also wants to try knitting... and I'm the instructor! We may try a simple hat first, roll-brim so she can just concentrate on the knit stitch around and around and around.
Best of luck, and HAVE FUN!!!
We homeschool and have a very relaxed approach. At the beginning of the year I take a look at the state standards to see what that grade learns (in really general terms). We make a list, and then at the start of every month we talk about what we want to cover that month and how we want to learn it. A big focus this year is research and writing, so my daughter is making a lot of books and filling them with writing (and art) about what she's learned. We do lots of art. And chemistry! Chemistry is loads of fun!
I home schooled about a thousand years ago and had to have a schedule. Not that I always stuck with it, but I had one. I don't think I had a craft hour -- probably art which was never very well planned. There are so many things that you can incorporate into craft hour - math and history spring to mind.
Thanks for the tips! I think a more accurate name for that particular time slot may be "Free Choice." I foresee it being a time for reading, crafts, science projects, art projects, kind of a catch all. But we'll see... :)
This warms my heart. We just began home preshcooling my 1.5 and 3.5 year old! Its so much fun. You'll be great!
Knitting! You must be one proud momma!
I liked this story for home scholing is not very common in the Netherlands. I'm very curious about your approach...
Bravo to her, how wonderful!! I learned to knit as a child too (I was a bit older than your daughter though!) and did other fibery crafty things in my teens too. It's awesome!
Hope you enjoy the home schooling adventure (and challenge!).
We are homeschooling. My eldest is turning five this week and has just started reading, but we have a lot of fly by the seat of our pants time! Pretty soon the nice weather will be gone and there will be a lot of indoor time when it's below minus 20! Knitting, sewing, gardening, and all sorts of art and music will be happily mixed in with our classical model. Or so I hope. Good Luck to you!
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