We went off to take photos today. I'll add some when I can. It was such a good feeling to be asked to get into the car and just go to somewhere photogenic.
The children have discovered the joys of going to playgrounds to lark around and take pictures of each other. We swap cameras/mobiles and snap away. I hold onto the kit when they need both hands for climbing.
It means being outside so I get some nature observation time too, ie touching sticky leaf buds on low tree branches and peering at nettle flowers. I had no idea they flowered until so late in the year.
It made a good contrast to my filthy temper of yesterday :)
Friday, 30 October 2009
Thursday, 29 October 2009
Not good
For an autonomous home educator I can rant and rave about handwriting and spelling with the best of them. I well and truly turned into a mum from hell today.
All those awful phrases came out. The ones you know about because you have used them in anger and fury when you are fed up of not being able to easily impress the family and friends with neatly written letters or lap books.
To be fair I only suggested one word of handwriting practice per day, ie copywork. I even said it could be their own names, which they started writing at pre-school. Eye roll. This is regressing by 8 and 10 years!
Oh the arguments ran on and on, upstairs, downstairs....
Private schooling, state village schooling, they said that if with all those years of school their writing wasn't very good then so be it. I said that meant it was now MY turn to impose decent handwriting on them. That stumped them.
Confess, who amongst you hasn't yet used the example of Obama and his mother as an argument for doing the school work your mother sets you? Well, today was my day for bringing that one out.
Finally they both gave me examples of fresh handwriting and I stopped roaring.
We did have a discussion about the fact that I still think my autonomous approach is best even though I can't really say why. My son explained that it was because of my approach he started saying 'I love you' to me. That is the heart of it. They told me to lie down under a duvet and stood around watching me calm down. I felt a bit of a twit after that and couldn't help smiling.
All those awful phrases came out. The ones you know about because you have used them in anger and fury when you are fed up of not being able to easily impress the family and friends with neatly written letters or lap books.
To be fair I only suggested one word of handwriting practice per day, ie copywork. I even said it could be their own names, which they started writing at pre-school. Eye roll. This is regressing by 8 and 10 years!
Oh the arguments ran on and on, upstairs, downstairs....
Private schooling, state village schooling, they said that if with all those years of school their writing wasn't very good then so be it. I said that meant it was now MY turn to impose decent handwriting on them. That stumped them.
Confess, who amongst you hasn't yet used the example of Obama and his mother as an argument for doing the school work your mother sets you? Well, today was my day for bringing that one out.
Finally they both gave me examples of fresh handwriting and I stopped roaring.
We did have a discussion about the fact that I still think my autonomous approach is best even though I can't really say why. My son explained that it was because of my approach he started saying 'I love you' to me. That is the heart of it. They told me to lie down under a duvet and stood around watching me calm down. I felt a bit of a twit after that and couldn't help smiling.
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