Today was a much better day for both Zoey and I. We made a pact to take our time, we aren't in a race to get things done after all. We started a bit later today, around 9:30 and she worked on her geography studies which led her through some reading and then choosing a biome to research (this will end up becoming a part of a book of biomes that she will be creating). When she was done with that I read aloud chapter 2 from the book The Road to There by Val Ross. Again...very surprised with how much we both enjoyed it! Really has some interesting, shocking and even funny historical information.
After geography she wanted to work on her science. Today she had a few projects which she loved. One was taking her temperature at different times throughout the day. We took her temp. upon waking/at rest, after doing jumping jacks and playing with Leo later in the day and then after she ran around the house three times. She recorded her discoveries on one of her project sheets for her science binder.
She did a bit of science reading...it didn't feel like too much today! Hooray!
After her science reading we took our lunch break and then we had some fun in the kitchen making a cell model fruit pizza.
She used her human cell diagram from her Kids Discover Science magazine for her guide...
and wrote down what fruit was for what feature of the cell.
This project wasn't in her science curriculum but it was one that I thought might be fun and tasty too! I'm glad that we did it.
After our kitchen project she took a break while I cleaned up a bit. She checked her email, went outside for a bit and then we both spent some time outside. I put up the hammock and she read from her poetry book.
She read the assigned poem a couple of times to herself and then she read it aloud to me. I loved today's poem so much. It was perfect.
This.
This is how I envisioned homeschooling to be. Perhaps we need to loosen up a bit and truly embrace the Charlotte Mason'esque philosophy.
After reading Zoey decided to make a little fairy house.
We ended our day with an art project where she used oil pastels on black paper to create a shot of earth looking from space. This was a project from her Geography through Art book. Zoey is not a huge fan of art that she "has" to do so at this point I'm really trying to back off with instruction and just try to get her to enjoy the process of using different materials and testing things out on her own. I'm a crafty person so sometimes she tends to back away a bit if I offer too much guidance. I admit too, that I need to let her do things her way too. :)
Here were her two finished projects. She likes the one on the right more...and I like the one on the left.
She ended the day today with math. She felt a lot better about today...she had fun, didn't feel like it was too overwhelming and I'm feeling good about things too. Perhaps the pressure of the first day was just too much for us both. The expectations just couldn't measure up to the reality. She told me today that she couldn't ever imagine going back to public school after today. :)
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