I haven't been. Well, I heard, but I wasn't really listening! Sounds like my interaction with my kids sometimes.
I wasn't listening to my parent, either. This time, it was my Father. My Heavenly Father.
I spent ALL SUMMER planning Dawson and Brynne's U.S. History curriculum. But all through it I felt that it just wasn't "right" for Brynne. But, I wanted them to study the same thing. I wanted her to be a super-smarty. I had some great plans.
But everywhere I turned, there were the U.S. States.
There were wipeable maps, flash cards, unit studies I saw on websites, cookbooks, fun ideas, a puzzle Brynne just "happened" to get from my mom for her birthday, the postcard swap sponsored by Heidi at Starts at Eight that we signed up for, the U.S. Geography notebooking cd we received FOR FREE from Hold That Thought! that I didn't request. I was ignoring the whispers from God telling me that a state study would be more fun and informative for Brynne than a full-fledged U.S. History study covering the settlers to the millennium.
Yesterday morning Mary at Homegrown Learners talked about her U.S. State study she is doing with her kids. And I got so excited at the thought of it! Then I thought about Joesette at Learning Curve who has done a state study for the past year or more with her girls.
Yes, a state study would be great. It would be FUN, which is what a 6 year old 2nd grader needs to be having in her learning. The intense books, videos, notebooking pages and such that I had planned were looking a whole lot more like work than fun. And when you are 6, learning is supposed to be fun.
I went to the library yesterday afternoon to see what publishers had state books, so that I didn't order some from home and then get them to find out they were too complicated. Remember, I want this to be fun, not daunting. I picked out a great series of books by Rookie Read About Geography.
And then I did a search for easy readers with the subject of our first state, Virginia, (because I love fictional fun books about what we are learning) and found Bring Me Some Apples and I'll Make you a Pie: A Story About Edna Lewis by Robbin Gourley. Edna Lewis grew up on a farm in Virginia and became a famous chef. (There are even some recipes in the back of the book.)
I felt such peace when I left the library. I had direction and I knew exactly what we should be doing, what God wanted me to do!
So on Monday we will begin our U.S. State Study and abandon the U.S. History study I have all planned, printed and organized. Never fear, I tell myself. There are years left of homeschooling and that U.S. History study will be better suited for her when she's a tad older AND it will be completely prepared and waiting for us when we are ready.
We will study one state per week on Mondays and Tuesdays. We will do a coloring page from the Crayola site. We will do a two-page notebooking page I found to include all the fun state facts and "stuff" that we can print off the internet and attach to it. We will read a book or two and, hopefully, cook something from that state's history each week.
I think this will be so much more fun and engaging.
And then that gives us Wednesday and Thursday to do our science unit studies. As it was before, I had all of our science crammed into one day and it was going to be stressful.
or better yet ...
I wasn't listening to my parent, either. This time, it was my Father. My Heavenly Father.
I spent ALL SUMMER planning Dawson and Brynne's U.S. History curriculum. But all through it I felt that it just wasn't "right" for Brynne. But, I wanted them to study the same thing. I wanted her to be a super-smarty. I had some great plans.
But everywhere I turned, there were the U.S. States.
There were wipeable maps, flash cards, unit studies I saw on websites, cookbooks, fun ideas, a puzzle Brynne just "happened" to get from my mom for her birthday, the postcard swap sponsored by Heidi at Starts at Eight that we signed up for, the U.S. Geography notebooking cd we received FOR FREE from Hold That Thought! that I didn't request. I was ignoring the whispers from God telling me that a state study would be more fun and informative for Brynne than a full-fledged U.S. History study covering the settlers to the millennium.
Yesterday morning Mary at Homegrown Learners talked about her U.S. State study she is doing with her kids. And I got so excited at the thought of it! Then I thought about Joesette at Learning Curve who has done a state study for the past year or more with her girls.
Yes, a state study would be great. It would be FUN, which is what a 6 year old 2nd grader needs to be having in her learning. The intense books, videos, notebooking pages and such that I had planned were looking a whole lot more like work than fun. And when you are 6, learning is supposed to be fun.
I went to the library yesterday afternoon to see what publishers had state books, so that I didn't order some from home and then get them to find out they were too complicated. Remember, I want this to be fun, not daunting. I picked out a great series of books by Rookie Read About Geography.
And then I did a search for easy readers with the subject of our first state, Virginia, (because I love fictional fun books about what we are learning) and found Bring Me Some Apples and I'll Make you a Pie: A Story About Edna Lewis by Robbin Gourley. Edna Lewis grew up on a farm in Virginia and became a famous chef. (There are even some recipes in the back of the book.)
I felt such peace when I left the library. I had direction and I knew exactly what we should be doing, what God wanted me to do!
So on Monday we will begin our U.S. State Study and abandon the U.S. History study I have all planned, printed and organized. Never fear, I tell myself. There are years left of homeschooling and that U.S. History study will be better suited for her when she's a tad older AND it will be completely prepared and waiting for us when we are ready.
We will study one state per week on Mondays and Tuesdays. We will do a coloring page from the Crayola site. We will do a two-page notebooking page I found to include all the fun state facts and "stuff" that we can print off the internet and attach to it. We will read a book or two and, hopefully, cook something from that state's history each week.
I think this will be so much more fun and engaging.
And then that gives us Wednesday and Thursday to do our science unit studies. As it was before, I had all of our science crammed into one day and it was going to be stressful.
"The best laid plans of mice and men often go astray."
~ Robert Burns
~ Robert Burns
or better yet ...
"Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and He will establish your plans."
~ Proverbs 16:3
Yay! So glad I read your blog today. Are you singing Fifty Nifty?? :-)
ReplyDeleteOh, how I can't begin to count the times I felt like I should have gone in a different direction with my children's curriculum & a few weeks in to it think, "Why didn't I listen to that voice that was telling me this was not the right thing to do, but to go in to another direction?" When I would finally change to what I felt was the way to go in the first place (You know, the way that little voice was leading me), things went so much smoother.
ReplyDelete