I did not change much with the curriculum. It gives a certain security in all that structure. I heard another mom saying she started first grade with nothing. She just let her son pick whatever he wanted to read, wherever. I saw her son and he didn't look like an illiterate serial killer, so maybe it's o.k. to relax some. I did skip ahead 40 pages in the phonics book to where Beauty left off in public school. Her reading is on track but she is still guessing at some of the harder words. I could take the book she'll read next week and pull a word list from it and have Beauty work on those.
Beauty continues to thrill me with her math skills. Mostly when she quietly sneaks over to the homeschool bookcase and pulls down the cuisenaire rods or builder blocks. I must remember to nurture her interest, but in a way that looks like I'm not interested. Does that sound weird? Beauty is one of those children who love praise and compliments, but not when you actually say it out loud. She likes quiet recognition. The knowing glance, slight nod of Mrs. Mother's approval. Like this is more sincere to her than lavish praise.
We went on a picnic Thursday to meet with the homeschool group. We made a picnic with some extras to share.
This week there were 7 other kids all ranging 1 to 2 years of Beauty's age. She was so wonderfully happy and joyous. Maybe this is where she fits in? One child showed up in his Robin Hood outfit, complete with homemade bow and hat. Another child spent the entire playtime drawing on her arm in the style of hemp tattoos. It was actually quite pretty. We stayed for 3 and a half hours. I found out I had gone to school with one mother. We laughed and reminisced about the good old days in a town we both hate. One mom heroically killed a bee which was annoying everyone, since we were trying to talk about all natural foods and raising animals. I felt a certain contentment as we left. Looking in the rear view mirror I could see a sweaty, smiling 7 year old.
At home we had Art class. I've decided to take her some of her classes and only work on them once a week: Art, History, Language Arts, and Science. Today was art day and we used the Djeco Decouvrir les Couleurs kit. This kit includes brushes, paints, paint mixing cards, 8 paintings, and an instruction booklet. Luckily the instruction booklet has picture instructions because it's written in French. Beauty likes art and painting. She enjoyed this activity. She wanted to do one again the next day. This kit is meant to be used only once a week. I think we will use it once a week and then move on to art/painting projects of our own creation.
I've decided to make Friday, or at least some time during the weekend, Science Day. This week we will build a volcano. As it turns out Mr. Father and Mrs. Mother never built a volcano. What could possibly go wrong?
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