Tuesday, August 30, 2011

New Directions

Things are changing a little.
After pulling teeth for the first 11 weeks of school, trying to get Jasmine to do the workbooks, I realized it just wasn't working. So after talking to a friend a few years ahead of me in this learning experience, we're now using Susan Wise Bauer's materials for language arts.
We're using Writing with Ease and First Language Lessons, Level 1. She still didn't want to write yesterday for the first copywork assignment, but she eventually did it (she got paid in chocolate chips for each word written. I fed her like a sea lion, which she thought was hilarious. We will not consistently use bribery or sweets, but I needed her to start out with a success).
I also bought triangular pencils in hopes that it would help her hold the pencil properly. Hopefully that will help it be more comfortable, in case comfort is part of the problem here.
It's possible it's just some of Josh's genes showing up. He's always hated writing. Fought it his whole life. But she needs the basics, no matter how much she wishes she didn't.

We celebrated by finishing a project that Bekah did the bulk of. I traced starfish onto a bunch of pieces of construction paper, and Bekah cut them out (and added smiley faces to most of them), and this morning we taped them to yarn and hung them up. We learned a little about sea creatures last week and have been reading about shells and the animals that live(d) in them, so this was a fun little celebration! The kids think it looks like a party in the homeschool room!

2 comments:

  1. I really hope that this new program works for you! Good for you for embracing change 11 weeks in. I'm so stubborn that I probably would've tried to stick it out. lol It is a good thing to remember that when homeschooling we CAN change the curriculum whenever we need to to better fit our child. Thanks for the reminder! :)

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  2. Exactly. I have a really hard time doing it because I feel like we wasted time and money, but when I consider how much of a fight it was each and every day, it made it ALMOST a no-brainer.
    And I do love that we CAN change courses midway when something's not working. I love that freedom!!

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