The Passionate Life

We had a whirlwind weekend, what with soccer, painting on our new easel and Earth Day celebrations. We went on a butterfly and moth hike that was amazing. He pointed out several varieties of caterpillars, moths and butterflies and also showed us a nest of baby chickadees who were so new their eyes weren't even open! We also saw a salamander, a frog AND a black snake. I totally did not freak out, so I'm pretty proud of myself.

We learned so much interesting detail from the park ranger who led the hike, but most important was his passion for his work. He has devoted his life to what he loves and it shows. That, more than anything, is what I want for DD. I want to help her find her life's work. A tall order, but I think homeschooling is the best opportunity for us to do that. It's the freedom that is so appealing, I think. Homeschooling lets us design our life as a family and will hopefully open her mind about how to design her adult life.

That being said, we had a rough morning with our reading lesson. Yikes! It was a major power struggle, and I didn't realize I'd gotten myself into one until I was already up to my neck. Even though I abandoned most of our "school" sessions in favor of learning through play, I still maintain the reading lessons because I think we're better off moving forward. I've been working hard on having realistic expectations and not getting so frustrated so quickly when things don't go as planned (do they ever?). So I was able, I think, to stay more calm this morning when things escalated and we eventually finished our lesson successfully. She even spontaneously read us a book tonight, which was a real treat. I think my next goal will be to avoid the power struggles all together. Any suggestions??

She also told me today that she didn't want to learn math, but when I told her that math was a necessary part of baking cookies, she changed her tune pretty quickly. It seems I soured her on the whole education thing today, but cookies (aka bribery) may have saved the day.

She also asked me how I remembered everything I did when I was young. I hated to tell her the truth-that I've forgotten 10 times what I can remember. That's why I keep this blog, so that I can remember more of her childhood.