Priorities

Sarah and I had tea together, this afternoon (well, technically, *I* had tea, she had mint hot chocolate!), and discussed her priorities for this upcoming year.

In 2012 she wants:
* more math
* more science experiments
* to learn the drums
* more baking
* more drawing
* more playdates

We also talked about the approach we've been using recently, and agreed that we want to keep using it. So 2012 will also include focus on:

* Spanish (coffee break espanol, a variety of Spanish picture books and songs, practicing with friends)
* Mosaic history curriculum
* Chemistry (mostly experiments)
* Nature Study/Weather (mostly observation and asking questions)
* Math -- Living Math, Good Time Math Event book, Life of Fred, String Straight Edge & Shadow
* Maps and Adventures
* NYC and family history
* Hudson River Valley
* Mythology/Religions
* Philosophy/Logic/Critical Thinking (by which Sarah mostly means "more puzzles!")
* Spelling

We're also going to take a week off every month or so to just focus on one or two projects.

Spelling's a big one. We haven't focused on it much because it's just not a priority for us, but it's been weighing on Sarah recently that she doesn't always know how to spell things, and a couple schooled kids have given her crap about it, which really hurt her feelings (one of the many reasons I'm glad we're homeschooling -- while homeschooled kids can be just as flawed as their schooled peers, they're generally pretty compassionate and nonjudgemental about what academic level other kids are up to. They get that it's arbitrary and no reflection of someone's value as a person). But now that it's bothering her, we're trying to find an approach that works for her. We've tried a few different ones, but none of them's particularly impressed us. We're going to try a new book that focuses on sounding out, writing out a couple possibilities, then looking it up in the dictionary. We're also going to try a couple more kinesthetic approaches and see if they appeal.

She's so hard on herself when she doesn't get things right on the first try. I wish I knew how to help her be gentler with herself.