I am finding that this is the best approach with Charlotte. One of the downsides of having a self-directed preschooler (soon to be Kindergarten age) child is that sometimes there is resistance to having a mother-directed learning experience. I can't say that doesn't worry me in some ways, because it does, since I don't plan to go the "unschooling" or child-lead route. However, my days are more peaceful when I focus on suggesting and inspiring rather than directing per say. I save the direct instructing for getting through our daily routines and toy pick-up, nighttime routines, etc. But I feel that at 5.5 years old she is still young enough to follow her own interests. And I have to say that it is rewarding to read a story to her, and then watch her imagination light up as she runs off to "play" something inspired by the story we just read... and I firmly believe that young children learn through play, so that really makes me happy!
Last year we had a failed experiment with "Five in a Row"- failed because she didn't enjoy reading the same book five times in a row! Jane Lambert has a lovely explanation as to why it is helpful for the child to read the book five times in a row, and I can definitely say that we have much-loved favorites (including many FIAR titles) that have been read daily for periods of time and across years... however, Charlotte strongly resisted, once-again, mommy-directed reading of the book each day. What I did also take away from Jane Lambert's "beginner tips" was the idea of using a conversational approach to learning, and that has been immensely helpful to me, especially with my little chatty girl. But if I am too direct, oh boy, she catches on, it's amazing!
We recently visited the beach, and I was inspired to select the wonderful book "Night of the Moonjellies" and pull some other related titles about family businesses and ocean life together (found titles at Homeschool Share). I thought about how to "dip our toe" into this without meeting resistance... so I said, "Gwendolyn, can you help me find the Moonjelly book?" Charlotte immediately perked up, and said, "I'll help you, mommy!" So we found the Night of the Moonjellies, along with Have a Nice Day Cafe, and The Seashore Book and a few others. Snuggled on the couch, and Charlotte was hooked. Today I was trying to touch on "Social Studies" so I mentioned that it was in New England, which is north of here... and also that it was a family business, and we briefly talked about how the boy in the book helped. I asked Charlotte what kind of jobs did she do in our house and she said, "No mommy I don't want to talk about that!" But she did want to talk more about the jellyfish. So we read another book about Ocean Life, and saw some different shells in that book. She has a little collection of shells that she likes to wash... she recognized one of the shells as a clam shell. I explained those were similar to the mussels that we ate the other night. Then she saw pictures of mussels and said, "This book must be from Prince Edward Island because that is where the mussels were from!" We also talked about how the creatures inside the shells close their shells when they are picked up or thumped on- she helped me close some open mussel shells the other day. She also wanted to know what part of clams did people eat, and was reminded of a giant clam shell we saw elsewhere. So many connections being made! (Charlotte Mason- science of relations...)
There was a lot more talking and chatting, but I just wanted to note some of it, as an encouragement to myself. I do think that they are always making connections, and it is amazing, but sometimes goes unnoticed. I try to remember that what is ordinary to me may be new and extraordinary to her!
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