During this crazy pandemic, I'm sure you're all asking yourselves I wonder what Emily's morning was like? Well, let me tell you anyway. Penny's breakfast consisted of stale popovers that were left out all night (uncovered.. but on a plate, don't worry). That's the kind of morning. Very little motivation meets a heaving spoonful of WORKING ALL THE TIME results in stale popover breakfasts. I'm not worried. My current standard for myself is: Did I get both kids outside today? If that answer is yes then I pat myself on the back and say "you're a good mom, Emily." I also give myself a bonus pat if I take the dog for a walk. Self Directed LearningI've mentioned before that I am a huge proponent of self-directed and self-initiated learning. Learning does not need a screen, worksheets, a lesson plan, a desk, a timed schedule. Learning only needs a good environment. One with lots of play time, nature, some time to read, and love. In that space, children will learn. They will thrive. If I wasn't already a believer in children being capable of directing their own learning, I totally am now. Penny has decided, completely on her own, that it is time to learn how to read. I had started by giving her some sight words to try and "help," but it proved totally useless. Why? Because she's got it all on her own. She spends the majority of her days recreating books, making words out of blocks, and writing on her whiteboard. Children find the most appropriate ways to challenge themselves. Parents and teachers can provide opportunity, but only a child knows exactly what they need in order to challenge themselves while still loving what they're doing. If that wasn't enough, we're also watching baby Flora make huge leaps in her gross motor capacity. From the start, I've tried to adhere to Madga Gerber's RIE philosophy on movement. As an infant, I only laid her on her back for play. I put her on her stomach only once to help her pass gas. We don't use exersaucers or bumbos or high chairs. We've let her figure out her own body in her time. Well, her time has come to move. She rolled onto her belly 1 day after turning 4 months, and she has wanted to spend every waking (and sleeping) minute on her belly since. Now, she's army crawling all over our home. I see her challenging herself in so many ways. I'm just so in awe of my children, and I am so excited to go back to work to awe over the beautiful development of the other children in my work community. Filling the AfternoonFortunately, with Penny's desire to make books all day, she was alright with me moving our Girl Study to the afternoon to accommodate all the work things that needed to be done. So, we were able to use our afternoon time with much more purpose and intentionality today than we have in the last week. After a bike ride/walk around the lake (got the kids outside CHECK), our study went as follows:
Tomorrow:Tomorrow starts our poetry study! I'm a little nervous seeing as I'm not a huge poetry fan, but I'm hopeful doing it with Penny will spark a new interest. We'll see!
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