One of my goals is to challenge my children more; give them assignments that expect more from them. The last three weeks we've been telling Eliza in her mentor sessions with us that we will give her a research project topic, yet I haven't done that yet. How does everyone do it? I mean, how do you find the time to get the information you need to make a good decision, as well as everything else you need to do?
All of my children could be challenged more. For example, these pictures show Andrew with his spelling lesson, All About Spelling. I love this program. It teaches the rules of spelling, not just memorizing, and it takes into account the three major learning styles (auditory, visual, kinesthetic). So, first I introduce the spelling rule. Then, I demonstrate it with the letter tiles. At which point, Andrew gets to use the tiles to spell his spelling list. After he can spell all of the words with the tiles, he gets to write them. I usually break up the lesson at this point because he gets bored, and the lesson is uber-long is I do it all at once. The list is only ten words long, but there are reinforcement words, and short dictation sentences.
It has been a struggle to get Andrew to participate in his spelling lesson all year. But, within the last couple of weeks, he has been more motivated. I think that's due to the fact that the beginning of his book was so simple for him: only three word sentences. This week, the lesson was about compound words, and he was almost stretched with some of them (like forgetting the second "l" in windmill). What I love most, is that he has started to write his spelling list in cursive ... and using the words in sentences. Something he decided to do on his own! I don't know why I hadn't thought of asking him to do it that way ... sometimes it is a stretch, and that's the whole purpose of this goal, right? To stretch my children a little bit more. Well, I am going to follow his lead ... and help him stretch just a little bit more.
(BTW, the sentence he used for the above word in the picture: "The force is within you." Yeah, he just watched Star Wars: A New Hope ... and loved it, of course! Oh! And, don't you love that Eliza is in the background playing with her Littlest Pet Shop toys? Looks like she definitely needs to be more challenged!)
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