WR26 - In which I discover change is good

After weeks of everything going great, I changed everything - okay not everything just everything important.

I thought I was happy with Singapore math even though I was waiting for CC to perfect the multiplication tables before moving ahead in division. I demo'ed MEP, which is a free program from the Centre for Innovation in Mathematical Teaching, and I was blown away. I actually sat smiling stupidly at CC and drinking my coffee this morning while she happily manipulated addition and subtraction problems (instead of complaining that math is too easy/hard/pointless). I never knew a math program could be this good or fit so well with the way a kids thinks about math. I know that it might not be this good after the new wears off, but it is a breathe of fresh air around here.

I thought I was happy with copywork for writing, but after a suggestion from the WTM boards I tried having free-writes. Wow. CC beamed. She pulled out the sheet that shows cursive letters and her fountain pen and started happily writing. We lit a candle, put on classical music and enjoyed ourselves.

We also have been working on drawing. We are dedicated to learning to draw horses. This has been both good and bad. LB drew some recognizable horses; I drew a couple of decent horses; CC drew some good horses on the white board when she was supposed to be doing other things.

Other than that - we read about Ivan the Great. CC read the Thieves of Ostia, one of our Calvin and Hobbes books that I have had since BB was this age, and another version of A Midsummer Night's Dream (the fourth one she has read) and half of The Secrets of Vesuvius. This weekend I have to finish reading Thieves of Ostia, because for two days after she finished it she walked around the house sighing with a happy, contented look on her face. When asked about her happiness, she would simply state that she was thinking about the ending of the Roman Mystery book.

LB was often seen this week dancing the dance of a Whirling Dervish. I learned that when she has trouble sleeping, she likes for CC to read to her from the 1001 Arabian Nights and she is fond of Ali Baba. She also asked if I would start teaching her "the fun math" that her sister is doing, so I am printing up pages of MEP for her to try too.

I changed how we are doing a couple of subjects, not which subjects are important or how or why we are homeschooling. So maybe I didn't change anything important after all.