So Clementine was working on her math and getting frustrated because she now has to copy some problems from the computer screen and work them out on paper. She draws well and has excellent fine motor skills, but she has always chosen to write very little.
Instead of writing words and numbers, she draws them. They get fancy doodles. She spends a long time making a one with a flag and base.
I realized that our push for math was going to require a push to write as well. I browsed through my groaning shelves of unused books. I was about to put my finger on a Handwriting Without Tears (my own handwriting experiences in school were full of tears) when I stopped on Games for Writing instead.
I flipped through it and stopped on The Silent Game.
I realized that our push for math was going to require a push to write as well. I browsed through my groaning shelves of unused books. I was about to put my finger on a Handwriting Without Tears (my own handwriting experiences in school were full of tears) when I stopped on Games for Writing instead.
I flipped through it and stopped on The Silent Game.
"We are going to play a silent game. No talking allowed for 15 minutes."
I had no idea how she would take this. An hour and many pages later I got this note:
Sometimes silence is golden.
or this 
7 comments:
Sweet as! Can she play that on the piano?
haha too fun. I could so do with playing the silent game a lot more. :D
-barbara
What a great idea. My girl often "draws" her letters too. I liked your math post. Good food for thought.
hello... hapi blogging... have a nice day! just visiting here....
Looks like your homeschool lab scored with this experiment! I liked how you phrased that in your last round of comments. And that's really the best measure of how to homeschool: keep trying things out until their eyes light up and they lose themselves in whatever they're doing. Or until they keep writing for an hour, with musical notation, no less.
Your endings are golden.
I like reading about how you selected the book, randomly. The freedom of choosing and changing and trying is such a perk for homeschoolers--don't you agree?
The way we have gotten my reluctant writer to put pen to paper was by posing as characters from the Harry Potter universe... he writes back every time Hagrid or Lupin or Sirius sends a letter by Owl Post. In fact, he usually is the one to write the first letter - an amazing thing happens when they're doing something they really want to do.
Good for Clem - I love this post!
Karen
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