WE JUST STARTED AND ALREADY HIT A CHALLENGE

October 12th, 2022

Our first day of homeschool was yesterday and it went amazingly well. I just used the leftover workbooks so I can gauge where she really was in all subjects. We even had an impromptu history lesson on Christopher Columbus being that it Columbus Day. She was not too thrilled about history. She said he hates history but found that she really enjoyed the video we watched and the visualization using our world map and globe. My lessons in math, language arts, writing, reading, history and cooking were completed by 11:30am.

Today (second day) was a bit rougher. I decided to go to the public library with her. She was more tired than usual because she was up at 6am to bid farewell to her father going away to a business trip in Seattle. Although a super sweet and loving gesture, it made it hard to get her to do her work. She could not focus and had a hard time pushing thru the difficult parts. When upset or overwhelmed, Hope tends to put up mental blocks, shut down and takes a lot effort to break thru them. As her mother I need to stay calm, patient and work thru it. I can't say I did that perfectly as I am a very action oriented. I was reminded of something I wrote last night in my homeschool agenda:

What I am grateful for:

"To get to know her and her heart better"

I took a deep breath to calm my frustration and allowed her take a break and let wander the library for books and color something from her devotional book. It worked. She was instantly happier and more relaxed.

Homeschooling Lesson: It's not about checking the boxes and getting everything done. It's about her learning process. I am to change and adapt to my daughter's learning style and temperament. Our good relationship as mother and daughter is of the utmost priority to foster. The better our bond, the more open she will be to listen and learn from me as her mother and teacher.