Crocus!!!

Oh joy, oh rapture, a purple crocus is blooming in my yard! And three more are ready to pop open at any moment. The sun came out, and the day warmed up, so we took the dog for an evening stroll and picked up a friend of Beezy's to play at our house. We asked her friend about seeing some kids out today during school hours, wondering if spring break had already started. No, she said, they just had "early release."  Isn't that a prison term?

Anyway, I want to write about unschooling and get away from "what we did for school today" type posts, even though we still regularly do formal lessons. I want to be sure to note, though, that Beezy likes the workbook pages she does and all of the books we read, so she is not being forced to do things she dislikes or coerced to learn things about which she has no interest or does not yet have the readiness to understand. I am also not requiring her to sound words out anymore. Interestingly, she will often sound them out on her own, and I have noticed that she regularly self-corrects in her reading, because the story does not make sense when she makes a mistake. This tells me she is not just decoding words; she is comprehending the material. If she asks what an unknown word is, I just tell her, and it seems to stick much more quickly without my insistence on the burdensome practice of sounding out.

Since I want to focus on not separating life from learning and our Faith, then it's important to just describe the magic inherent in everyday life. I am much more attuned now to simply having real conversations, rather than trying to create "teaching moments."  If Beezy is interested in a conversation her dad and I are having, we just include her and answer her questions without dumbing anything down. Her advanced vocabulary reflects this.

Beezy watched Tom and Jerry cartoons on video this morning. She did her piano homework and practiced playing. A great deal of time was spent creating a theme poster for her 4-H meeting tomorrow, and I will try to get some pictures of it posted here later. It reads, "4-H Is the Cat's Pajamas!" Beezy has been wanting to wrestle with her dad, but he has been sick. Tonight they had a pillow fight and all kinds of fun. He is reading to her now, and I think we will all watch a Super Friends video before bed.

I am still recovering from my sinus infection but am feeling better. Tomorrow I have a retreat all day for RCIA, and only a week will be left before my full entry into the Church! It's beginning to look like spring...