Friday, January 14th

After 3 days to play in the snow this week (and ice), we've finally gotten started back with our lessons.  Haley has been learning more about weather and environments this week.  She has explored with the globe, day and night (using a flashlight), weather around the world on the same day, and labeling flat maps (continents, oceans, equator, North Pole, and South Pole).  In math, she has started Singapore Math 2B and is working on mental addition and subtraction with larger numbers (up through the hundreds).  She is doing very well with this and works on multiplication and division review from the end of the 2A book independently while I work with Zachary on reading and math (Kindergarten-style).  Today she planned and wrote her own myth about how the turtle got it's shell and reviewed spelling words that she has previously mastered as well.  Her anxiety certainly gets in the way of her thinking, mostly during math and writing.  We are working through understanding that we use mistakes and challenges as opportunities to learn and are not expected to perfect!  We expect her to try, but would rather her miss everything, than whine and worry throughout the process and be "perfect".  We are hoping that this improves as she experiences "real" learning (that which she has experienced very little in the past year and a half of "school").