Anyhow, I had noticed there were no full stops, commas or capital letters used. I didn't have any concern for this at all. Lillie has been introduced to such punctuation 'rules' at various times throughout being H.E, for example, when working independently or together on a project or when using online 'educational' sites. Plus, I've never really touched upon working on nouns, pronouns, verbs, conjunctions, adjectives etc with Lillie. It's not crossed my mind to be honest. She just writes and if she chooses to show me then fair enough. It's her work, so I am not in the position to correct it after, UNLESS she has asked about something in particular, for instance if her spellings are okay.
To move the story along, Lillie's childminder has a copy of this autobiographical piece - she mentioned the missing full stops etc to me and asked whether Lillie has worked on nouns and verbs. No was my answer to the latter and I agreed the full stops etc being absent. I followed this up with Lillie does use punctuation, but without 'force'. And that her writing does show verbs and nouns, but that we haven't sat down and worked on them specifically as such.
Initially I was fairly annoyed about this being said when I left Lina's. I don't know whether it's that defence mechanism for H.E kicking in again or whether I was feeling like I'm letting Lillie down in some way because we've never worked on grammar intensely nor have I been pushy on punctuation. In my mind, I feel like it will come to her naturally, when she is ready. Or that in the future we would touch upon it anyway - to me, it's inevitable where extensive or formal writing is concerned...
However, today while Lillie was working on the BBC Bitesize size Key Stage 2 http://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/ks2/ (and Keystage 3), she switched to the English category after working on numeracy. In fairness I did suggest she go on the site, even for 10 mins. I do this quite frequently while she is online, just to get her involved with it, rather than to 'test' her. It's very engaging and she does enjoy the activities she chooses. Plus, I feel it will encourage self-motivation where studying is concerned.
Before we knew it, I was looking at the section about nouns, adjectives etc - Lillie had started to lose interest at this point and wanted to go on her iPod, so I continued on with my curiousity. The result being that I've made Lillie a 'Grammar Chart' and have a few ideas in my head that she may enjoy doing. She likes the chart, which is now on our kitchen wall. I have explained I have some fun ideas for her to work on and they are not all 'pen to paper' activities either. She's happy to give it a go too. So, maybe my annoyance at first took the direction of taking what Lina had said on board! I'm not sure whether this chart and it's near future activities have come from my 'let's see' approach to the short discussion or whether it was a natural progression, seeing as Lillie was having fun on the website prior to my investigating or maybe it was a mixture of the two. Who knows?
This chart may look a little complicated, but it's more so an idea generater. All shall be revealed in further posts...
.... Then....
Dinner was soon top of the agenda. Good food in this house is necessary for us. Nutritional value and taste is vital. So, on the menu today:
Pork topped with sage 'n' onion stuffing and freshly sliced apple and a sprinkling of dried sage, then into the oven...
Before the pouring of gravy...
... and after the gravy is poured!!
As the title post says, a website was another highlight - this particular website was for Lillie mostly to look at in light of the researching of secondary schools not too long ago. The website we looked at (which I've browsed many a time) together today was in relation to H.E - http://www.oxfordhomeschooling.co.uk/
What a significant difference in Lillie's interest compared to looking at 'schools'. She was excited, inspired and is looking forward to the road ahead, as she is saying she really wants to opt for continuing on with H.E. I have suggested she starts with this course (if she still wants to stick to this lifestyle), to get her into some form of 'study' mindset when the time comes but, without the issue of an examination of any kind to be expected at the end. Of course there will be assignments to complete, but done at the student's own pace and in my opinion is a good way to get Lillie familiar with her work being 'formally' assessed: http://www.oxfordhomeschooling.co.uk/subject/ks3-personal-social-and-health-education-pshe/ The course covers a wide range of topics, including some she has already come across.
And to conclude this post...
... Lillie has happily agreed to not watch a DVD or part of one, each night before she sleeps. This is now going to be alternated with reading a book. Not a science book or a book we are reading together or a book that requires a pen! Just a book that can fire even more of her literary imaginative side that I have recently observed. She chose The Complete Winnie-the-Pooh book. She remembers well from her younger years, each night at bedtime, I would read this book (amongst others) to her, before she slept. I checked in on her not too long ago and she was sleeping and yes with the book that had slipped down from an upright position onto her bed! Looks like this well known book has done the same thing as it did back then. Relaxed her and made her sleepy. A different kind of sleepy that you don't get from watching the tv in bed. It's the totally relaxed state, that is so good for the human body, mind and soul...
And now this post is complete, I shall be getting a mug of tea and doing exactly the same myself!!
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