Home School Week 13

We had another great week of homeschooling. My daughter is very responsible with her work and I really appreciate the effort she is making. To have success really takes both of working together and being on the same page. We are on the same page and I am really happy about this.

However, my enthusiasm and excitement about learning with my daughter is not infectious. I do struggle with trying to get her to be interested in any of the topics we study. This week we studied Charles Darwin and I had no idea his contribution to science. Charles Darwin studied life on an isolated island and noticed the changes to the animals to adapt to the changing environment. His theory centered on “natural selection” and how organisms pass on the good genes to be the survival of the fittest. I thought the reading was cool. The science reading gave an example of the gypsy moth and the evolution of the gypsy moth around the Industrial Revolution. We had read about the Industrial Revolution in history weeks back. I told my daughter it’s pretty cool to have our learning of subject material tied into multiple subjects. She does not see the coolness about that.

I encourage my daughter to answer questions either scientifically or using historical terms. My daughter does struggle with the terminology because she does think it’s hard but I will continue to nudge her along. She shows improvement as the weeks go by so I can’t complain. This is a work in progress.

I struggle with trying to get my daughter to retain some of what I am teaching her. I don’t expect her to remember it all, but I would like it if she did not forget what I said as soon as she gets up from the table.  I always tell her to try to think about what we learned, but I know she does not.

She did her science experiment with the potato and osmosis and it worked! Fascinating! I should have taken pictures but I threw the potatoes away. I hate mess! We can do it again. My daughter used a sweet potato so next time she can use a regular potato.

My daughter continues to amaze me because she brings ideas to the table on how she can learn. I love that I allow her to have some say in her educational journey. I know having a say makes her more open to learning.

As always, looking forward to next week!

Over and out 🙂