FB 29 - Day 7

Well today did not really happen (at least for FB directly). It was a beautiful day and for some reason I was simply sad and tired (hormones perhaps?). I so wanted to enjoy the warm sunshine on my back but it was just hard. I am sure that most Mums have these days but I felt bad about having no motivation to do FB. In the end after school we walked for a long time doing our same route (:-)) The idea was to take the magnifying glass and look for micro beasts. Hannah was NOT interested. In fact everything I pointed out she glanced at and moved on! This is probably an important thing to learn - education of intimacies is about the child discovering for themselves with their own eyes. I can point out things but I must not expect a response - the child may love it or not be that interested.

The things she did enjoy though were where her heart was. Since reading We're going on a Bear Hunt Hannah loves grass. She points it out and says look grass - long wavy grass, swishy swashy! She also tried to climb her rock (sheer face) and this time she went a little way up and said "it's not slippy, the rain has stopped" - top marks for observations! I showed her some woodlouse and flowers but she wanted to look at her hand :-). It did make me realise that we could do with a better magnifying glass - it does not really make things bigger plus I needed to show her how to use it - she was putting it right to her eye and seeing double! She did find a dandelion and gave it a good look, then sniffed it and gave herself a yellow moustache :-) She carried this nearly all the way home until she sat on it at snack time.

At the waterfall she picked a stick and tried to throw it down the waterfall. She must have tried 6 times. I was itching to help but realised it was a great opportunity to develop perseverance. Even though it never went in she was ok and it showed me that I want her to have the pleasure of the outcome (the stick in the water) without realising that the trying is SUCH an important part of the process. It was great seeing her try and reach it each time as she had to get under the rails and get it. What a great opportunity to develop spatial awareness.

We headed home and it had at that point been an hour and a half that we had been outside. I was tired -I think in part it is my lack of stamina! We had some time inside and it gave me an opportunity to read some of Charlotte Mason's teaching on pre-schools and she recommended 4-6 hours outside! I am not sure if we will ever manage that with the English weather but we then went out again and went and played in the stream. The stream has a bar across for some reason - Hannah said we can't go under it we have to go over it. She then had a wonderful time splashing in the "deep" area and we played houses up and down the steps (upstairs/downstairs) next to the stream. So lots more learning - I just need to get fitter especially when she then wanted to do roller skates AND scooter play!