Week 2, Thursday

Today I let Ciara choose the next unit to study in math.  She chose improper fractions, which I think was a good way to review the unit on multiples and factors.  Because Ciara is receiving one on one instruction, she is able to ask more questions and I am able to see if she really understands a concept.  As a result, we are really covering a lot of ground.  We have finished over 3 math units in less than two weeks.

Today for our science period, we decided to work on simple machines.  Ciara had an idea to build a machine that can paint.  I told her to sketch it out for me on the chalkboard and tell me how it would work.  It was basically a lever, with paintbrushes at one end.  It was time to discuss how levers work.  We did a simple experiment that we found on the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry website.

Here's what our lever looked like:

I mentioned in a previous post that Ciara is much happier this year.  Last year she had a mostly negative attitude towards living in Spain.  Her overall negativity made it difficult for her to make and keep friends.  She didn't really like being around anyone, not even her family.  Now her attitude is starting to change.  Today I dropped her off at a friend's house and her son was home from school sick.  I was kind of worried, because last year, she couldn't stand to be around this boy.  She went out of her way to avoid him or was extremely unpleasant when he was around.  When I picked her up from his place this afternoon, Ciara was all smiles.  She told me that she had a great time playing with this boy.  What a difference!!  Honestly, I think that not having the stress of constant social interaction at school has made a huge impact on Ciara's ability to socialize.

Another evidence of change came this evening when I dropped her off at her very first judo class.  Just a few weeks ago, she told me that she would not do any after-school activities.  Then, this week she changed her mind, and was all of a sudden really excited to do judo.  I have found over the last couple of weeks since we started homeschooling that she is more willing to take initiatives and she is more willing to talk to people.  It reminds me of the way Ciara was before she started grade 1.  Interesting.