The Sunchild & I had a fun morning yesterday. We snuggled & cuddled & hung out in his top bunk, playing with his stuffed animals, and just having a grand silly giggly time. He even decided on a name for a boy doll (Harry) that I found for him ages & ages ago, which at the time, he insisted that he would never, ever play with.

Unfortunately, I couldn't leave well enough alone. Somewhere along the line, I started feeling anxious about our lack of 'real' work. My mother is coming to visit soon, and once again, I am feeling a bit of internal pressure to prove that this homeschool adventure is the best way for the Sunchild to learn. Lately, we have done very little of the kind of work which leaves a paper trail. I know that Kindergarteners countrywide are bringing home masses of papers each week, proving just how much they are learning. Of course, I know that it is quality, not quantity, that counts. Yet, in the process of daily living, it can be hard to hold on to that idea.

So after lunch, I tried to interest the Sunchild in all sorts of 'educational' activities. We did play with money counting for a while, which he did enjoy. I also brought out a puzzle for us to do. He thought he wanted to do it with me, but after a while, I realized that I was the only one putting the pieces together, and left the project table in a huff. Ironically, he is currently sitting quietly at the table, and finishing it up. It just is another bit of evidence that force doesn't work, and that interest is what catalyzes learning, not pressure.

What he did want to do yesterday, was work with his Legos. His creations are getting more elaborate, and are including more moving parts. We are still working on integrating his need for workspace with my need for order. I think that the art of Compromise will probably be a big part of this lesson for both of us.

This morning, during our daily morning gigglecuddle, we started playing with numbers, and working with addition patterns. I asked him to add various numbers to ten, and surprised him by asking him what 15 and 10 made. He said he didn't know, so I asked him what plus 10 makes 15. He said 5. So I pointed out that the question could be looked at as 10+10+5, which he answered correctly. In fact, he thought it was pretty cool, and kept asking for more & harder questions. We ended up at 110+110, which he worked out, with a bit of prompting... but his tendency is still to think of 2 100s as 102, so we need to work with some manipulatives to concretize the idea. But this time, I am going to work a lot harder to control my impatience, and wait for the moment when his interest is ripe.

He just finished the puzzle, all by himself.