Recently I've come to the realization that as a homeschooled only child, my daughter may never learn to take notes in class. This has been a bit bothersome to me, as I realize the importance of having this ability. It's also an important way to help them stay focused on what is going on and not daydream. I also realize she is a fourth grader. Since fourth grade was many moons ago for me, I don't remember if we took notes or not.
Hmmm, what to do. For those of you who know me and those of you that don't I stress about things. Surprise, surprise. As if you couldn't tell that about me in these posts. So, something as small as when to start teaching her how to take notes turns into this huge production in my head. I begin stressing about whether or not I am truly enhancing her education. Or, am I being a detriment? O, Lordy, here we go...guess I better stop right now and spend some time on my knees and at His feet.
Back to note-taking - I figured it out! Quite by accident. Turns out all that stress didn't create one single brilliant idea. The typical school day with my daughter did. It was time for science, studying the estuaries. And with every other ecosystem this year, there is a blank sheet where you tell what type of climate, plants, animals, distinguishing features and the like. Well, today it seemed as though she had done quite a bit of reading, so I decided to read to her. Only, as I was reading (to make sure she'd be paying attention) I told her to fill out the sheet. Voila! Note-taking! Problem is solved and she did excellent - but best of all, no more stress for me. However, why is it that we only have a few weeks of school left and I just NOW figure this out? I suppose I'll be coming back next year to read my posts to figure out what I did right. I guess it would make for more entertaining reads if I included what I did wrong, but those are pretty big spoofs and I'm not quite ready to go there...yet! Blessings
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