8/6/2014- First half-day. Father got her to school on time and walked her to class. Day seemed to go well.
So, I walk to the school to meet Dilara. I am right on the sidewalk watching closely as class after class comes out. Never see her. I ask a teacher if there are more classes left to come out, and she said she didn't know, then I see a lady walking out with Dilara, and Dilara is all teary eyed. Apparently, when her group went outside, she got confused and stayed in the school by the door till someone got her. Not sure how that happened, but she'll know next time. I guess it was smart to stay in the building if you weren't sure. I guess it feels safer. Well, it wasn't too traumatic. Not like a kid getting off at the bus stop or forgetting to get off at all, and that happens sometimes. I was going to go in and look for her if she hadn't showed up when she did. I think she had a good first day, though.The kids next door are not in her class, but she saw them. 8/8/2014 When we were about half-way home, the lady who was walking ahead of us with 3 kids turned to me and pointed to one of the 3--a little girl, and the lady didn't speak English, but I managed to figure out that the little girl she was pointing to didn't belong with them. I asked the little girl where her house was, and she pointed back towards school. I called the school and Ms. Christie said to bring her back there and she'd take care of it. After the little girl turned around, Dilara recognized her as being one of her classmates. We turned back to the school, and I was hoping we'd pass her house. She pointed down another road when we were at the school, but Ms. Christie took her to the office to call the parent. The girl never said a word. I asked her if she was scared, and she nodded. Her eyes were big, but she didn't cry, like Dilara did the first day, when she got confused. Dilara was cheerful and encouraging. Maybe tomorrow we will walk home with her and see where she lives! It is nice to have neighbors for friends! --Lydia This was from November, 2013, I think, at the Nashville Zoo. One turtle was biting the other, it looked like. --Lydia Noticed "heat lightning'' tonight on the way home from church,
The Boxcar Children should be required reading for every child.( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Boxcar_Children ) It was one of my favorites and I read it many times. I also read it to my older children, and now Dilara and I are about halfway through it. It is just wonderful in so many ways. Tonight when we were reading about the children preparing to make a swimming pool by damming up a brook, she asked me how they would keep the fungus and leaves out of it. I love her "interruptions" while I am reading. That is something you can't do in a group setting, like a classroom story time, because if every time a child had a question or comment they were allowed to interrupt, the story would never get finished, and the whole story would get thrown off. Dilara is so full of such wonderful ideas I am very glad that in the flexible setting of a home school, she can express herself freely. We also stop videos and discuss points that she notices in the movie, or things she has questions about. One day when I was sick we watched "Finding Nemo" and "Flipper" (with Chuck Connors) and by the time we were finished, I had 5 pages of notes of things we had discussed, and could explore later, such as why children should be obedient; how some people can be annoying, but still be valuable friends; hurricanes and the damage they cause; the Florida Keys (and what "key limes" are and how a "key lime pie" is not a lime pie with a key inside, which is what she thought at first!); how nice it is when a man hugs and kisses his wife when he comes home from work; how important it is to never swim alone, etc., etc.---Lydia "Actual observation of Nature and her operations
are of primary importance in this study. The teacher should understand that the pupil is interested in anything which seems to be related to him or his interests. Nature Study touches the normal child at every point. The burden of the assignment of the lesson is to place the pupil and the subject to be studied in such relationship that the pupil will be eager to investigate and learn. Sufficient interest should be established in the mind of the pupil that he will be able to read the lesson in the text for its value as Nature Study and not simply as a reading lesson." (From a Teacher's Manual For Nature Study For Boys and Girls, page 11. 1921 http://libx.bsu.edu/cdm/ref/collection/HstrcTxtbks/id/49018 "I combed the dogs. You have to comb 2 dogs and pull the fur out of the comb. Then, you have to roll it together, then you roll, roll, roll, till it is in the shape of a snake. But if you have two, they may get stuck together. You can touch them and think about dogs. They feel nice and soft like a dog." (A few days ago, Dilara had a pile of tufts of dog hair she had twisted together. Someone said they looked like little dreadlocks. They were made from hair from the brown dog and from the black dog. She said maybe we could sell them for people who don't have dogs, but want to touch them and pretend that they are petting a dog. --Lydia
Last night, for the first time in several months, if not a year, we slept in the full-sized bed in the front room rather than in the twin sized bunk bed. A twin sized bed is just too small for both of us, plus the bunk bed mattress is not comfortable for me at all. I used to wonder why kids could seem to sleep anywhere, but now I wonder if older, heavier people mash down into mattresses and feel the "lumps" more than kids a quarter of their weight.
This morning Dilara woke up and told me about how she remembered waking up and reading the alphabet "in her brain." I have had a alphabet "train" hung on the wall just below the ceiling since she was a baby..You would think she would know which was a "j" curves by now. She also told me how she used to see lights stopping and moving on the wall and she thought they were ghosts. I asked her why she wasn't afraid, and she said, "I was just imagining they were ghosts. She knew they were really lights coming from the headlights of cars at the intersection outside our house. I have 2 black construction paper birds that came in a set of assorted cut-outs and I taped them facing each other above my door. She said she always imagined they were singing together. Lydia |
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