Starting something new

Do you find that when you tell your kids to have a go at something new, the answer is quite often “Maybe later”? It’s quite a common occurrence in our home. A part of it may be nervousness or not wanting to get it wrong (in case the child is a perfectionist) or they may be engrossed in something else or it could be they are genuinely not interested.

On the other hand, if I start doing something new, they will, more often than not, drift in to see what I am upto. It is then a “no pressure” situation for them and the power of choice is firmly in their grasp. They can stay or walk away and I am slowly learning to accept this way of life.

The same chain kicked off on the blogging front. The girls have been watching me type up posts and then, the questions started coming. I casually mentioned they could have their own pages on the blog and left it at that.

One day, my eldest, a voracious reader, read my posts and said she absolutely loved them. Needless to say, I was thrilled. Her next sentence sent me over the moon – she wanted her own page. And youngest followed suit. Heralding the birth of My Gibbon’s Page and My Koala’s Page.

This mum’s job is done – the kids are on the road to writing / dictating to their scribe (yet another facet added to my role as home-ed mum). A hands-on way to learn to express themselves in writing with spelling and grammar thrown in as a bonus.

All very well, but actually writing  that first blog post can be quite overwhelming, the choice of subject being the main issue. The kids had many ideas but were also frozen in the pre-dawn darkness.

Even as I was wondering what approach would world best, rescue arrived.

Another home-ed mum on FB announced a 100 day home ed photo challenge. Talk about serendipity!

The idea is to correct misconceptions about home education in the wider world by posting photos of our days for a hundred days. It also gives us an opportunity to share ideas with one another and draw inspiration.

I pitched the idea to the girls this morning and they were all over it.  And so, you may see daily little updates (sans the photos after much internal debate) on the gibbon and koala pages. We may or may not make it through the 100 days, but while we are doing it, we are going to have fun with it.

I sure would appreciate it if you could stop by their pages and leave an encouraging comment every now and then.

Meanwhile, it would be great to read about the strategies you use to try new things or get your kids to do so. Looking forward to hearing from you.