Comments on: the duomo

By: wonderfarm · host yourself a history fair!

wonderfarm · host yourself a history fair! — Wed, 30 Mar 2011 17:56:08 +0000

[...] those topics, knowing people beyond their own family would see them. (Remember H’s model of the Duomo? Or Lulu’s Indian kitchen?) The fair has always been a tangible [...]

By: patricia

patricia — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 01:51:21 +0000

Thanks for stopping by, Helen. And thank your for your wonderful new blog! I love it! The combination of beautiful photos and thought-provoking insights into learning is just lovely.

I’m looking forward to following it–and mentioning it when I write my monthly “atwitter” post…

By: Helen

Helen — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 22:55:11 +0000

many good points you make here. it is such a fine line on which way to go — I struggle with this often. Thanks for sharing!

By: patricia

patricia — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 02:33:57 +0000

Kristin: I’m not sure if my response was intuition or sheer stubbornness.

There’s a difference though, between when kids want to give up on a project because they’re frustrated, and when they want to give up because they’re simply ready to move on. If they’re frustrated, they might just need some help to get over the hump (or the dome, as the case may be.) I sensed that H really wanted to finish the project, but it had just gotten too frustrating. Having Chris re-cut the pieces for him made all the difference.

On the other hand, sometimes they’ve taken on a project which they’ve simply lost interest in. In that case, I might still try to offer some help, before they abandon the project altogether. Lulu, for example, was losing motivation with her India dollhouse, so today I offered to help her–and she set me to work making replacements for the Fimo cookware I burned last week! She got a fair amount accomplished, and I think she’s more motivated.

But if they’re really ready to move on, I think I need to respect that–and I try to. We’ve all taken on projects that we decide not to finish. That’s okay. I want them to be excited about what they’re doing.

Susan: I like the dance metaphor too–and all your dance suggestions. It’s a metaphor that applies so often in parenting. I wrote an essay about traveling with the kids in Spain, a trip which had its ups and downs. That time I referred to the dance of traveling with kids as “your own little flamenco–complete with cries and foot stomps.” Here’s hoping all of our homeschooling has more dancing, and less water cave diving!

By: susan

susan — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 20:50:15 +0000

I love the dancing metaphor. It evokes something so cooperative and beautiful. I’m sure you could extend it to various kinds of dancing…square dancing, the mazurka, the macarena, Our homeschooling is just that kind of beautiful dance except when it feels more like navigating a water cave without oxygen or headlamps while tied to three other people who have their own very strong opinions of which way to go.

By: Kristin

Kristin — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 16:25:33 +0000

I really like how you took us from the duomo model in your home to the real thing and then added:

“But I think no one loved that view more than H. He owned that dome. He had conquered it. It was his.”

I believe that is true.

I wonder how you knew to “pick this battle” and persist that he finish it. Was it intuition?

Anyway, I think it was a wise choice because if he hadn’t completed it, every time he looked at that duomo from your hotel room, he might have been reminded of his failure; instead he had the chance to exalt in his accomplishment.