C11 is my vivacious, very quirky twin. She is a lovely mixture of both Gary and myself. She has her head permanently in the clouds (me), enjoys anything which includes yarn and material (me), is very musical with a really beautiful voice (Gary) and is really wonderful with young children, especially her little siblings who absolutely think the sun shines out from her. She has kind of grown into herself this past year, as both she and L11 attempt to find their own identity away from each other. L11 had found this much easier and in many ways C11 felt a little left behind. This year, I believe primarily due to the singing lessons our talented friend gives her, she has found her niche apart from L11. Over the following months she will be studying musical theatre during her lessons, which she is very excited about.
Apart from singing she also goes to another wonderful lady at our church once a week to learn how to patchwork. She has already made pot holder and gorgeous pillow for me. Currently she is making a runner for our table. Again we are so blessed by the ladies in our community who are willing to give up their free time to sow into the lives of the next generation. Thank you Pat and Leah!
C’s other electives are childcare, writing, blogging, home making, finances and she also asked to learn more about the bible.
Child Care
We had a chat about this and have decided that she will study the following book during her elective study periods:
This was given to us by her babysitter, Emma. In addition to this book she will also be teaching her youngest sister for half an hour each day. She will research, plan and carry out her school based on the letter of the week. She and B3 are very close and I think B will enjoy this time 1-2-1 with her sister hugely.
Writing/Blogging
She has decided to combine her love of writing with a blog and her interest in teaching youngsters. I will be allowing her to start her own blog. It is her plan to write stories for children and publish them on her blog. She will also document all her learning she does with B3. I am unsure whether to make this a public blog or not. She is certain she wants it public because it will give her an audience for her writing, which is of course very important. We shall see. I think she probably has matured sufficiently this past year that the idea now doesn’t send chills or worry through me!
Homemaking
Both she and L11 were adamant they wanted to learn more home making skills. I am all for this, especially as it will mean I can learn beside them. On the recommendation of my friend across the seas, Donna, we bought a couple of the following books:
I thought these would probably be a good fit simply because Donna and I seem to have similar ideas on lots of things. I wasn’t disappointed either! These are real treasures which outline the sorts of skills girls need to learn to one day run their own house (Shhhh, don’t tell anyone but I have hardly any of the skills mentioned!). I’ll give you a peek into the contents of book:
Bible Study
To meet C’s almost voracious need to learn more about the bible, we have (as you already know) begun the Who is God? Curriculum during our morning meeting. We also try to have a bible study each Wednesday based on Proverbs 31 with Lorna (my badminton pal) and her lovely daughter Kelsey. But the biggest change has been to use the older one’s quiet time to read some Christian books. These aren’t traditional bible study books but are useful books to read, mull over and discuss:
This has worked particularly well for C as she is able to read and chat over the books with both her sister and myself because L reads them as well, and I have already read them. We have a huge selection of books for the girls to choose from and they are really enjoying this half an hour each day (plus all the other half an hours I catch them sneaking the book into the loo!)
So, there you have it. C has an incredibly interesting, busy year ahead of her!
I like the idea of her own writing blog! I´m sure it will turn out great!
Thanks Karin!
What a wonderful plan. I will have to look into the homemaking books. I saw that they have a boy version on Amazon too.
Blessings, Dawn
Yes, we will be using the boy version as well. They both look really good!
The homemaking book looks very good. My oldest want Youtube channels – so I totally get the “chills” you’re talking about.
Parenting is so much more complicated than it was in my childhood days!
This is an awesome plan! Are you going to post one for each of the older children? If so, I look forward to reading them!
Thanks Hwee. I have and I did!!
Great plans! Sounds like C11 is going to be busy, but in a most wonderful way. I am glad you like the Homemaker’s Mentor. We think it is fabulous. We also purchased the Boy’s Guide and like it as well. Although many of the things learned in the Boy’s Guide Evan is learning in Boy Scouts, there are many he is not and it certainly doesn’t hurt to learn things from different directions. He seems to like what he has seen so far.
We, too, have Before You Meet Prince Charming along with several other Mally books. I highly recommend Will Our Generation Speak? by Grace Mally. Excellent book on sharing the Gospel. Their Bright Lights program is also a wonderful Bible study for moms and daughters or groups of girls. They just returned from England after holding conferences there.
I find it exciting that C wants to begin a blog. Wonder where she got that idea? 🙂 I understand her wanting it to be public, but I also understand your concerns.
I may use your idea of a child care course for my girls. I hadn’t really thought about that, but I think it is something they may like. We’ll see.
-Looking forward to the rest of these posts. As always, you have lovely plans and so organized! (Don’t even say it!)
Enjoy your day, Claire.
Ha! If only you knew!!
‘Sounds really exciting.I am excited for you that your children are so motivated.
Thanks Elizabeth. It certainly makes for an easier home school!
A couple of my favorite blogs are written by homeschooling teenagers (they’re high school, but the point is still there), and it’s been a great exercise for them. There’s probably ways to do it and keep her anonymity if you feel comfortable with it.
I think I’d like to see how careful and diligent she is before making it public. We’ll see.
Some blogging platforms have the option of making the blog password-protected, which might be a good compromise? You and C could discuss who to give the password to, and people who you don’t know in real life would be able to contact you and request it if they were really interested.
Thank you May, that does seem to be a good compromise.
This sounds like a wonderful year. That homemaking book sounds great, I probably need to look at it for myself, Keeping the house clean and tidy is a major struggle for me.
One of my children had a blog for a while which we had password protected. I was happy about the security but he wasn’t happy about the number of blog views which, of course, were rather limited. Still, it served a useful purpose for a while.
C would enjoy having people read her writing and I think would feel very motivated by that.
And yes, I too need help in the home making area so I understand your struggles!
Yep c11 is very quirky. That’s the best thing about her.
You are both gorgeous!
Thanks mummy. I didn’t realise that I had matured enough for you to think about me having a blog without getting the shakes and chills. Thank you for all the encouraging and mentoring you gave me. And thanks to my wonderful siblings for their support
Thank you!!! Cxxx
You are so welcome, sweetie. I love you!