Moonface has been working really hard at writing, and presenting her work orally - all in French. Her spelling has improved immensely. She’s very resistant at times and often refuses help if she gets anxious. In those tones, I allow her to take a break and colour or draw.
At the beginning of the school year we spoke about goal-setting, and how we could merge our goals within the framework of play-based learning (of course I did not explain it that way).
Each child wrote one goal - a major one that s/he would work towards between the period of September and December 2020.
Moonface's goal was to practice speaking French every day for 20 minutes. Now, I must be honest, it was work. While it was HER goal, it truly was a family affair. Moonface's plan was to share her time with the family by planning a 20 minute activity for all with treats and the whole shebang. THAT DID NOT WORK; and I knew that it was a huge undertaking, however, I wanted her to try it out and see for herself. I also wanted her to understand the mechanics of practical goal-setting.
As 2021 rolled in we revisited her goal. We talked about what worked, and did not - why and why not.
She has decided that she wants to continue on the same path with her desire to communicate more, and better, however, this time around, she will have 10 minute "sessions" with Rainman and/or I, and she will read a French book for 10 minutes. She's also been helping with our weekly grocery list (see her list above :)).
Rainman's goal was not French related at all. His goal was to perfect his technique in violin. He's doing really well, and he's very happy with Ms. Claire his teacher.
This term, he will continue to add to his knowledge and skills in that department, and he wants to play piano as well.
The kiddos are also working with an Arabic tutor, and so far they are very independent in their lessons. I think the idea of speaking dad’s language is propelling their enthusiasm. My Arabic is quite mechanical, so naturally dad handles matters relating to Arabic, and I handle all things French related.
On the music front, both kiddos are doing extremely well. I praise their teacher's effort, and her gentle coaxing. Moonface really loves piano and has a love hate relationship with the violin. She also LOVES to sing.
We continue to use a very consistent approach to behavioural cooperation (management) in our home. We are also using Bonne Nuits des Comptines as a poetry, song book for all three kiddos. Rainman memorized Fais Dodo when he was about 3 when we used the book, so while his sisters worked on singing the song, he took it on himself to find the sheet music for it, and learned to play it on the violin - I can't believe him sometimes lol. Pic of book below.
I'm not sure if I wrote a post about it here, however, some aspects of this approach stems from Applied Behaviour Analysis (ABA). The main premise is that the children are given various tasks to complete and are reinforced when they complete said tasks. Should they not complete the tasks, they do not get reinforced.
Generally, Rainman and Moonface have until 4 pm daily to get at least 3 out of 4 check marks to receive their reinforcement, which is often 1/2 hour of iPad or a treat. We employ various aspects of ABA with all 3 kiddos, most specifically with Rainman as it is a technique used often with autistic children.
I use the same techniques with WildRose...it’s a battle but I keep fighting the good fight. The only difference is that she is reinforced frequently and there’s a lot of sorting out of feelings lol.
WildRose is trailing along behind her brother and sister. She's really setting herself apart these days, such a positive thing. As per my last post, she is enrolled in 123 Petits Pas' weekly french class for preschoolers, and she paints every . single . day :).
She also likes playdough, storytelling, and songs (mostly french folk songs), baking, and kitchen play. She's pretty consistent, as I assume most 3 year olds are.
At the beginning of the school year when we were getting settled, she spent quite a bit of time on Youtube. Now I am back on top of my game with a vengeance, and we are definitely keeping her busy. Some days are better than others and I’m learning not to take it personally.
Last week in my Lifeways Waldorf training monthly meet-up, I brought up some of the difficulties I have been having fitting WildRose into our schedule/rhythm. The group gave me some good ideas, and I hope to share them soon.
Whew! This post was much longer than I hoped. This is where we are right now.
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“A hundred years from now, it will not matter what kind of car I drove, what kind of house I lived in, how much money I had in the bank…but the world may be a better place because I made a difference in the life of a child.”
~ Forest Witcraft