Does it sometimes just click into place?

[nissa]

I have been amazed by DD (7) these past few days. We take a pretty relaxed approach to her learning as she was only removed from school in June so we've been having some time to settle.

Emotionally she has just improved almost daily, she is so much more relaxed and happy. Not clingy and much more independent too.

Occasionally we would sit and do some worksheets or play a few games on the pc but mostly she wanted to do crafty stuff or work with little 'projects' that she seems to get very involved in. She just did one on butterflies but was still reluctant to write much and did alot of drawing.

But the last few days she has sat for a couple of hours and written in her latest book about animals. Totally unprompted. She is just witting what she knows about them and when we saw them 6 months ago at the zoo. Normally she won't write a word without checking how it's spelt but she's just doing it all on her own.....

The spelling is pretty bad as this is a weak point for her but it's phonetically sounded which is something she had so much trouble with before. She is also pretty correct with full stops etc.

I guess I'm just a little shocked!

Has anyone else experienced this and what do you think I should do to encourage it? I have praised her but I don't want to push her into it and make a big issue out of it.

[Saturn74]

Yes!
It's amazing isn't it?

I think you're doing exactly the right thing. Keep praising her, and showing interest in what she's doing, but don't put any pressure on her.

Give her access to resources and ideas that might inspire her, and have fun learning together.

[milou2]

Just beam with pleasure at the delight of seeing your child thrive under your care. She is doing this because she feels free to do it without the pressure to do it again tomorrow, that's my guess.

The answer to your question is: yes, my son has relaxed about writing since January 2008. He made lists of cars at first. Over the summer he moved on to lists of games he wants. Now he makes Christmas present lists and subdivides the sheet into columns so games for different platforms (?) go into their own lists. He writes clear requests for us too, with capital letters and full stops as it happens.

I don't do any correcting and only read what he shows me. He has had various note books for his use/non use plus his own pens.

Recently we had a written conversation on a piece of paper, that was fun.