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Topic: Balancing perfectionism with best effort.

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Courtney
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Joined: Feb 07 2005
Location: Texas
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Posted: April 27 2005 at 12:24pm \| IP Logged

Help! We're finishing the Beatrix Potter unit. I didn't do much in the way of lapbooking for this unit but today decided to try something with my dd (7 1/2). She has a book about Laura Ingall's life (Laura's Scrapbook or something like that from the library). I had also printed some info about Beatrix Potter's life from her website. I gave the info to her and told her to look and think of how those two women's lives were similar and different. She decided she wanted to make a trifold with the inner left flap being about Laura, the middle being similarities and the inner right flap about Beatrix.

I left her alone to do this with the instruction to use pencil. She wrote a few sentences about each but switched from regular pencil to colored halfway through. As I type this I am thinking of what a freakish perfetionist I am! I guess my question is, when creating something like a book or for a lapbook, how much do we edit for them? I want her to be proud of her work and I want her to put her best effort forth. Is this all a matter of practice? She isn't one that hates to write but really struggles with copywork to get her letters nicely written. Am I missing a major point here? I think my ideas are to grandiose sometimes for her age level. THis is a constant struggle for me in my homeschooling in general! Of course she is my first.

I don't want to squelch her love of learning or writing. She will write stories in her room when she's having alone time. I don't go back and edit those. I read them and tell her how much I love them.

I know I'm rambling. I think maybe I'm expecting my dd's best effort to be more than it actually is. What's most important now? Isn't it that she does the activity with enjoyment and does it her way with her ideas? Where do I need to back off? Please advise. I don't want to be a pushy perfectionist mom!

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Courtney in Texas
Wife to Mike since 3/94

Mom to Candace 10/97

,Christopher 4/00

and Connor 11/11

Courtney
Forum All-Star

Joined: Feb 07 2005
Location: Texas
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 796

Posted: April 27 2005 at 3:26pm \| IP Logged

I realize that may not have made much sense

! After I posted that, I asked my dd what would have made the project more enjoyable. She said, "If I could have told it to you and you typed it on the computer."
OK. Lesson learned.

__________________
Courtney in Texas
Wife to Mike since 3/94

Mom to Candace 10/97

,Christopher 4/00

and Connor 11/11

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