Experience Book

While we played outside this morning and I attempted to insert some of the Bible activities from Little Hands to Heaven into our play, Annabelle got a mind of her own (as usual) and decided she wanted to make an "Experience Book" as she called it.

She ran inside and grabbed two sheets of blank copy paper (though she had requested three but got turned down by her mean mom) and stapled them together using two staples along the vertical edge. She then insisted that I tell her how to write "Experience Book" at the top of the first page. So this was a perfect opportunity for me to correct her letters formation.

After she had written "Experience Book" in blue at the top of the first page, she wanted to go back outside to record her "experiences." First, she glanced across the street at a young tree growing in a neighbor's yard. "Is that the same type of tree that is in our backyard?" she inquired. Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding! I realized even more at that moment how important it is to just let a young child play without the pressure of reading, writing and arithmetic. She WILL learn the three R's! But if I had pressured her into early reading and such, she would have missed out on so much! Her imagination continues to explode! And I'm astounded by her observation skills at such a young age!

We studied the two trees together, and she noticed so much! And as a result, she learned more than I could ever teach her from a textbook.

While pulling English ivy in our backyard later this afternoon, Annabelle broke down into tears! Her experience book had been pooped on by passing birds. Hubby and I both tried to calm her down by explaining that she could use this opportunity to practice her handwriting by rewriting what she had already written. And I tried to explain that this was just another experience for her. She didn't seem to buy into that one though!

By the way, she insisted that she wanted to record her findings with words. I tried to encourage her to draw pictures, but that wasn't in her plan of attack.