As she approached the final two books of the year, Miss E was unsure what she was going to do for her final required written work. She had two final projects, one of which had to be a written project of some sort. After reading the next to last book, she still wasn’t sure what she wanted to do. She asked permission to read the last book. And then the brainstorm hit.
“Can I combine the last two books and write about the wives?”
“Of course!” was my reply. What a great idea. So she quickly set about getting her research figured out. Searching the library site for books to request (we can make requests and pick them up curbside during this virus shut down). Ordering a book off of Amazon (that she paid for herself because she thought it sounded really interesting). Looking up websites and images. It brought a lot of excitement.
As soon as she received the email that her library books were ready, she was asking to pick them up. She had a Venn diagram in the works. She was reading and comparing.
Y’all – this is a fabulous project that has brought excitement and enjoyment. This is what learning is about!! This is the reason I wanted her to choose her projects, with some guidelines to focus it. She found something she wanted to do and has been at it full force for a week and a half now! She is reading more books, reading more articles, searching out information, and finding out more. Times, places, people – they all come more sharply into focus when the student has some direction to the search.
I can’t wait to see her final product but I know it will be great! I had planned to do a formal writing project with her meteorology course as a final project but does not need to happen now. I am able to watch and guide this research and it will be a better final product because she chose it and is interested in it. She will write a cover page, a table of contents, a bibliography. Get all that stuff in, do the editing, and we will have checked off a couple of huge items from the “need to know” list. All because of an interest that developed and she was allowed to run with it.
This is a beautiful part of home education. We had hoped to reignite a love of learning for her when we brought her education home. I know now that we have been successful in that.
Blessings,
Lori, At Home.
Tagged: books, high school, literature
At Home 
i have to admit, when I read your title I was immediately intrigued. What a great idea!
It surprised me when she suggested it but it has been a great one. She is still working on it since she had several more books to read and a good bit of research to do. But, I agree. She came up with a good on there.
This is such an encouraging post! How lovely to see firsthand the love of learning ignited in your child.
Thank you! This is the fruit of much work. This is how she was when she started public schools and by the time we pulled her out a few years later, it was completely gone. So thankful that she has found it again.