Now if I let her do what she wants to all day, she will do art projects of her own determination for hours on end and be irritated when we have to clean up. Puzzles are also big. She can do 200 pieces independently, but I prefer the 100 so it doesn't take so long. Then I wonder if I am doing her a disservice with that opinion.
I think that at age 4 letting her do art projects all day long is wonderful. Develops that small motor, and the visual motor. I like the idea of letting her do the 200 piece puzzles if she enjoys it. I'm wondering what's hard about how long they take. Perhaps your Mom-Gut is telling you that she needs some growing experiences with being flexible enough to 'stop and start' a project. That way you don't dread the bigger projects. So don't pick her very favorite sort of activity, more like an activity she is 'ho hum' about, and explain that the lession is gracefully starting and stopping. Maybe she gets a treasure hunt clue, or a new art material everytime she stops and does 10 jumping jacks, and then starts up again smoothly?
The great thing about homeschooling is that you can let her do art projects all day for 4 months and (she won't fall behind) and then she'll suddenly get interested in something more obviously academic. Or come back here and I'll give you idea how to teach mathmatics using Taylor Swift lyrics. Reading too.
(Did you know you can download all the song lyrics off the internet?) Blow up a favorite verse and cut it apart and get her piecing it back together. Then she can count up if there are more words or more syllables...how many more? Does the average difference change from song to song? .....it (can) goes on and on. Just keep practicing that on and off switch ((wink))
Smiles,
Grinity
