I know (hope?) people have started responding to other posts, but as the original poster, I just wanted to state that I couldn't be more thrilled that my daughter's teacher offered this project and didn't limit it. My daughter's class has been full of project-based experiences this year and it has taken my daughter, who spent last year anxious, crying, not wanting to go to school to absolutely LOVING school.
She has been excited and passionate for this project for about a month--which was two weeks longer than it has even been assigned. She has learned an extraordinary amount. I'm watching her--even though she struggles with writing--want to write more and more because she wants to communicate what she's learned. I'm watching a dyspraxic kid put her head down and barrel through writing answers to pages of worksheets so she can get back to the project faster.
My angst, and the reason for my first post, is that I don't want to screw this up in any way. Seeing her come alive like this is absolutely awesome and I want to make sure she finishes (She did.) without ME messing the experience up.
There was a lot of good advice here--and I think what HK and others have mentioned about teaching her to develop her own time management skills is going to be important. But I think things are really working out this time.
We talked about it being too long and she took it to school today to ask the teacher what she thought about the length, and that was her decision, not mine.
I am constantly insecure about pushing because when she has an interest, I provide materials and just the very nature and quantity of checking out some of the books I check out for her...or making a 70 year historical timeline with your kid... sometimes makes me feel like I'm doing something wrong. It's not normal. So I'm here, and I ask these questions.
But the project has been awesome. I hope she gets more.
