Writing Creatively.

Having had the Christmas period to do some thinking about what we are going to be doing this year, I have come to the conclusion about a few things.
initially, it was my plan to work autonomously with Ethan, and for a while, this worked out pretty well. He found things along the way that he wanted to learn more about, and we came up with some interesting projects and plans from the things that took his interest on the hoof.
However, I also found with this method that things were happening randomly, with no apparent order to them, and Ethan was swapping from one track of thought to the next without really paying any attention to anything along the way. 
Now, I understand that for some HEers this is exactly what they are aiming for, and for them this method works well - and don't get me wrong, I can see the benefits of it. no restraints, no patterns to follow, no particular route to follow etc etc...just taking things as they present themselves and allowing what happens to happen.
But after giving it serious consideration, and a fair crack of the whip, I realise that for Ethan it lacked too much structure. And Ethan thrives on structure.
Therefore, I will be adopting a more organized framework for his education at home from now on.

Today, Daniel wasn't feeling very well - probably caught the lurgy from Laurence - so he stayed home and had a taste of what Ethan goes through. Here I set them both out some creative writing exercises. The pair of them have been blessed with brilliant imaginations, however, they lack the ability to get those ideas down onto paper effectively, so we worked on the basic principles today, and got the imaginative juices flowing with some short stories.

I think Daniel was surprised at just how much Ethan is expected to do in a day.

Although we only ever concentrate on one subject at a time (whether that is for a day or even a week at a time) I don't think it was quite what he expected.

He hears about what we have planned, the places we expect to visit, and the projects we hope to do, and I think he presumes HE is all about having fun and doing fun things day in and day out. 

I hope that after today he realises that real work does take place, and that pens and paper still very much have their uses. 

Loz x