I want to be a nurse.

Charlotte and I went up to Durham yesterday to buy material for another craft project.  We had lots of time to talk - well, Charlotte did all the talking.  I got a right ear bashing, she hardly stopped to take a breath.  She told me that she is interested in becoming a nurse.  This was quite a surprise to me as she's always had a fear of people being sick!  We went to a cafe so we could discuss it properly and she really does seem to be very keen.  We then went to the library and borrowed a careers information book.  She spent most of last night looking up relevant websites.  Our next plan is to get some advice from a careers advisor to see what's available in our local area, as we read about a cadet nursing scheme which she can apply for when she's 16.  Meanwhile, she said she would like to get a placement in her old primary school for some work experience.  I never know what's going to come next with Charlotte.  She never fails to come up with surprises.  Considering the troubles she's experienced during secondary school, I wouldn't have imagined her wanting a placement in one!  As for her fear of sickness, a nurse is the last thing her father and I thought she would want to be.  Anyway, after all the discussion and pottering round the library, we finally remembered why we had come to Durham and raced off to the indoor market, just in time to buy our material before they closed for the day!

I was wrong...... so very wrong!

A while ago Charlotte chose 'Malory Towers' by Enid Blyton as part of our reading.  I decided to stop and chose another book for her.  The book I eventually chose for Charlotte to read was one which I thought she should read, one 'approved' by me as being 'educational enough'.  However, the pace was too fast for her and she couldn't understand the politics within the story.  I had initially rejected 'Malory Towers' because I thought it wasn't interesting enough.  I've since been having nightsweats at my stupidity!  How arrogant to halt the reading of Charlotte's book, one that she had chosen herself..... just because it wasn't doing anything for me! 

'Malory Towers' may not appeal to me now, but I remember enjoying Enid Blyton's school series as a child...... which is what Charlotte still is.  I realise that I had taken the power from Charlotte to choose what she wants to read and had acted in a controlling manner.  It seems that I, too, am learning lessons during our homeschool journey.  From now on Charlotte is free to choose her own literature.  We've gone back to reading 'Malory Towers'!

For Grandma

Here's Charlotte busy at work on a piece of sewing for her grandma's 86th birthday.

..... and here is the finished gift hanging on granny and grandpa's bedroom wall.

We got the idea from holiday-crafts-and-creations.com and here is a link to the project.  The picture is made from felt and Charlotte used running stitch, backstitch and seed stitch as well as embellishing with beads.  Gran and grandpa loved it!