20011 Texas Wildflower Project

Our Star Students 

Texas State Flower "Bluebonnets"

They did a great job!!! And what was the goal, you may ask? Results!!! And boy did I see results today. The students got an "A" for effort, an "A" for participation and an "A" for academics. Sometimes these little projects we do with our homeschool children seem like a waste of time. We may tend to think to ourselves, what's this really going to accomplish? Or, I have so many other things to do, I really don't have the time to do this right now. Or we can do the next one. And yes it is true many times, there will usually be a next time. But I think it is important to take the moment by the horns and run with an opportunity. The things our youngsters learn is invaluable. They learn to communicate. They were asked to share the "story" of their project and how it came to life. They learned the life of the flowers and the deep history intwined within them. They learned to critically think. And what I mean by this is that they had to think critically by prioritizing the various jobs they needed to do. Surely they couldn't create until they had picked flowers. And they couldn't have researched until they gathered the flowers they were going to research. They learned (in a subliminal way) how to sequence events by whats important first. And that my friend is a skill they will need life long, doing the most important things first and then working your way down the list. Next they had a chance to put their creativity to practice. They used crayons, markers, fresh flowers, printed images, photos, laminating machines, contact paper and on and on. Over all they grew in leaps and bounds and I say, "BRAVO!!!!" Job well done!