Collaborative work

We had our year-end review today with our assigned teacher. She mentioned something about how the jobs of the future are going to be increasingly about collaboration and interpersonal skills.

How could I not think of Montessori?

And how could I not think of my 13yo dd?

One of my issues with dd these years has been that she really doesn't want to go off and just work by herself. She wants to work collaboratively. She had that her first few years, but then the girl I was homeschooling moved and dd's educational progress was not the same after that. I think that's part of why dd is now thinking about school as a possibility for high school. She wants and needs more collaboration than she's been getting.

I wish I lived close enough to a Montessori high school to go see it in action. I wish there were a way to get one going right away here. ;) Schools take longer than that to get going, unfortunately.

Which means I need to create what I can with my dd while she's still homeschooling. There are surely enough older students that we could get some sort of group going for collaborative projects. Collaborating with mom isn't quite the same, and collaborating with her younger brother wouldn't be quite the same. Although it would be a start, so I shouldn't negate it entirely.

This leads to various thoughts:
*get dd to help ds in setting up the things for his science kit so he can work on the "experiments"
*rather than encouraging them to create a lapbook or some other project each, have them work with me on creating a project of some sort together

It's really not any different than the household chores: when we all work together, it goes much more smoothly than when they just have isolated things they're supposed to go do.

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I had said I would observe my kids. Unfortunately, a few days in a row of lack of proper sleep has led my brain to be somewhat mush and I only just remembered. Getting a notebook of some sort and labelling the top of the page "OBSERVATIONS" could be a good way to help me do some observing.