This week, we acted out Elisha raising the widow's son. The kids' favorite part was the little "room" we built for them on top of the house (which was really only two plush armchairs places face to face), which made a cozy place to snuggle and lie down. Both kids wanted to be Elisha, so Daddy offered to be the little boy, and Mommy was everyone else plus the narrator, and we played through it once for each child.
Art class the last two weeks has consisted of making valentines. The first week, we made a single, huge valentine, and the next week, we cranked out a bunch to take to neighbors, which they enjoyed.
The smart card converter for my camera's memory card melted, so I am awaiting a replacement from the company, but I can't download any pictures until it does.
For school, we are learning one lower case letter per week. Christopher actually already knows them all now, except he mixes up b, d, p, and q--not too surprising. His fine motor skills are coming along nicely with various KUMON books. I have been having trouble finding books to go along with each letter, particularly excellent ones. The best one was Clara Caterpillar, which still lives on as a night time story and favorite acting out playtime activity. The other really great ones were Jesse Bear, What Will You Wear and Blueberries for Sal for "B", and How to Make Apple Pie and See the World. It's been kind of downhill from there. If anyone has any leads, please let me know. Christopher hated Daisy Comes Home, Chester ("F" for friends), The Dish Ran Away With the Spoon, and just about all the other books I've read for "school" since. ): He really likes completely wholesome stories, and dislikes sad part. He will even look away Today is Monday for the Saturday page when the fox has the whole chicken in his mouth. He kept asking, "Mommy, how is that chicken going to get away?"
My math education professor neighbor gave me a packet of descriptions of math games for pre-schoolers, and I'm pretty excited about it, but I have to get a bunch of change from the bank, and assemble the bags.
We have been going through Beginning Math Reasoning for math, which Christopher really likes. At the beginning of this year, we had a lot of fun with an abacus, and he was really interested in number places, but we haven't done much recently, but now that I think of it, I'll incorporate that back in. We also have used Mighty Mind alot, which I would recommend, although the pieces seemed a little small at first.
We are doing a lot of Kumon, which Christopher loves--we finished both first cutting books, and the tracing book. He loves the dot-to-dot picture and color-by-number picture book, the mazes book, and the folding book--all which provide interesting, miniscule steps for skill acquisition.
For reading, we usually read twice a day (at Natalie's nap and at bedtime). We are going through the Handwriting Without Tears curriculum for pre-school, which I recommend, plus we get extra practice with the Kumon Upper case book and Lower Case book. We use the wooden pieces and cards a lot, but I've given up on the Roll-a-Dough letters for a while because it actually requires a lot of perseverance and fine-motor skills to complete. He's probably ready by now.
For Bible, we read a new Bible story each week, and repeat it each morning with Flash-a-card pictures. Then we review our verses for Sunday School, and our Catechism. We took a trip to the airport to every single terminal, and to most elevators in each one, and the hotel at terminal B, to celebrate that Christopher knows #1-20. When he gets to #50, we will go to Central Park in New York. For his verses, we will take a trip on the the L train when he can recite the entire first page without prompting, the L train, trolley, and blue line, when he can do the second page, and icecream party for the third page. (: We also pray a positive character trait for one friend who has signed up to do a character trait prayer exchange with us, and we look at our Values Book, which teaches the Kempen Family Values. Christopher seems to be able to read his verses--or at least need no prompting when he's reading them, so this also supports his reading skills.
For music, we have circle time every day, and we are using John Fieiraband's curriculum for infants and pre-school. We do infant's lesson one day, then the pre-school lesson the next day. That way, they get each one twice. We end with dancing to music with scarves, which allows mommy to fit in a little exercise. I used to do solfegge every day before I started with a formal curriculum, but I have slacked off, mostly because I get distracted and forget. I must remember to do it each day.
For Phys Ed, we are starting swim lessons in two Saturdays for each child, and I am looking into tennis lessons for Christopher. I sure wish we lived close to the gymnastics gym, but I think we'll have to pass on that unless we find a co-op closer to that.
For Science, I bought four books (the only ones I could find for this age), and they are Touch It, Move It, Change It, and Build It. I have only done one lesson so far, from Touch It, and it was age-appropriate.
For art, we have Thursday art class.
We don't do much for history or foreign language yet.
We don't do every single book every single day, or we would be fried, but we do Bible and circle time, plus some work book time each day.
All for now--if I have time later, I'll go back and put links on the various resources, to make it useful for anyone else who is interested.
Lori |
Most intelligent children and thoughtful answers
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The Letter Aa
