Jun. 13, 2009 - Summer Learning
Summer doesn't seem to be slowing down for us. I'm trying to keep our "learning time" somewhere close to what I had planned. Daily, we have speech therapy homework for both Big Man (9) and Peanut (4), I try to do some O.T. work with Peanut daily, I'm trying to keep up with Barton three times a week, and we're either doing a math game or an Auditory Processing game daily. It's making me feel like I'm not really on vacation, especially since there are other things that are need to be done like....maybe....planning for next year??!!
One wonderful thing so far this summer is the library book club. We do this every year, but this is the first year my kids are really taking off on their reading. Little Monkey (6) was upset he didn't have a library card yet since he's officially a second grader now. He put up such a fuss (and frankly I needed another card to check out enough books to last us a week) I went ahead and got him signed up. He is now the proud owner of a library card and can check out ten books at a time. Well, let me tell you I need one of those file crates on wheels like you see at homeschool conventions for our weekly library trips now! Both of the older boys check out 9-10 books at a time, and I check out the same amount (about six for Peanut then the rest are some harder books for the older boys). The kids immediately pick out a book to read on the ride home, and by the end of the week they are through their respective stacks. You would have needed to be around here to know what a difference this is from last year. You see, last year we had to make them read a certain amount of time each day, and we would struggle to get the few books we had done before the due date three weeks after checking them out of the library. It's a real boost for all of us to see an excitement about reading. Yes, they're doing it for points and prizes, but I DON'T CARE!!! My kids are finally reading, enjoying it, and asking for more. You have no idea how much I get choked up thinking about it. 
As far as our math games, our biggies are Multiplication War and Goin' Fishin'. I got the fishing idea from a Carol Barnier book, though I can't remember which one at the moment. They're both good, go check them out!!
Here are our little fishies:
A closer look at my artistic genius 
The seals we're feeding (they have the product written on the front):
Little Monkey is Goin' Fishin':
And so is Big Man:
The fish have a multiplication problem on the back, and you have to "feed" the fish to the seal with the correct product. The really great thing was that Peanut wanted a turn, and he happened to get a fish with the product of 100. He knows what that number looks like, and was thrilled he didn't need any help knowing which seal to feed. We'll be using this game later with Peanut so he can fish for letters.
Speech therapy has been helpful with our Auditory Processing times. We play the Auditory Processing Game, but our speech therapist also works with Big Man on his processing problems. Many times I can use some of his homework as our group APD time. Also, I was excited (and so were the boys) to find that the makers of Earobics have created a few online games you can use to supplement their programs. My boys are pretty sick of Earobics, so this was a breath of fresh air for them! The site is called Game Goo . Go check it out and play those fun, silly games.
Comments
Jun. 13, 2009 - Love the seals
Posted by kcmyworld
Looks like you are doing a great job of making the learning "hands-on" and fun!
Robin
Jun. 14, 2009 - Untitled Comment
Posted by 4sweetums
Your Summer sounds a lot like ours. Thanks for the website. I will check that out. Isn't it wonderful to see your kids get the reading bug. I am looking forward to seeing more of that with my younger set.
Blessings,
Dawn
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