We have been in our new apartment for about 2 weeks now...officially. Unofficially, there are still A LOT of unpacked boxes around, and don't get me started on our dishes crisis (hey, this is my blog and I am going to be honest and real because that is life, right?) Anywho, between unpacking and settling in here, going back to the old apt to clean and make minor touch up repairs, and well, still living our lives with our 1, 2 1/2, and 4 year olds, things are a bit unorganized around. I guess that's to be expected, huh?
Well, I sure have missed blogging and am glad to get a post in this morning. To all my fellow bloggers reading this, don't worry, I have kept up reading your lovely blogs, they are a great encouragement to me, and I think of and pray for your families throughout the day :-)
I am so glad we continued a relaxed school day during the summertime, because we are just picking up school again around here, after a 2 week break. We are totally loving the new books my Grandma Peggy ordered for us through Scholastic Books; we are so grateful for her support of our home education. We are particularly enjoying "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom" by Bill Martin Jr. and John Archambault, which tells a cute story about the lower case alphabet letters racing each other to the top of a coconut tree, then falling down and being rescued by their upper case "mamas and papas". This book is a great resource for learning letters, since we point to each one, saying their name, as we go through the story. The entire alphabet (upper and lower case) is listed at the beginning and the end of the book, which allows us to get in "The ABC Song" twice during the book, for a grand total of 4x through the alphabet in one book! Another great alphabet book we are enjoing is "The Mixed Up Alphabet" by Steve Metzger. Also, a cute story, but a bit longer than "Chicka Chicka..." and so it takes 2nd place since the littles have short attention spans.
Some books we are reading to build and reinforce math skills:
"Apple Countdown" by Joan Holub
"Hide!" by Jeff Foxworthy
"The Very Hungry Caterpillar" by Eric Carle
We love referring back to "The Very Hungry..." to reinforce healthy eating habits, since the caterpillar in the story feels ill after eating too much food (including sweets, which we point out), but feels much better the next day after munching a little on a leaf.
Aiden just turned 4 this month and enjoys drawing and using a pencil, so we are continuing with shape and letter practice. Another great gift from my Grandma Peggy were some Playskool (I am such a geek, that I can't stand writing that, knowing they've misspelled their company's name on purpose) preschool workbooks. Aiden started one last night and I have to say (proud mama speaking here) that he is a little smarty pants! He insisted on writing his name at the top, and referred to a printed alphabet when he wasn't sure how a letter was written. I have a picture posted below of the pages he completed. This of course, was a very relaxed and fun activity, there was no pressure from me for him to complete any amount of work or achieve perfection, I simply encouraged him to do the parts he was interested in and helped with the parts he was frustrated with (mainly the diagonal line while writing the upper case "N".) I am very excited to see him continue to progress on this journey of lifelong learning!
Homeschool mamas, what books/activities are you enjoying with your littles right now?
May you be GREATLY blessed by Him today :-)
No comments:
Post a Comment