Friday, April 15, 2011
Worry
This year seems to be the year of death. My grandmother was put in the hospital with congestive heart failure. The idea of her being gone is as frightening as being told the moon will dissolve. My grandmother is an immovable rock... solid, strong, and meant to last forever.
What's Up Part 3
Ainsley
Ainsley is mostly content to just play with toys and the cousins. However, she does not like to be left out and so she'll do school whenever she sees Aidan doing it. Right now her favorite thing to work on is the Drops in the Bucket worksheets. Like all 3 year olds... she especially loves the cutting and pasting part. She does work in the ETC primer set but likes to hurry through it because it's easy. She LOVES to use the small wipe board and practice writing letters. She makes "families." If she's practicing the letter "b" she'll make a Daddy, Mommy, Grandma, Sister, Brother, and Baby "b". :D This last week, she's been on a puzzle kick and is doing all the 24 piece ones. I think she's ready for a harder one, however, so I plan to try out a 50 piece with her soon. On occasion, I'll find her counting things. She'll take toys and do math problems."Two barbies and three barbies is 5 barbies." It's cute. I'm proud. Also, her vocabulary is awesome.
"Apparently, Daddy is here."
"Ah, this is so obnoxious!" she says as her blocks don't fit together quite right.
"Please stop aggravating me!" she'll say to one of the other kids.
"I was really exited yesterday because _________ is exciting."
As for reading... she's just not as interested. She prefers to make up the stories herself. I made up a sticker chart for her and whenever she practices reading... she'll get a sticker. Well, LOL, she has 1 so far. Admittedly, because we never do school, I don't really ask her or remind her but still, it's funny.
To be continued...
Ainsley is mostly content to just play with toys and the cousins. However, she does not like to be left out and so she'll do school whenever she sees Aidan doing it. Right now her favorite thing to work on is the Drops in the Bucket worksheets. Like all 3 year olds... she especially loves the cutting and pasting part. She does work in the ETC primer set but likes to hurry through it because it's easy. She LOVES to use the small wipe board and practice writing letters. She makes "families." If she's practicing the letter "b" she'll make a Daddy, Mommy, Grandma, Sister, Brother, and Baby "b". :D This last week, she's been on a puzzle kick and is doing all the 24 piece ones. I think she's ready for a harder one, however, so I plan to try out a 50 piece with her soon. On occasion, I'll find her counting things. She'll take toys and do math problems."Two barbies and three barbies is 5 barbies." It's cute. I'm proud. Also, her vocabulary is awesome.
"Apparently, Daddy is here."
"Ah, this is so obnoxious!" she says as her blocks don't fit together quite right.
"Please stop aggravating me!" she'll say to one of the other kids.
"I was really exited yesterday because _________ is exciting."
As for reading... she's just not as interested. She prefers to make up the stories herself. I made up a sticker chart for her and whenever she practices reading... she'll get a sticker. Well, LOL, she has 1 so far. Admittedly, because we never do school, I don't really ask her or remind her but still, it's funny.
To be continued...
Thursday, April 14, 2011
What's Up Part 2
Writing
With the exception of random sentences she writes on drawings or cards she makes... Aidan hasn't done any writing... not even in her workbook.
Yikes!
Reading
Aidan is always reading things on her own. Every night before bed she prefers to unwind by reading for a little while. Mostly, it's all in her head at this point (so as not to disturb the others). I have no clue how much she skips or how much she's retaining. I cringe to type this but the kids and I reading together has lessened to the point of being nonexistent. I have a basket of books that I had brought with me... months ago... for us to go through and so far they have remained untouched except by them. You can easily guess my feelings on this one.
Since we are living with 4 older children I am having to take books away that I feel is inappropriate for her to be reading. A few weeks ago I had to argue with her over reading Harry Potter. LOL. She wants to read what the others are reading.
Other
There really hasn't been much else. No science, social studies, read alouds, etc. T4L was only done once... a few weeks ago. Exciting ... huh? Oh, Aidan did put together a 300+ puzzle the other day. I helped with maybe 20 of the pieces.
To be continued....
.
With the exception of random sentences she writes on drawings or cards she makes... Aidan hasn't done any writing... not even in her workbook.
Yikes!
Reading
Aidan is always reading things on her own. Every night before bed she prefers to unwind by reading for a little while. Mostly, it's all in her head at this point (so as not to disturb the others). I have no clue how much she skips or how much she's retaining. I cringe to type this but the kids and I reading together has lessened to the point of being nonexistent. I have a basket of books that I had brought with me... months ago... for us to go through and so far they have remained untouched except by them. You can easily guess my feelings on this one.
Since we are living with 4 older children I am having to take books away that I feel is inappropriate for her to be reading. A few weeks ago I had to argue with her over reading Harry Potter. LOL. She wants to read what the others are reading.
Other
There really hasn't been much else. No science, social studies, read alouds, etc. T4L was only done once... a few weeks ago. Exciting ... huh? Oh, Aidan did put together a 300+ puzzle the other day. I helped with maybe 20 of the pieces.
To be continued....
.
What's up Part 1
Well, I suppose "shortly' is a relative term. HeHe. Now that its nearing May I thought I'd write.
First of all, life is very busy. Six kids, a sick sister, and lots of family drama take up a lot of time. School doesn't really exist anymore. We have 1 good school day every week and a half to two weeks now.
Yes, about 2-3 days a month.
This week, however, we've had 2 days of school and have broken our record. LOL
Really, I'm not happy about it. I see my girls struggling and stagnating. Their minds are not properly being nourished and I'm letting them down.
Ah Mommy guilt!
So, what has been going on?
Aidan
Mathematics
Aidan still seems to magically be gaining math skills. The random days she's done school... she's worked on logical math problems or the mixed math sheets and I haven't yet seen something be too hard for her. (In fact, I wish I had bought Mathematical Reasoning for 2nd graders. The 1st grade is too simplistic for her.) Unfortunately, because of our lack of schooling I cannot tell you precisely what she can do. I'm really not on top of everything. However, when her older cousin (who is in 2nd grade) brings home schoolwork, I have seen Aidan help her cousin and/or tell her the answers. So, obviously, she has moved into at least 2nd grade math. (I have a sneaking suspicion that if I sat her down and systematically showed and tested her with any Elementary math... she'd be able to do it all.) Let's see? Sometime in late February/ early March she took the workbook from her Singapore 1A and went through and did the whole thing just because she wanted to. I also discovered a fun computer game called Math Rider. Aidan and all 4 of the older cousins enjoy playing it. I highly recommend it for anyone wanting their kid to practice their math facts. At first is can be frustrating because they have to type the answers in fast. The first two times Aidan tried it she broke down in tears. But, then she tried it again and the 3rd time she used it, she did well. Now she really loves playing it.
The only other Math is that I bought Aidan a watch. She wears it and at random times I'll ask her what time it is. So, she's learning to tell time in a very old fashioned way.
Oh, and I still have a subscription to Dreambox but unfortunately, using the computer, is nigh impossible here so it is left unused.
Geography
I have to laugh at myself again. I knew Aidan was interested in the states and that she wanted to learn the names. So I had the idea we'd go through and learn each one by one. Aidan and I picked out a blank sketch book and we've been planning to scrap all the states, territories, and major cities. Stuffed in a drawer next to my bed is scrapbooking supplies I've already started collecting. Well, Aidan knows all 50 states already. Again, I forgot that I just need to TELL her things for her to know them. Anyway, I found a blank map of the USA in a dollar store. Makensie, Aidan's cousin, told me that she wanted to learn the states because she would be learning them next year. So, I showed them both the blank map and started pointing to a few states at at time and repeating the name of the state. For example... I started with Florida, Georgia, Alabama, and both Carolinas. "Okay, show me Alabama Aidan," I'd say. So she'd show me the state. After running through the states that way I then played a game with them. They had to turn over a little card with a state written on it, read it correctly, and then show me where it was located. If they got it right... they kept it. If they didn't... then it was put back face down. Aidan won. She messed up only twice. Afterward, Cole told me about a website called Cool Math games. (Seriously... if you don't know it.... try it out. It's free and has A LOT of cool games.) One of their games is called State the State. It's a great way to review the states. All the kids in the house ended up in a mini-contest on who could get 50/50 first. *Brag Alert* Aidan led the pack with 48/50 from the start. The others all originally got about only 30/50. Because they were embarrassed a 4 year old beat them... they all (good naturally by the way) started studying them and practicing them. Kensie spent hours playing State the State over and over again until she finally reached the coveted score of 50/50 first. I was really proud of Kensie.. she really made a big effort. Sooo, long story short.... snicker.... we still will do the whole scrapbooking the states thing but I'm going to just collect the supplies and we'll just do it really slowly so that next year, Ainsley, at four, would be able to really help as well.
To Be Continued....
First of all, life is very busy. Six kids, a sick sister, and lots of family drama take up a lot of time. School doesn't really exist anymore. We have 1 good school day every week and a half to two weeks now.
Yes, about 2-3 days a month.
This week, however, we've had 2 days of school and have broken our record. LOL
Really, I'm not happy about it. I see my girls struggling and stagnating. Their minds are not properly being nourished and I'm letting them down.
Ah Mommy guilt!
So, what has been going on?
Aidan
Mathematics
Aidan still seems to magically be gaining math skills. The random days she's done school... she's worked on logical math problems or the mixed math sheets and I haven't yet seen something be too hard for her. (In fact, I wish I had bought Mathematical Reasoning for 2nd graders. The 1st grade is too simplistic for her.) Unfortunately, because of our lack of schooling I cannot tell you precisely what she can do. I'm really not on top of everything. However, when her older cousin (who is in 2nd grade) brings home schoolwork, I have seen Aidan help her cousin and/or tell her the answers. So, obviously, she has moved into at least 2nd grade math. (I have a sneaking suspicion that if I sat her down and systematically showed and tested her with any Elementary math... she'd be able to do it all.) Let's see? Sometime in late February/ early March she took the workbook from her Singapore 1A and went through and did the whole thing just because she wanted to. I also discovered a fun computer game called Math Rider. Aidan and all 4 of the older cousins enjoy playing it. I highly recommend it for anyone wanting their kid to practice their math facts. At first is can be frustrating because they have to type the answers in fast. The first two times Aidan tried it she broke down in tears. But, then she tried it again and the 3rd time she used it, she did well. Now she really loves playing it.
Oh, and I still have a subscription to Dreambox but unfortunately, using the computer, is nigh impossible here so it is left unused.
Geography
I have to laugh at myself again. I knew Aidan was interested in the states and that she wanted to learn the names. So I had the idea we'd go through and learn each one by one. Aidan and I picked out a blank sketch book and we've been planning to scrap all the states, territories, and major cities. Stuffed in a drawer next to my bed is scrapbooking supplies I've already started collecting. Well, Aidan knows all 50 states already. Again, I forgot that I just need to TELL her things for her to know them. Anyway, I found a blank map of the USA in a dollar store. Makensie, Aidan's cousin, told me that she wanted to learn the states because she would be learning them next year. So, I showed them both the blank map and started pointing to a few states at at time and repeating the name of the state. For example... I started with Florida, Georgia, Alabama, and both Carolinas. "Okay, show me Alabama Aidan," I'd say. So she'd show me the state. After running through the states that way I then played a game with them. They had to turn over a little card with a state written on it, read it correctly, and then show me where it was located. If they got it right... they kept it. If they didn't... then it was put back face down. Aidan won. She messed up only twice. Afterward, Cole told me about a website called Cool Math games. (Seriously... if you don't know it.... try it out. It's free and has A LOT of cool games.) One of their games is called State the State. It's a great way to review the states. All the kids in the house ended up in a mini-contest on who could get 50/50 first. *Brag Alert* Aidan led the pack with 48/50 from the start. The others all originally got about only 30/50. Because they were embarrassed a 4 year old beat them... they all (good naturally by the way) started studying them and practicing them. Kensie spent hours playing State the State over and over again until she finally reached the coveted score of 50/50 first. I was really proud of Kensie.. she really made a big effort. Sooo, long story short.... snicker.... we still will do the whole scrapbooking the states thing but I'm going to just collect the supplies and we'll just do it really slowly so that next year, Ainsley, at four, would be able to really help as well.
To Be Continued....
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