What we're doing now ...

Doodle has hit a difficult area at the moment. Apparently he is a "strong willed child" which typically come from strong willed parents and who would have thought I was stubborn strong willed... Nah, I'm way too easy going ...

What this is meaning for us in schooling is that he will hit a wall and be done for the day, often with no warning. Some of our projects go unfinished. Some never are attempted, but that's OK. We do what we can and we allow him to do what he wants. We focus on things bit by bit and fit in learning where we can.

Lately I've been trying to pay more attention to numbers and being able to "read" the teens and twenties. One way I've found this is work is to print out the calendars from here ( http://www.childcareland.com/free.html ) and have him trace the numbers for writing practice, and then we play "bingo" where I call out a number and he covers it with a sticker. The kids love it. Everyone wins and it's a fun way to help them become more familiar with numbers, order, and counting. I'll often call out a number and then turn it into math and ask if we add 1 more to the number, what will it be, etc. Lots of vocabulary.

I also had picked up an exercise trampoline in early January for the kids which has morphed into an AWESOME learning tool. We can count by jumping, or we can use it in out obstacle learning games. To encourage Doodle to read more I've created a CVC game where doodle picks a CVC card, reads the word, and then goes and jumps on the trampoline while spelling the word to me. He loves being active, he loves the fun, and it often leads to a longer focus time for him and a longer time after where he can play quietly on his own.

win win for everyone!

We are still trying to find ways to slip in more hand writing practice, so I've found a valentine's worksheet with writing lines that allowed the kids to write their names and then decorate. I also found some vocabulary cards which I am encouraging the kids to copy the words. MissyMae was excited to write doctor and teacher while Doodle ignored the cards and asked how to spell coffee instead. As long as they're getting a little practice in writing the letters correctly and in the right order I'm happy to let them spell any word they think of.