Board trumps bored

20. May 2012 · Write a comment · Categories: children

With our home-preschoolin, Hunter and I work on numbers and the alphabet every class. He is recognizing his letters and can now print his first and last name. Good kid. Numbers, that's a different story. 

We go through the flash cards, point and count up to 30, but so far Hunter only knows 1, 2, and 3. 

So, in my quest to make sure he doesn't fall behind his actual preschool buddies, I've been looking for other ways to increase his number power. A really fun and interesting way:  board games.

Sure, get out Monopoly, Clue, Life, anything with dice and spaces and money. I know it's exciting for Hunter to get into the games with all their pictures and pieces, and he learns to count, read the dice, take turns with me, and recognize money.

I thought I was onto something and I found this article on classic games and their learning benefits:

http://voices.yahoo.com/how-board-games-help-children-learn-111657.html?cat=4

During our most recent game, we chose Barbie, Queen of the Prom–one of my favorites from childhood. Hunter had to gear up in his Jamaica head and wristbands before we started and God bless him for it, he likes to be prepared. We set up the game, divided up some cash, and away we went. Barbie is especially helpful because the die has numbers printed on it rather than dots, and H needs help recognizing those numbers.

We spent about 20 minutes with the game, counting, taking turns, and collecting our boyfriends, girlfriends, dresses, and clubs (Hunter got president of the Athletic Club, how apropos) while Isla got ready to go for a bike ride in her tutu.

I love my kids.

And I love this song:

The Roots on Yo Gabba Gabba

Incidentally, the first concert my husband and I went to since I became pregnant with Hunter was Yo Gabba Gabba in Wallingford, CT with Hunter, while I was pregnant with Isla. 

It was awesome.

Home-preschoolin’

11. March 2012 · 1 comment · Categories: children, the homestead

I was having lunch with my sister-in-law–mother of 2 and awesome Zumba instructor–and we got to talking about what is expected of your child when they enter kindergarten. It's not the play-all-day, snack and nap I seem to remember, no. these kids are writing their names, knowing the alphabet, and some are counting to 30. Seriously? After that lunch, I was like, I've got to start Hunter on some home-preschoolin'. Tomorrow!

So, after some research into great homeschool sites (mainly http://first-school.ws, which contains many printable worksheets), I worked out a small curriculum for Hunter that we do a few mornings a week. He also goes to 2 hour and a half play school type groups on Tuesdays and Fridays, the first being a music and movement class and the second a preschool activities class, but these don't get too into the letter and number writing, and are more singing, dancing, and crafts with some alphabet recognition and counting.

So, here is our class time.

We begin by saying hello and taking a few deep breaths (my yoga and meditation experience), then we both sit at a small table while Isla, the 1 year old, sits on the floor with either a puzzle or some other age- appropriate activity. 

We start with a printout calendar of the current month and say the day and date. Then Hunter looks out the window and we do the weather with card printouts picturing wind, sun, snow, rain, etc.

After the weather, we do a run with number flash cards. These have the number printed on them along with images representing the given amount. Hunter counts through the images and then says and points to the number.

When we're done with numbers, we do a sheet out of his Kumon tracing book, a gift from my sister, Liz, who teaches the fourth grade in Erie, PA. The tracing helps Hunter with lines, curves, and direction, essential for letter writing. The Kumon workbooks are really great, a little pricey, but worth it. You can check them out here:  http://kumonbooks.com, and I've seen them for sale at Barnes and Noble.

Next we move onto letters and the alphabet. We go through a printout of the whole alphabet with upper and lowercase letters and Hunter points to them as we say/sing it slowly. Then I ask him where various letters are. I then take out his individual letter printouts H, U, N, T, E, R, and we work on those. I thought it would be best to have him begin with his name, then go through the rest of the alphabet. So far Hunter can write up t the N. We are working on the E and R, which seems to be the hardest. 

After his name, he works on a connect the dots–http://coloring.ws/connect-difficulty.html–, and then we both color a picture with crayons. That's our day of school. 

 

It takes a lot of patience, but we have been at this for a couple of months now and he is really learning. It's pretty exciting. I go through each lesson slowly and give him time. If he gets frustrated or seems bored, we try 1 more time and then move on. He gets rewards of Pez (he loves it, must be the toy/candy combo) and always many words of praise. It is a good experience for both of us. 

So, if you stay with your kids and aren't quite ready to shell out the big bucks for preschool, try a little homeschoolin'. It's win-win for both you and your kids.

 

 

 

 

Weaning the baaybe

13. January 2012 · 8 comments · Categories: children

Recently I successfully weaned my 13 month old, Isla, but let me tell you, it wasn't easy. First of all, that girl was addicted to the chooch. She loved it breakfast, lunch, and dinner, plus any time she was feeling down. With new teeth coming in and winter sniffles, December was not the easiest time to deny her. It took me a good month to get her off of the breast and onto whole cow's milk. It looks weird as I write that, and maybe it is, to raise our children on the milk from a cow, but they need something, that's for sure. Unfortunately, Isla had a hard time with the whole milk and had many a mushy poo. Using cloth diapers at this time was a drag. Well, we took her off whole milk (bummer for me, that stuff is like cream in your cereal) and started with a little bit of lactose free milk., Still yuck, so we bought her some almond milk and mixed it with the Lactaid. It took a couple of weeks, but things are looking much more solid down there. Thank god, because her poor little bum was turning a bit raw.

The actual weaning was tricky. As a babe who loved some nursing right before bed and nap time, trying to substitute a bottle for a boob was not working for Isla. My husband had to feed her before bed while I was out of her sight, and it usually took a couple 4 ounce bottles and some serious rocking. If she got up in the middle of the night, screaming, Pat would have to rock, rock, rock her back to sleep in front of the wood stove. I have to admit, I kind of dug this since I spent almost a whole year waking up to nurse that girl once or twice a night. No offense, Patrick, you are awesome for doing it (and still doing it, since Isla's a light sleeper like me). The naps are starting to get better for me with her during the day. We have a little routine, lunch, try to get outside or if it's too cold, some high action playing indoors, and then about an hour after that–when I see her rub her eyes–the almond/Lactaid combo and it's so long, sucker. Also, any time she gets fussy and starts hitting my chest as if that will bring back the milk, I go for good old distraction. Look at a book, play with some blocks, and at last resort I'll give her my phone. Sometimes it has to be done.

It's really starting to work. She hasn't nursed in about a week, and although she will try to rip off my shirt sometimes after her night tubby while also yanking at my hair in frustration, she's getting the hang of life without the chooch.

Post party exhaustion

07. January 2012 · 1 comment · Categories: children

So, after yesterday's great afternoon of outdoor work and play, Hunter–who had been up late New Year's Eve with some other 3 and 4 year olds at a fine little local party we all went to–decided to have a small fit when he couldn't find the exact Handy Manny episode he wanted to watch on some netflix dvd. Well, there was no calming this kid down. He partied late the night before, got up at 6am like a freak, and insisted on staying outside the whole time we hauled wood. He was kicking and crying like one of the possessed and it wasn't pleasant to hear, nor could it be quieted. Here's what I did: I turned off the video–screams and howls, picked the kid up–more howls and some kicks, and calmly carried him to his room. I then commenced to alternately hug and soothe with words while holding down this 3 and a half year old's angry body with my legs. I tell you, it was a work out, but I didn't let go. He cried and wriggled and yelled and told me, "no, it's not ok!" but I held on. And you know what? That boy began to calm down. I started to give him a little back rub while explaining to him that his body needed rest from so much holiday action and he understood. The hollering got down to a few whiny, "but, but, buts…" which finally stopped with some good old fashioned arm rubbing. The kid was asleep. And I was totally psyched. I didn't yell, I didn't get angry, I just held him down and hugged and talked to him, and it worked. Freaking love and hugs.