Hooray For Books on Tape!!

We have been enjoying listening to books on tape while we are in the car. G has been really interested in the stories and seems to follow them quite well now. We have recently listened to The Trumpet of the Swan by E.B. White, and Ramona the Pest by Beverly Cleary. As soon as we finished listening to each of these stories, G would shout, "Do it again!" So, I've let him listen to them again in his room at bedtime. He loves them so much that he actually stays awake for 2-3 hours after going to bed, just so he can listen to his stories. I am so excited that he is enjoying the books on tape so much!

I've said it before, and I'll say it again...I LOVE our library!!!

Space Man

A friend of mine shared this idea with me (thanks, Amy!), and I thought we'd give it a try. It's a space man! Yes, he looks like a little astronaut, but he's also used for spacing words so a child's writing doesn't run together intoonebiglongwordlikethis. :-) After each word, the space man lays down on the page and the next word is written on the other side of him. He is made from a clothes pin, aluminum foil, a cotton ball and glue. We also used markers to draw his face on.

Caterpillar in the Kitchen

G made another culinary creation for lunch today. This time it was a caterpillar! :-)

Sewing

G found 3 stuffed animals this morning that needed to be repaired. They each had a little hole in one of the seams, and he was in a "can-do", independent mood and insisted on sewing them up himself. Now, being that he is only five, my first thought was to tell him "no", and to do it myself, but I thought I'd let him give it a try, and you know what? He did a great job! Really, we don't give kids enough credit.

The Abacus: Entertainment for the Whole Family

We went to a used curriculum sale today and G found an abacus he simply HAD to have. Having never used one, I bought it thinking we could learn about it together. I found this site that explains how to use an abacus and we sat down as a family to figure it out. We were all entertained for a good 20 minutes by the wonders of the abacus! :-)

I also realized that this is a great "toy" for G to experiment with as it will go right along with the place value oriented math curriculum that we will be doing next year, Math-U-See.

Free Summer Bowling

http://www.kidsbowlfree.com/ is offering 2 free games of bowling every day...all summer long for kids. Sign up and get weekly coupons to print out and take to your local participating bowling alley. All you have to pay for is the shoe rental, which is $2 (unless the kids have their own bowling shoes). Happy summer bowling!!

PS~ Bowling is a fun way to review basic subtraction concepts! On our way home from the bowling alley, we made up story problems about how many bowling pins were left, and how many had been knocked down if we started with 10.

First Time with Modeling Clay

G and I went to the craft store today and ended up with a package of modeling clay. He was excited to play with it and this is his first modeling clay creation...

Our Neighbor, the Bird Watcher

We live next door to an elderly couple and the husband is an avid bird watcher. What a great opportunity for G to learn about birds in a real and hands-on way! Our neighbor is more than happy to teach us everything he knows about birds. Yesterday, he showed us the bluebirds that have made a nest in one of his bird houses. We also got to see the nest itself and the 5 little eggs that are in it. He says that if all goes well, we should be seeing baby bluebirds next week! His yard is all decked out with bird gear: bird baths, bird houses and bird feeders. He's got different types of birdseed for different types of birds, and he is teaching us about the behaviors of the birds that come around our neighborhood. We're looking forward to feeding some of them out of our hands!

Social Skills

Who knew that social skills could be learned and improved upon by meeting people in everyday life around the community? Aren't social skills picked up strictly in a public school setting? Nope, and today was a perfect example.

G and I went to Costco today and after we had done our shopping, we decided to sit down and share a hot dog and a sundae. We parked our cart and looked for a couple of nearby empty seats. There was an older gentleman sitting alone at one of the tables and we asked him if we could join him. He was happy to have the company and as we ate our lunch, we sat and chatted with our new friend. He was a great grandpa and I think he got a kick out of G. I know G enjoyed talking with him. The gentleman shared about his family, his hobbies, and even a little about what life was like for him as a kid (no indoor toilets or running water in the house, which G was amazed about, and didn't believe at first). It was a great way for G to continue to develop a respect for old people and to have the opportunity to personally relate to people much older than him. When children realize the wealth of knowledge, wisdom and experience that can be passed from one generation to another, and the mentors they have in their elders, they set themselves up to live rich and fulfilling lives.

Sunday School Craft

I thought this was cute. They made these stand-up crosses and then decorated them how they liked in Sunday School yesterday. I love G's message...cute misspellings and all! :-)

I-Can't-Wait-to-Grow-Up Syndrome

Translation: I wish I was a grown up so that I could do what I want like eat whatever I want and just do what I want so that is why I want to be a grown up.

Spool Knitting

G was looking at my current knitting project today and asked if I'd teach him to knit. I remember my mom teaching me to spool knit when I was little, and I thought it would be fun to try it. I don't have any spools around the house, so I had to get creative and make one from what we had...a toilet paper tube, some craft sticks, and some good old fashioned duct tape! Here's a picture of our home made spool:

I added the duct tape tips to the sticks so the yarn wouldn't slip off so easily. And here is how our project looks so far:
Here's a video on how to spool knit just in case you are like me and have forgotten how to do it.

Cat Math and Sneaky Multiplication

G has been into earning money by doing extra jobs around the house lately. He's excited to be able to spend his earned money they way we wants to. I'm happy that he's learning to save toward a goal, and that it takes work to earn money. He's also starting to understand what his money is worth, and how to read price tags. It's all good!

Yesterday he surprised me when he told me that in order to collect 7 stuffed cats (he loves cats!), he'd need to buy 4 more (since he has already bought 3), and that would mean spending $20 (since they are $5 each). Seriously...how can a 5-year-old possibly be doing this?

Daddy bought him a write-on/wipe-off place mat last night with multiplication facts on it. They did a few together, and G was so excited and was actually understanding it! Then, after being tucked in for the night, he got it back out so he could do his numbers in bed. I think it's absolutely hilarious that he thinks he's getting away with something by sneaking in some bedtime multiplication by night light. LOL!

300

We're in the middle of a math growth spurt. Out of nowhere, G will make declarations like, "5+5+3 is 13" or "2 and a half hours is 5 half-hours". The other day he sat at the table during lunch and counted to 300. It's fun to see what he comes up with...what new realization reveals itself to him. All without a set math curriculum. Little minds are amazing!

Bible Timeline for Kids

I just found this wonderful Bible timeline! This is a great way for kids to see the chronological order of their Bible stories! I can't wait to print this out, color it together and put it up in our school room!

Real Kids Readers

I just found this series of early readers in our library and we LOVE it!! It is so exciting to see G reading through these and building confidence! I think what he loves most about them is the pictures. They are of real kids his age doing fun things and being silly.

For the Love of Math

When Daddy asked G what he liked to learn best, G's reply was, "Math!" Today we did a few simple addition and subtraction problems on his white board, then G wanted to do the writing. He wrote:

100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
+100
_____
1200

Following his lead, I showed him how to work a double and triple digit addition problem. I don't know that it stuck, but exposure is the key right now, and I'm excited about it. It's amazing where kids can go if we let them hold the reigns every once in a while.

Behavior Jar

Someone on one of my yahoo groups posted this today and G loved the idea. We took a small jar and pasted on some tissue paper squares with watered down Elmer's glue. Each time I notice G doing something helpful, kind, or having a good attitude, he gets to put a marble in the jar. Whenever I see him whining, complaining or being disobedient, we take a marble out of his jar. When he collects 25 marbles, he gets a quarter.

We've only had the jar for a couple of hours, but they have been a couple of the most helpful, cooperative hours we've ever had! Let's see how long this lasts!

Microscope Fun!

We got the microscope out today and took a peek at some things Grandma sent from Georgia. We looked at Grandma's dog's hair, Grandma's hair, Grandpa's hair and a leg from a GA spider. G drew out what each thing looked like under the microscope and we e-mailed his observations to Grandma so she could see it too.

The Duchess Bakes a Cake - Science

On Friday we made bread dough to see the rising effect of the yeast.