The Daring Letter D Among Other Things

Although this week is devoted to the daring letter D, we have mostly been enjoying spooky stories, as selected by Aidyn. He's at an age where the safe spook of a story thrills him, and hearing the creepy narrations (voiced both by David and I), bubbles him up with excitement.

As it turns out, we moved away from letter units and focused more on a singular subject from that letter. For instance, I made a vague connection with D by selecting books about the dark. All of the books chosen pertain to darkness though not all repeat the word enough to cement the phonetic sound of D. It doesn't bother me; I prefer this kind of learning. Our letter units might stay, and they might not. I may select a specific subject (or ask Aidyn to) that begins with that letter, but drilling the phonetics is not the priority.

This week, I have also selected our kindergarten curriculum that we'll be starting in August (if Aidyn were born just 29 days early, he'd be in public kindergarten this August). After much research, reading, comparing and contrasting, we have settled on Five In a Row (FIAR). Focusing on literature, it also introduces geography, ethics, values, science, history, and such. At the core of it is the joy of reading and the kindling of the warm connection that reading together provides. Since I've selected the curriculum, I have been hunting for the supplemental books for steals. I found a handful yesterday for about 75 cents each! My goal is to find the rest of the books (or make sure the library has them) by August.

Yesterday evening, I also introduced Aidyn to a new math manipulative called a Geoboard. The concept is simple enough. One one side of the board are pegs in the shape of a square with several pegs on the inside; on the flip side, the pegs formed a circle with one peg in the center. The idea is to stretch rubber bands on the pegs. Aidyn soon learned that he can make a straight line with a rubber band. Then, he discovered that pulling the rubber band to a new peg created a triangle. Playing with the geoboard, Aidyn experimented with different shapes (some I didn't even know the names of!) and made "pizza slices" with the circle side. At this stage, my only motive is to familiarize him with geometric shapes and lay the foundation for mathematics. I hope that this hands-on approach will help him grow to like and understand mathematics.

Homeschool Mornings

Yesterday, Aidyn and I had a lovely homeschool morning. Because we have been talking about St. Patrick's Day coming up, I broke out our decorations and let him have at them. He tried on the shamrock antennae and Irish hat and ran around the house. We even did our tablework decorated for St. Patrick's Day.

Aidyn did a quick run-through of the alphabet song, we talked about some letters, and then we did our artist study for the first time. I checked out a children's art book that focuses on Vincent Van Gogh. Yesterday morning, I selected a page for us to look at, which happened to be his "Pear Tree in Blossom" painting. Armed with his sketchpad, I asked him to look at the picture and tell me his thoughts. Every observation I wrote down. He said many interesting things and made careful observations. For example, he said that the pear tree had no leaves on it, only flowers, so it must be springtime in the picture. This is an exercise that I would like to make a habit. Eventually I would like him to even sketch the painting himself on his sketchpad and write his own observations. But this is a good way for him to become familiar with later exercises.

After we finished the art observation, Aidyn and I played with his tangram pieces which is an assortment of right triangles of differing sizes, squares, and parallelograms (we have more than the usual 7 pieces). I am using this particular set as an introduction to mathematics, geometry, and tangible puzzles. It is an excellent way for him to learn his shapes and how to manipulate these shapes to make pictures or other shapes. When we played with them, there were no set rules; we simply messed around with them. He ended up joining two triangles to make a square, and upon flipping it around, he said that he made a diamond and a kite. We made pictures with the pieces also. For example, I made a rocket ship and Aidyn made two houses with roofs. We pretended that my rocket ship was sailing over his houses. I am hoping that this kind of math play encourages Aidyn to like math more than tolerate it.

We have also been filling our home with Johannes Brahms. He is actually on an assortment CD, so we've also revisited Mozart and Bach. Listening to classical music these last months has brought a certain calmness and tranquility to our home, and I love that Aidyn is getting samplings of some of the finest composers. Later when we do more in-depth studies of them, he'll already be familiar with their music.

Math, Letters, and the Hope for Good Weather

Despite this being a crazy-busy, post-Disneyland week, we were surprisingly able to get some things done! During the morning, Aidyn and I played with his math manipulatives, practiced counting, adding, subtracting, and grouping by color. We also played with pretend money. Counting pennies, we worked on simple addition and subtraction. After explaining how a dime stands in place for ten pennies, we counted in tens, which was new for Aidyn. Once we counted to 100, I would hand him a pretend dollar. He suggested that he "buy" stuff, so he ran to his room to choose "merchandise" to put up for sale. He decided that he wanted to buy a truck for five dollars, so we counted out dimes in tens until reaching 100, five times. I'm so glad that he loves playing with math manipulatives and is using the pieces and information practically before he sees abstract addition problems.

We also have been working on his letters. Using our blue pocket chart with alphabet cards displayed on it, we sing the alphabet and point to each letter as we go. Then I have him playfully identify random letters. He usually gets 23/26 correct, and the other three he answers after hearing clues like the phonetic sound or what word starts with that letter, for example.

If the weather decides to get less miserable and wet, I would like to take Aidyn on a small hike to observe the trees, new buds, and saplings.

Purchasing Power!

This week, Aidyn and I have been playing with an assortment of math manipulatives. Before we actually put serious meaning to them, I wanted him to have a chance playing with them. His favorite has become the pretend money, both paper and coin. Following his lead, this week we are learning about money, in its most basic sense.

On Monday, while on an outing to the snow with friends, we stopped at Andy's Mountain Deli and Grill. After eating, Aidyn requested a lollipop, and I consented because I thought it would be a good opportunity to let Aidyn "pay" for it himself. I gave him a dollar and basic instructions on how to interact with the cashier. He plopped his lollipop on the counter, handed the dollar bill to the lady as she said, "Twenty-five cents!" When she returned his change, Aidyn grabbed his newly purchased lollipop. The first thing he said once he bought it was, "I'm going to tell Grandma that I bought a lollipop!"

That evening, when we returned home, we played with the lot of math manipulatives but spent the most time playing with the money. I gathered items for me to "sell" to Aidyn while he had all the pretend money. I would then ask him what he wanted to buy. Once he picked something, I told him the cost.

I changed up the prices on several items so he could practice different ways of paying. Even when he ran out of dollar bills, I showed him how to make a dollar using his pretend dimes. In my eyes, we didn't focus too much on the seriousness of understanding money. Instead we played. Through this playful interaction, he picked up monetary vocabulary and etiquette for purchasing goods. I would like to take him on a field trip to a store and have us pay extra attention to price tags. I may give him an amount to spend and let him figure out what he can and cannot afford by reading price tags.