Homeschool Preschool - Weeks 13, 14, 15

If you think that we haven't been learning anything because I've been slacking on writing blog posts, you're wrong.  On the contrary, I think L and E (40 months) have hit a sweet spot for problem solving, so I've been setting up a lot of different types of thinking problems.  Here's what we've been up to...



Homeschool Preschool Week 13 was a week off for us for Thanksgiving break.  Usually I try to integrate some learning activities into our vacations, but I was completely engrossed in a new idea I came up with for the educational software project I've been working on so I ended up working on code and image editing the whole week while the girls played on their own and watched (way too much) television.  We did have a great Thanksgiving, though..

 

L helped me prepare many of the side dishes and even learned to crack eggs by herself.  She also had a wonderful time rolling out the dough for pumpkin pie.

The highlight of the week for the kids was going on the Polar Express Train to the North Pole to pick up Santa.  It was quite an exciting adventure for them. 

 

Back at home with our regularly scheduled Preschool sessions, we've been playing a lot of games and building, building, building.  I've been so engaged in the kids' activities that I've been forgetting to snap pictures, so I'll share what I have and then remember to post about the rest of the activities later (luckily, we typically repeat a successful activity over and over so I'll have chances to photograph the things I missed).

 

The girls are doing great at spelling and reading.  When we got back from our vacation I announced that I'm sure they had forgotten how to read because they didn't read at all when we were away.  They were excited to prove me wrong and asked to read words all week so they could see my surprised expression when they did it correctly!

 

E is getting really good at blending sounds together to read CVC words and L has now advanced to words with digraphs.  Both are still doing the phonics approach for reading all words and aren't really recognizing words without sounding them out (well I think they probably recognize them, they're just conditioned to sound everything out.. I'll put together some whole-word games soon). 

When I was making my homemade checkerboard out of duct tape, I first put together a weaving board for L by taping the strips to a cardboard box.  She really enjoyed this activity (E wasn't interested).

The checkers game was supposed to be a holiday present, but I was excited to introduce the kids to checkers, so we've already played a couple rounds.  Both girls mostly understand the rules.  They aren't developing strategies yet, but I'm sure that will come in time (since they're only 3).  I get so much joy out of playing checkers with them, and I think that my enthusiasm is contagious because they're constantly asking to play.

 

In math, we've been playing a lot with number conservation (and conservation of math), set theory, sequences, and other more advanced skills cleverly disguised as games (I'll go into more detail in another blog post after I take more pictures).

Of course there has been lots of art, cooking, and general creativity.  Check out what L made completely independently while I was playing with Baby H - these kids never cease to amaze me!

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