BREAK THROUGH!

Friday last week was an amazing time-schoolwise! Turbo, although begged and pleaded to play computer games first before school, "caved in" and did some table work with me. At first, he was reluctant, but really got into the groove.

We have completed the entire alphabet for capital letters, and are progressing on to the lower case letters. Today's letter was "v". After finishing "v", he decided to continue on to the letter "w". One completed, and practice work was completed, we took to the window with window crayons. We worked on reviewing of letters and numbers and I even through in some number words (two, ten, etc.), each met with no fit or defiance!

Back to the table and it was review of our vocab words. Although his up to like 50 now, we don't review them all, I choose some he knows and then some he struggles with. After that, we read, "Where's Spot?". I am completely aware that he is probably "reading" from rote memory and definitely using picture clues, but he believes that he is "reading" a book. When he asked to read, "Spot Sleeps Over", I was hesitant, but he wanted to so badly. We introduced more words, and he sounded each word out. A lot of sight words were there, so I will probably begin using the 100 word sight list shortly. He did great!

Because he was self-regulated, he didn't bat an eye when I asked him to do some math. Giving him 10 problems of simple addition facts (all under 5 - 4+4, 5+1, 5+4) and using his fingers and nose to count he completed 10 facts in under 2 minutes! Not bad for a young 5-year-old! He completed the math session with practicing writing numbers, then it was off to the computer for some JumpStart games.

I took a long, hot shower while Tank slept.

Handwriting W/O Tears - 1st lesson

Since our morning plans were foiled to hang out with some friends and (for my sanity sake - mommas), during Tank's nap, Turbo and I did our first lesson in the Handwriting Without Tears program. I had been looking over it to see how we could implement it into our day. We listen to the cute songs in the car while we are driving, which incidentally, there seems to be A LOT of driving time lately. This song we have been focusing on because Turbo seems to struggle with remembering that letters begin at the top, instead of where he usually starts them, at the bottom.

While Tanks slept and it being a beautiful day outside, we laid on the grass in the crunchy leaves and began practicing our Pencil Pick-Ups. We tried different tricks to pick up the "pencil", which was a crayon, so that it sat correctly in his fingers. Then we finished the already drawn pictures in his workbook. By lying on his tummy, he was able to sit still longer to work. He also was able to strengthen his core.




Next, we moved on to the letter "F". I showed him how the wooden manipulatives could help him create the letters on the blue mat while using the happy face at the top - hence the song - start your letters at the top.

He made the letter "F" with the manipulatives, and then we moved on to the small chalk board. Here, he watches me write the letter first (WATCH). Then he uses a small sponge to clean it off (WET). Then uses a paper towel to dry it off (DRY). Finally, it is his turn to write it (TRY). This process allows him to have the repetitiveness that he needs to learn the letters rather than doing copy work all day long.

Then we moved on to the sidewalk. I drew pictures as he was to guess what letter started with the object, i.e. Ball, Cat, Pig, Kite, Dog, Truck, Ant, etc. I would write the word leaving out the first letter, then he was to fill it in. This lasted for quite some time, actually.

Then we snuck off and played in the crunchy leaves for a bit.

Afterwards, we cleaned up our stuff and went inside to work on the computer. Someone shared with me this website: http://www.abcya.com that has age-appropriate games for different levels, along with some fun holiday games too.