I can't believe more than two months have gone by and I haven't posted a thing. Things have been crazy and busy and hectic and exhausting. So pretty typical. We have been reorganizing the house and doing some minor repairs, moving furniture around, trying to make the house easier and less cluttered. Because of this I haven't been doing much in the way of actual planning or overt teaching. This goes against my teacher training, and makes me feel like I am not doing everything I can to be a great teacher or great mom. However it hit me today, that really the kids are still learning so much. They are breaking words into syllables, and are both writing their names.
A wise person once told me that when asked how to know if you are "doing it right", meaning parenting marriage etc., the answer is always, YOU AREN"T! You are never doing it "right" no matter how hard you try. But doing your best and always showing your child that you love and respect them is more important than getting it all right. I have tried to live by this, and remember that anything I try to do is better than nothing, and that no matter what I show my kids and husband love and respect.
Now to explain how the kids learned to break words down into syllables, picture us at family dinner. CJ, Eliza, me, Rich and my parents. The kids are singing "Shave and a Haircut, two bits." They were replacing two bits with other numbers and words. When they got up to seven they wanted to know why it didn't sounds right. I explained that there were too many syllables, and I explained what a syllable is, a chunk of a word that has a vowel sound. We then started finding out the syllables in everybody's names, and now they count syllables in all sorts of words. And all because I listened to their question. I respected them enough to pay attention and recognize a teachable moment. Granted most dinners are not full of this insight on my part, but I am so glad that I was on the ball that night.
Both of the kids are coloring every day, holding their writing utensils correctly and enjoying practicing letters. Eliza writes her name everywhere and it is actually recognizable most times. She wants to learn to do everything at once though. She wants to learn to tie shoes, but isn't able to yet, and this frustrates her to no end. Of course her over-dramatic whining about it frustrates me to no end. CJ gets frustrated because his letters don't look perfect, or look all the same size. I feel terrible how he gets upset about not being perfect. I have never encouraged perfectionism, and don't expect it. I make a point to say that all I want is best trying. I want a good attitude and good listening, and to always try your best. How else can I convince him that his efforts are wonderful, even if they don't look exactly perfect? I praise both of them whenever they try and tell them how proud I am of their improvements. I guess there are far worse things to complain about with a 4 year old than perfectionism.
We count everyday, and both kids can count to 100, though Eliza needs help to stay with it. They both add up to 10 easily, far more easily than I could ever hope. CJ is even pretty good at simple subtraction. They are both so interested in learning anything they can. They love going to the library, however I feel that they get very little out of the classes there. The teachers don't encourage question asking or prediction making about the stories. I have always encouraged that because it is a sign of good readers to comment on the story, predict what will happen next, and ask questions that the story might answer. I don't want them to just sit and listen without interaction. I don't feel it is good for a group of young children to sit idle and quiet that long. And I don't like my kids getting in trouble because the librarian won't let me come into the room to keep them quiet. So I think we will not be attending the bulk of the library classes. I just don't know what other types of classes or activities would be good to get them interacting with other children of their age level. Any suggestions would be appreciated!
I know I promised pictures of the new and improved school room, and I haven't forgotten. We actually just finished adding more cabinets this week, so I will try and post some pics tomorrow after I clean up the aftermath of putting everything together, and reorganizing. Tomorrow I am going to plan some autumnal and Thanksgiving themed crafts for the next couple of weeks. Again, suggestions welcomed! I promise to try and update more frequently. Hope you are all well.
