Lucy -
September was our first full month homeschooling you and along with what you learned from our curriculum you also picked up the following new skills:
1. You made your own peanut butter and jelly sandwich... gathered the ingredients, spread the peanut butter and the jelly and cut the sandwich. I think it tasted better to you than anything you had eaten before.
2. You rode your bike for one full mile around our neighborhood. Still in training wheels but you had never shown interest on the bike when all of a sudden you hopped on it and went. There's even a decent little hill that made you work hard. You wanted to stop so bad but we ask you to try and persevere and you did. You were all sweaty and red when you got to the top but you did it! Your endurance is improving daily and you can now follow us on our walks with your bike which is so much better (for me) than pushing a double stroller.
3. You have experienced a big change when it comes to relating with babies. You've never been a baby lover... you never even owned baby dolls. Jenna was the first one to play with one in our house but for the last few months every time you see a baby you get really excited and go out of your way to ask the Mom for their name and their eye color ;) This makes me so excited for the time you meet your own little brother. You talk about him tons... so much that at times I get confused and think you are referring to a friend you've known for a long time.
Other recent accomplishments include:
1. Memorizing the "words to remember" for each of the 6 lessons we have done. I know it's not much but it's made me notice how easy memorization comes to you (and probably most other children) so I'm not as afraid of asking you to remember things. For some reason, I never felt comfortable making you memorize before.
2. You learned the sequence of the months by singing a song to the tune of 12 little Indians. This skill has more benefits than meets the eye because now you have a better grasp of the future. You understand that your sister's birthday is not until February so we still have to go through November, December and January to get there. It has helped with patience and other little skills as well. I wish I would have taught you sooner. Next on this category is learning the sequence of the days... I know it sounds weird that I didn't start with that but I just chose months over days... no particular reasoning there. You know that "yesterday" means past but you use the word to talk about a day ago or a year ago. Same with "tomorrow"... it could be a day from Today or next year. We'll have to tackle that one too... One thing at a time.
3. You continue to like the MFW curriculum but are not as enthusiastic to do the 4 or 5 worksheets included in the lessons. You'd rather do the little science experiments, crafts, readings, or hands on activities. This is new 'cause you used to love worksheets. I guess when you compare it to the other fun stuff you get to do, it's not as exciting. Charlotte Mason based programs like MFW are very light on worksheets and sit down/paper-pencil work so this reinforces my decision to go with this method as opposed to others that are heavy on worksheets. Our little neighbors came home from Kindergarten the first week with dozens and dozens of worksheets they had done all day at school. I couldn't believe how much paper work they have them do. I guess it's the easiest way to keep kids sitting down and busy.
4. You have become very interested in spiritual matters and you ask some really good and deep questions about Jesus, His death, prayer, sin, the Bible, etc. I never know what you'll ask first and I often have to pray for wisdom because although I know the answers I do not how to put them in context that you will understand. It's exciting though... I love to talk to you about God! I can always expect a question from you when we are driving and listening to worship music. Here are some of the questions you've asked:
- Why did Jesus die?
- How old is Jesus?
- Can I climb a really long ladder to get to heaven?
- Did I shine the light of Jesus Today?
- How can I talk to Jesus?
- Will I hear His voice? (talk about a hard question to answer!)
Mom
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