Number Review

This week during our school time we worked on just review the numbers we have learned. I also incooperated some fun activies. With summer around the corner I did not want to start anything new right now.

Daddy was home one day with us during school time so we divided and conquered. I worked with Ryan, while Daddy to Zach to work on shapes and puzzles.

Ryan worked on some number stuff and then he did some puzzles. I am trying to get him comfortable with the more complicated puzzles. He did really good with them and with more practice soon he will not need my help.

Number 9 and 10

This past week we worked on the numbers 9 and 10. I only add 10, because he already could recognize it and I knew he would not confuse the two. He did really well, this week with his school work. As we go on it is getting easier.

I am still trying to decide what to do about summer. I don't want to get out of our routine to much. So I am thinking of keeping it light and fun but still have to education in there.

Here he is playing with his new dominoes. He had to put the right number of dominoe's on the cards.



What we have been doing at School Time

I know I have not posted lately what are school weeks have been like, but I have to say they are getting better. Ryan loves to do his work and never complains. Right now because we are only focusing on numbers we usually spend about 30-45 mins. a day. I am very impressed at how far he has come. We were stuck on numbers 1-6 for a while, because we were having trouble with the numbers 4 and 6. But now we are moving right along. Last week focused on 7 and this week 8. Next week, we will start on 9. I have a feeling we will be spending a little more time on this number.

I have also started to incorporate some Zach learning time into are day. Nothing really structured, just working on colors, shapes, and playing with blocks. He really seems to enjoy it and will hopefully be able to set up some kind a structure for the fall.

Both boy love art time. I try to save doing our art time for Fridays and make Friday's fun day.

Here are some pics of what we have been doing.

Numbers Continued...

This week we continued to work on our numbers. We are still having trouble with the number 4, but are getting there. We also introduced the number 6. We did many different activities that worked on our recognition of these numbers. This week I was very bad when it came to finding different things for school. Chris has told me I have to pace my self and slow down. I didn't get a lot of pics, but here are some with our new counting bears and our new Melissa and Doug pattern boards.

This week Zach got to color for the first time. I know what took me so long. Well, he have tried to do other art stuff with him, but everything always ended up in his mouth. This time he did very good and even colored on the page. I think that it helped that the picture was of Mickey Mouse, which his new obsession right now.

Taking a step back

The last couple of days have been rough for us when it comes to working with Ryan on his numbers. We have been reviewing the numbers 1-8 and doing ok with it. He still has some trouble with some numbers. Our biggest challenge come when we try to go trough flash cards and ask him the numbers. He get very defiant, starts guessing and fidgeting. After two night of this and everyone getting frustrated, Chris and I sat down to talk after the boys went to bed about it and what to do to keep this from happening. When we decided to do preschool at home, I wanted it to be a fun experience with some structure and learning involved. This was not the road I wanted to be on. So Chris and I decided to stop the quizzing with the flash cards and go back to work with just the numbers 1-5 till he gets all those. Really, we are working with just 4 and 5, because he has 1-3 down pat. Today, when we sat down to do school time, it went much better. He started with his new number puzzle, then did his magnet pages for 4 and 5. After that we did these number sequencing puzzles I had made and then followed it up with a game of memory with the numbers 1-5. And since Ryan won the memory game he got to pick a prize out of the prize bucket. He really liked that.

I have to say we did a lot better today and hopefully this path can continue. I plan to introduce the number 6 again next week.

I tried to upload what the sequencing puzzles looked like, but it wouldn't work. So here is Mr. Zach doing his animal sound puzzle.

The # 7 and Popsicle's

This post will have me official caught up.

Our weekend was pretty laid back. Chris was teaching Fire school all weekend, so the boys and I hung around the house. We did go visit him on Saturday afternoon and went to dinner with him and the rest of the instructors and their families. All in all we had a pretty good weekend.

Today, we worked on learning the number 7. I am finding hard right now to keep Ryan's interest and to keep him focused. We had a very challenging day of following the rules. I can see a slight break in it, but by far today has been the worst. Hopefully, it won't last much longer.

After doing our school, the boys played inside while I made lunch and then they went down for naps. Ryan again did not nap today, which is becoming a frequent occurrence. I know he is getting older so the rule is he must rest till I tell him it is time to get up. While they were resting I started working on catching up on my blog. I am so happy that I am finally caught up. I hopefully can make it work into our schedule to post every evening after the boys have gone to bed.

After nap, they boys went outside to play with Daddy and eat Popsicle's. They truly enjoyed them and the time the spent playing with Daddy.

The # 5

Today we worked on the # 5. We did some of our usual things working with stuff that only has the number on it and he has to tell me the number. I am still dealing with whole guessing or now he even tries stalling. It is so hard sometimes, because I want to make it fun for him but until we break through this battle of who has control. It is going to be trying on us both. I just remind myself to stay strong and not give up or give in.

Zach has decided that he wants to do school to. So he sits at the Mickey Mouse table and works on get the things to pop up. And just like Ryan, when he gets frustrated he brings it to me to do. It makes me smile to see how much Zach looks up to Ryan.

 Ryan working with the new magnets we got this afternoon. He was so excited to try them out.

After working on school for a while, we headed over to the Gibbon's house so the kids could play and Tiffany and I could discuss about getting together once a week and doing school together with the kids. I am so excited about this, because it will give both boys a chance to learn how to interact with others and learn from someone else. Are plan is to do projects based on the letter we are working on that week. We want to keep it fun, but educational at the same time. So if anyone has any good crafts or things to do for any letter let me know, as I will be needing ideas.

Working on the # 4

After finding the preschool curriculum and looking through the lesson plans I noticed that it did not focus on learning number recognition also. So last week we started working on numbers 1, 2, and 3. Ryan picked up on those really fast and enjoyed doing the different activities. This week we are going to focus on the numbers 4, 5, and 6 with a review of the numbers we already learned.

Today, we started with the # 4. We started out by introducing the number and then he did some lacing of the number 4. After that we did flash cards and our number wheel where he has to match the clothes pin with the number on it to the right set on dots on the wheel. We also do magnet pages. He really likes those.

 Ryan does this thing of guessing and asking instead of  looking and recognizing. So we will have to continue to work with him on this, because it gets very frustating when he does this. This number seems to have given Ryan some trouble. So I tryed to incoorperate the number into our day by making our sandwhich into the number 4 and making 4 of them. At snack time we had Froot Loops so we glued them to a number 4 and then he had the leftovers as his snack. He really enjoyed this so I am really going to have to get my creative side going.

Zach enjoying his Froot Loops

Hopefully, the rest of the week will go a little better, as fas as Ryan learning that when it is time to do school he does not get to call the shots and must follow directions.