09/21/09-09/25/09 Update!

This week has been a fun one! As I already posted, Creston decided to spell his name to me in the grocery store and then he got all creative and read his favorite book to his Daddy! He's such a sweet little guy with a BIG imagination! It amazes both his Daddy and me just what he can come up with! He will think up all of these stories and he will start telling them and will add as he goes! His stories could last for days if we didn't tell him to "continue" it later! Hate to stop him, and hope that it doesn't damage his creative tendencies, but it hasn't seemed to yet!

We're taking Creston to an Appalachian State University Football game tomorrow! That will be something! Hope that the weather holds out for us!

Creston "Read" Mommy & Daddy a book!

O.k.....once again, I'm posting, but this was also really neat!! Last night, Daddy read the book "The Fire Engine Book" to Creston & Mackie. After Mackie went to bed, Creston climbed into bed with Daddy and decided that he would "read" the book to Daddy!

Mark starting pecking on the bedroom wall to get my attention so I would come from the living room into the bedroom...after getting in the bedroom, Mark said sit down and let Creston read his book to you! I sat down, and he promptly started reading. Now................he does NOT know how to read yet, BUT....he was hitting the nail pretty much on the head while "reading" to us! He said "Clang-Clang" & "Crank-Crank" where the book said it and he pretty much told us word for word what was on the pages. Now....this book has REALLY good pictures, but to be able to remember almost word for word the story blew my mind! We haven't read it to him enough for him to have memorized it, but maybe he's got Mark's brain after all!! (Hopefully!) Mark can remember ANYTHING about ANYTHING for ever and ever! Oh!!! If he does have a good memory like that, just think of the possibilities! A Parent can dream!!

Anyway.....I'm just documenting these really neat achievements that we are excited about!!! :o)

(Again, just bragging a little bit!!) :o) If you know me, then you know that I usually do NOT brag about much of anything unless I'm just really super-excited about it!!!

YAYAYAYAYAY!!!

Creston SPELLED his name!!!

I know that I posted that I would only be doing a "weekly roundup" of everything accomplished during the week, but this was too good not to have a post of it's own!!!

Yesterday, in the grocery store, I was pushing Creston through the store in the little Fire Truck shopping Cart (Mackie stayed at home with Nana while I took Creston with me to the dentist). We stopped in the Frozen food section for a minute and Creston popped his head up and said "A-R-E-S-T-O-N" smiled and looked completely pleased with himself! I fumbeled in my mind as to what he had spelled and realized that he was 1 letter away from his own name! I said "OH!!! If you change that A to a C, then you'll be spelling CRESTON!!!" He stopped and then looked at me again and said "C-R-E-S-T-O-N!!!!" He really WAS was tickeled then! I clapped and said "YAYAYAYAY!!!!!" There was another lady in the aisle and she just smiled at us. She didn't know what he had just done!

He later spelled his name for NANA, and then after Daddy got off work, he spelled it for him too!!! We are all so excited!!! :o)

Here's a picture to mark the occasion!!!

Good Job, Little Man!!! We're so proud of you!!! (and yes......I am bragging......just a little!!)

Weekly Wrap-up 9/18/09

Since everything seems to be repitition, and I'm sure no one wants to look at repeated pictures of Creston drawing or cutting paper, I will do a weekly wrap-up and sum up what we worked on for the week!

No pictures for this one either! Aaagghhh!!! (For those of you that know me, that is HIGHLY unusual for me!)

This week we spent digging potatoes, working some more on the Alphabet and letter recognition...working with Creston on his B's and V's which all come out sounding like B's ~ Violin sounds like Biolin and vroom sounds like broom...

I introduced the color PINK and worked more on getting him to recognize Purple...we have a Barney doll and a Pink clothes hanger, so I would hold each up and when asking about the Purple, I would stomp and say "PUR-PLE!" like Barney was stomping around (which we ALL know that Barney has NEVER stomped a day in his life, but it was a good visual!) For the pink, I would hold up the hanger and say "Pink, pink, you stink!" I realize that this may cause some kind of mess in the future, but if he'll remember Pink, then I'm fine with it!

He painted some more & worked on his 1000 piece John Deere Tractor puzzle. He's actually getting really good with the bigger piece puzzles, and when we work on his tractor puzzle together, he's becomming more aware of what he needs to be looking at/for when putting the pieces together! He's doing really well!! :o)

Thursday, we went to MOPS and he had a GREAT time! This was the second time this year (Mack HATED it, but Creston was all about needing to get to "His Class!" I was proud of him, the little booger! He was all excited about everything that they had done in "Class"! They played Basketball and made a picture with glue and tissue paper squares and watched a video! It was a whole weeks worth of stuff rolled into a 2 1/2 hour period! I was sooooo happy that he was happy! We might need to leave Mackie at home for the next MOPS meeting.... :o(

Today, we worked on counting a bit....he's got a big fire truck poster and we counted the trucks together. He's got 1-12 down pat, but then skips 13, goes straight to 14, 17, 18, 16, 19, 20!!!!! 15 is lost somewhere in never-never land....I need to find it! He's VERY adament that this is how the numbers go! We'll have to do some serious work on that, but he'll get it in time!

It's really been amazing to me how quickly Creston and even Mackie picks stuff up when we aren't even trying to get them to learn something! Earlier today, Mackie had a pretend Doctor's blood pressure cuff and he had placed it on his ankle...he pumped the little hand-pump a time or two, then looked at the dial, looked at me and proclaimed that "I got a heag-ake!" I said "What?" He looked at me as though he had just discovered a GREAT thing and said rather definately "I got a heag-ake!!!" ripped off the cuff, and stomped off into another room! Little feller! They are so cute when they are little!

I never pushed Creston with the potty training thing...I figured that he'd get it in time...his Nana, however would work with him when he was at her house....after many months of going back and forth between pull-ups and diapers, we finally bought "big boy underwear" and put him in those. Other than night-time accidents, he's been doing pretty good ever since! We've got him in a pull-up at night, but he promptly puts his underwear on in the mornings with his clothes, and the pull-up is most always dry! When the last few run out, we hopefully won't be buying any more of those! YAY!!

I've rambled enough now. It's time to end the day now. We've got a big weekend planned with a 21st b-day party for my niece tomorrow and then a 34th b-day party for my husband on Sunday! Party-party!! :o)

See you all next Friday!

Diggin' Potatoes!

Today was another day that didn't really allow for "structured" learning. We dug potatoes for most of the day today, so that was pretty much our day! We did get in some alphabet recognition this morning before going to the garden, but other than that, we did "hands-on" learning today!


The boys had a great time playing outside and the weather was PERFECT!!!

Better get outside while we can! The leaves are starting to turn and it'll soon be too cold to go out anymore until next spring!!

Friday!

Today was an end to our first week of home pre-schooling it! It was a good week.....I've learned many things myself already this week!

1. Creston is already the smartest kid I know! (I know, I'm biased!)

2. Creston does "school" better earlier than after 10:00am.

3. He has the attention span of a hyper ant!

4. He focuses really great one minute and can remember just about anything you ask of him, but the next minute, he can't remember a thing.

5. I'm going to have to take it in small increments and work at HIS pace, expecially since we aren't racing against the clock or anything ~ if he gets something, GREAT, only THEN will we move on...if he doesn't get something, then we need to stick to that and only that until he does get it. I need to throw out my great plans for getting through his alphabet all in 1 week, and have him reading by next week! That isn't going to happen! :o) (I did have grand dreams, though, didn't I?) Silly mommy!

He loves hands on stuff! He LOVES anything NEW! He LOVES having my one on one attention! And I LOVE HIM!!!! :o)

This morning, I printed off the Alphabet after I typed it up on one sheet for us to look at while singing the Alphabet. I had the printouts of each letter, but flipping them to the music was a bit aggravating. This way, we can sing, and I can point to each letter as we go! Hopefully this is a good way to help him recognize the letters as we say each one. I'll let you know how that goes! I REALLY would love it if he could at least recognize the letters in his name by the end of the month, but I won't hold my breath and we'll see what happens!

Our day was pretty much the same as the rest of the week...we did the Alphabet, shapes, numbers 1-5, & cutting! He STILL lives to cut!

Now we'll rest over the weekend!!! See you next week everyone!!!

Cutting Shapes and Using the Glue Stick!

Mark is home with us today, so our routine got a bit out of order while Creston went with Daddy to help in the wood shop for a little bit this morning. When he came back, though, he was excited to learn something else, so off we went! Our computer has been acting up quite a bit lately, so I didn't get to print off any new work-sheets, but we used what I had already printed off. We went over letters A-F again, and he can recognize A & C! YAY!! (Except for when Mark quizzed him, and then he couldn't remember much of anything which made me feel like a worthless pile of goo.....) Anyway..........

We went over the writing of the letters A-F again and he actually tried it today! I told him that I just knew he could do it if he tried and he did! He had a little difficulty understanding that he needed to stay within the lines while writing, but other than that, I was tickeled pink with how well he did!

Lastly, I drew some shapes onto construction paper and let him cut some of them out (I helped cut some out since he was getting aggravated), and then we broke out the glue stick (Purple!!) and I let him stick them onto his paper however he wanted to! He liked that! He didn't want them to overlap, though, so he put the black shapes onto the back of his page! (Note that Mackie joined us today in his High Chair! He brought his book to read and sat there and read/watched as we worked on this last project!)

All in all, it was a good day!!!

Tracing Letters & Counting Fun!

O.k. so now I've found this great little site called Read Today. It's a neat little site that offers a great list of printables for letters, numbers, colors, shapes, and some short words!

Today, I printed off letters A-F for Creston to focus on. He was able to trace the letters (see the pics. below). This was his first attempt at tracing, so he was a bit wobbly, but really did pretty good!

There was also a printout for letters A-F along with lines for practicing writing the letters. You can trace the letters first, then try your own hand at making them all by yourself. Creston did pretty good with the tracing, but was a bit intimidated with making them himself. I didn't push him. I don't want him to get frustrated with himself since he's new to this and it's not that big of a deal if he can't do it yet! That's what learning is all about! Learning how to do stuff and how to get better over time! (not sure you can see it, but the A towards the right hand of the page is his own "A"!)

I also printed off the numbers 1-5 and let him point and count to me how many stars were on each sheet! He did this very well (he had already been doing this for a while, though). The other blank-looking page in the picture below has the shapes of a circle, triangle, square, and star on it. He knew all of these, but had a hard time remembering the square. We'll keep at it! He'll remember them all before long!! And......lastly, I let him cut the coupons again! I have lots of these coupons books since K-mart just finished up with their double coupon event this past week. I figured they would be GREAT practice for helping him learn to cut straight lines! He LOVES cutting!!

What should children know before entering Kindergarten?

This is a BIG question that I know a lot of parents ask themselves! Living where I do, there are quite a few parents who are choosing to keep their children home in a Homeschool environment for at least the first major years of the children's lives, if not for the whole she-bang!

So......how do we know that our kids are competitive with the other kids who ARE attending public or private schools? Everyones ideas about "normal" are different, so what is it that we strive to teach our kids so that we know they will be able to handle themselves appropriately? (I'm talking about the pre-school aged kids, here! :o)

You google the info.! You google it and are bombarded with TONS of things that a child should know! Some kids are expected to know how to walk, talk, count, spell, read, speak a second language, do some basic cooking, do chores, and maybe even know how to play several musical instruments all before starting Kindergarten! Shew! I'm not even sure I can do all of that just yet myself!!

I applaud the parents/children that can accomplish all of that in such a short period of time. I however, can't seem to find two socks that match at the moment, so my expectations of what we will be ablet o teach Creston is a bit lower......still striving for excellence, but somewhat lowered expectations!

I did find the following list at this website: http://www.education.com/reference/article/Ref_What_your_child/

What Your Child Should Know and Be Able to Do Upon Entering Kindergarten

Care for Personal Needs
_Y_Can blow nose, cover sneeze
_N_Is independent in using the toilet (he can go by himself, but still needs help wiping)
_Y_Can wash own hands (Likes to wash his hands a little toooo muh, if you ask me!)
_Y_Can snap, button, zipper or belt own pants
_Y_Can take off and put on coat
_N_Can tie shoes (Working on this one)
_Y_Recognizes own possessions: jacket, lunchbox, etc. (Esp. if Mackie has something that is his!)
_Y_Can eat unassisted (doesn't LIKE to, but can)
_Y_Can use silverware
_Y_Will put away toys when asked (or if I tell him the Toy Fairy is coming to take them away)

Social
+/- Will listen to an adult and do as told (Ummmmmmm........sometimes)
_Y_Can cooperate with other children (if it is NOT his brother ~ sometimes)
_Y_Can play with other children without hitting or biting (however, they seem to like to hit)
_Y_Can sit for short periods (15 min.) (if watching Cartoons)
_Y_Can follow a rule (after being reminded 15 thousand times!)
_Y_Understands and follows oral directions

Intellectual
_Y_Shows an interest in books and reading
_Y_Holds book and turns pages correctly
_Y_Knows some songs, rhymes
_Y_Participates in rhyming games
_N_Identifies some letters (especially those in own name) (Working on this one too!)
_Y_Identifies labels and signs in the environment (McDonalds, Chick-fil-A, ect.)
_Y_Pretends to read and write
_Y_Knows first and last name
_N_Knows names of family members (we are still Mommy & Daddy)
_Y_Can tell about an experience (MOST DEFINATELY!!!)
_Y_Can tell and retell familiar stories
_Y_Can communicate personal needs
_Y_Has had a variety of experiences such as library, park, zoo, grocery store, post office
_Y_Can use crayons, pencil, scissors
_Y_Expresses ideas with drawings
_Y_Is willing to try to complete a task

Health
_Y_Has had all required immunizations
_Y_Has had a health check-up
_Y_Receives medical care when sick
_Y_Receives dental check-ups regularly
_Y_Eats at regular times each day
_Y_Gets eight or more hours of sleep at night
_Y_Can run, jump, climb, swing and use balls (Can't catch, but can do everything else!!)

So................looks like my little man isn't so far off the mark after all! The thing is, is that each child is different! No two are the same, so what works for mine may not work for anyone else's kid. It's all in how you do it and tailor the learning to YOUR child! :o)

Let's go see what we can learn today!!!

First Day of Home Pre-School!!!

We did it! I was actually able to show Creston several things today without him jumping up and saying "I'm DONE!" He even looked at me and said "I wish we could have School EVERY Day!" I looked at him and said..."Well, we can if you'd like!" He said "YIPPEE!!!"

(Hope that enthusiasm holds up!)

I got up when Mark did to leave for the Fire Department for Training this morning. I took the time before the kids woke up to get the dishes in the Dishwasher and the Laundry in the Washer/Dryer. Then everyone woke up and we ate breakfast and I got the boys clothes on...(I had done really well this morning and put MINE on first thing when I got up!!!)

I was all cheesy and made Creston sit on the front porch steps so I could get his "First Day of Pre-School" picture. Before doing anything else, I decided that Creston needs to learn responsibility along with everything else, so as I folded towels, he got to fold the washcloths! He did a VERY good job and even put them away for me without me asking! YAY!

As I posted yesterday, I printed off the Alphabet and put the letters into sheet protectors and into the binder shown below. This made it very easy to flip through them as I showed him the letters. Before showing him the letters we sang the Alphabet Song together. He did get a bit antsy after we were only about halfway through the letters, so I might just show him a few (to focus on) each day until he recognizes them! I'm pretty hopeful about him learning these!

After we did the Alphabet, I let him cut some more! What did I let him cut you might ask??? COUPONS!!!!! To be honest, for this to be his second attempt at cutting, he did extreemly well! Coupons have those dotted lines around them, usually, so I just told him to follow the lines and he did!

He was VERY pleased! This might turn into something for me as I expand my knowledge of couponing in the near future! Slave Labor????? Nope! Learning Experience!!! :o)

THEN, we had Art! I let him whip out the watercolors and some paper and he played with painting lines. He LOVES to paint lines! I even got inspired and painted my own picture with him!
Guess who drew each one!!!

Then, we were done for the day. Creston's attention span was going quickly and Mackie was yelling at us (I had him playing in his room while we had "School"). RECESS!!!

Mackie liked getting to join in the fun and play! I meant to have him some "educational" things to do for him that were age appropriate while Creston practiced cutting, but Creston decided after 1 sheet of coupons that he was done and would save the other 99,000 coupons for later! OH WELL!!! Maybe tomorrow, I can incorporate some play/learning time in for Mackie too! I want them both to feel that I'm giving them my attention.

In just the last few days, they have both been bringing me books to read to them. Mackie and Creston will BOTH sit and look through the books and tell themselves their own stories from the pictures on the pages, but now they want me to read to them. Before, when I would try to read to Creston, he would always want down, or go in another room or tear the pages while I was reading. I got aggravated and just stopped (I know......BAD mommy), but this week has made me feel better about the harm that I apparently have NOT inflicted on them by not reading to them yet. Mark & I personally LOVE to read and hope that they also have this love!

GREAT first day! We'll see how the rest of this first week go!

Getting Ready for Tomorrow!!!

Today is Labor Day! Tomorrow, I will oficially start Creston's FIRST DAY of Home-Pre-School!!! YAY!!!

We kinda already got started yesterday by letting him cut out shapes with his scisors. He did a really good job and cut out a square, rectangle, triangle, and circle pretty well! The circle was a bit iffy, but the rest were really good for a first time! He LOVES the scisors!

Today, on our way home from Boone, I would ask him what colors things were as we passed them on the road...so far, he knows Red, Yellow, Orange, Black, White, Blue, Green, & Blue. We are working on Brown (Mommy's hair is BROWN) and Purple! We'll take it one day at a time as we learn the new ones!

I'm wanting to start with the Alphabet recognition, so I found a great printables site on the WonderTime Magazine site. http://wondertime.go.com/create-and-play/article/ABC-printables.html I printed out the alphabet and put the pages into sheet protectors and placed them into a binder so we can "flip" through them easily! I also want to start working on getting him to at least recognize his name this week!

I've not nailed down a timetable for what we want to learn and at what speed, but as I figure it out, I'll post it here!

Hopefully this next year will be a good one filled with learning new things for all of us! There's so much that kids are expected to know when they start Kindergarten these days! If we do decide to enroll him, I want him to be on target with the rest of the children! If we keep him home, then I know he'll be just fine!!!

Hooray tomorrow!!!