I asked Dinoguy what he wanted to learn about, and he responded first with Vikings! We have done a lot of Vikings in the past few months and I thought we were done. Guess not. I asked if there was anything new, and he responded Greeks and Egyptians. Okay. Then he added Aztecs, Mayas and Incas (which we have also studies in the past few months, but sure, we'll look for more!) If you don't see the theme, it's war and fighting. He knows them from playing the game "Age of Empires" and loves to learn more about it. I am going to figure out some new ways to study these cultures with him, I am glad he loves history and learning about them. We had to return the coolest Viking News book to the library finally (ran out of renewals).
His handwriting is absolutely fabulous for an 8 yr old. I'm glad to be able to say that now. He was excited about a spelling book I got him. I think because it is something new that I did not get one for his brother. I'm not sure. It is an experiment to help him feel more confidence in his spelling abilities. Because he can spell more words than he thinks he can. I liked the look of the book and its games and activities. It's called "144 words your 2nd grader will learn to spell" or something like that by Barron's.
Trainboy found a pedometer today and spent the day running in circles to up the numbers on the pedometer. He also loves to hold the stop watch on our daily walks. He is jumping around topically in mathematics and loves it all. We talked about reading clocks today and referencing things like the face of a clock. We also talked about the fractions 1/2 and 1/3 and finding 1/2 and 1/3 of different numbers. He has so many arithmetic facts in his head - or he can calculate them quickly, I'm not sure. It's pretty fascinating though. He prefers doing mathematical topics to others but really he just loves to learn. It's wonderful to see that trait in my kids since it is what I want to nurture! We did some paper folding too and made cubes and boxes today and he enjoyed that. He likes to create things out of paper and I have been reading some books about teaching geometry concepts with origami to expand on this.
Princess is a serial crayon artist. If she finds a crayon she colors whatever is nearby. Neither of my boys were such enthusiastic artists. She has colored every page of a note pad, bills, trash, newspapers, coloring books, the table, the wall, the doors, the furniture... I know its typical of a toddler, but really the boys did not do it. I said "Paper only please" and they didn't ever try to draw on anything else. She also has me read at least 10 books to her a day, probably more. It's entertaining the variety. We go from Sesame Street to the Solar System to what causes reflexes in your body and then back to simple counting books. Benefit of older siblings I guess that she gets such variety. She also is really into figuring out floor puzzles currently. Basically she's a ball of 2 year old energy and our first child who takes her clothes off whenever she feels like it. Love getting to know her and her vibrant personality.
Baby is so laid back. He smiles and laughs with us when he's awake and not eating. He is doing well at growing big and is about 16 pounds already. Love big babies!
We are starting Spanish again and doing just 6 words of vocabulary a day adding. An idea from a Charlotte Mason book I was rereading recently.
I got lots of great games for Christmas and my big educational goal is to play a game every day with my kids. Quiddler is fabulous for spelling and phonics and its just fun. Fixitman doesn't like losing to Princess though. Set is a great math game I've always loved and I'm glad to have my own version now. We also have Sequence, Yahtzee and Uno now as well as a Harry Potter trivia game. Add in the big list of games we already had and we could play a different game every day for over a month. I really think they learn more from game play than workbooks. The workbooks just give them a feeling of making progress apparently because they like them.
Additionally to our weekly park day, I am thinking we are going to go somewhere more "wild" like a nature preserve once a week or several times a month. Still trying to work out how to add that in to our life without feeling too busy or stressed. While we get a lot of outdoors time, its mostly city/suburban. So thinking and working that one out.
I chose Peace as my word this year, not knowing all that the year would bring. It has been a busy and eventful year. I really feel I have learned a lot about peace. Both internal peace and external peace. I have learned more how to listen inside myself and find out what will bring me internal peace. I have learned more what external influences can help bring me peace and are truely peaceful.
