It's Just Weird

I don't know about you, but I think it is just weird to hear words like "parallelogram" and "trapezoid" coming out of a five year old's mouth.

In our math lesson today, we started using shape blocks. Now, these are flat shapes, so I don't know why they are called "blocks" and they are not block-y at all. Only some of them are even square! I put a couple of hand fulls in front of Brianna and Kirsten, and they commenced to making all kinds of patterns with them. It was so fun to watch them make hexagons from trapezoids, and have them yell at me, "LOOK MOM! Look what I made!" Kirsten took some of the triangles and put them together. She said, "Look Mom, I made a pizza!" Michael was standing there and he and I both had to cover a laugh. It was just too cute. Brianna made a triangle out of some trapezoids and different sized star patternes with the parallelograms. Needless to say, math class was a hit today. I just love watching their faces as they try to figure stuff out. To see the understanding light their faces is one of the best things in the world. Thank You, Father, that I get to be the one to see it!

Handwriting is still a difficulty. Brianna just doesn't like practicing her letters. Numbers, either. I don't use a formal handwriting program right now, though, so I am hopeful that when we start one in 1st grade, she will do better. Kirsten is busting at the seams to learn to write. I know I should start her on her lessons, but I want to wait and begin it when we start the new school year. That will be in June, so she doesn't have that much longer to wait.

We will be wrapping up our study of frogs in the next few days. For our trip to VA, I went to the library and got two backpacks full of books. Some were just fun reading, but a lot of them were nonfiction. I got a couple books about frogs, and I got to hear all about them on the way up and on the way home. Brianna really enjoyed learning about them, and I think the things she learned will stay with her, since she discovered it for herself in the books.

Reading is coming along very well. Kirsten is on the verge of blending, and Brianna can read the newspaper now. Well, maybe not quite the whole paper, LOL. I am not sure what "grade" level you would put her reading on, but she is about ready for the smaller chapter books. She reads things I don't even know she can read. She has been doing that to me for at least a year now. Probably longer. She has got a lot of it from watching Between the Lions on PBS, so I am glad for that. I know that a lot of her reading is phonics based, but she does have more sight words memorized than I would like. I finally found a great reading program, so she is catching up in that area.

See you next time.