The Future

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"The future is as bright as your faith."
-Thomas S. Monson

Sparkles and Scraggly Hair

Little Boy was so proud to have helped me with this Mother's Day card for his Grandma.  There's just something about sparkly alphabet stickers that kids love--even Little Boys.

[P.S.  Please ignore his scraggly hair.  He's had a haircut since then.]

Nintendo Bonding

Like father, like son. Again.

[Little Boy's controller isn't plugged in.]
 

Coming Out of His Shell

{Little Boy's metaphorical empty shell}


A few months ago, I posted about Little Boy's shyness and my feelings about that.  He's always been very shy.  And I think that will always be a part of his personality. 

But.

Things are changing.

I first noticed it last Sunday.  I'm not a Sunbeam teacher anymore, so I'm not with him all day on Sunday.  I'm now the Primary Secretary, which means I can still be close to him--but not as close as before.  I had a feeling that this would be a good change.  And it WAS.  He played with the other kids.  It's not that I ever prevented him from interacting with the other kids...I encouraged him to play with them.  But I guess he didn't need to, as long as I was there.  Now that I'm not in the classroom with him, he's still with people that he's familiar with--which I think is an important part of it--and he's comfortable enough that he can interact with them when I'm not there.

And...he talked to our waitress at a Chinese restaurant on Monday.

And he talks to my family more than he used to.

And today, when we had a playdate, he was LOUD.  And he laughed a lot.  Not that he doesn't laugh, just not when other people are around. 

I'm so proud of him.  And I'm pretty excited to see where this goes next.

Mortal Experience

"Despite popular media messages to the contrary, no one is rich enough, beautiful enough, or clever enough to avoid a mortal experience."
-Julie B. Beck

Learning Time: Stories

The very last thing we do for "learning time" is read a pile of picture books.  This is the part of learning time that takes the most time--and it should, because it's the most important.

I've spent a lot of time thinking about this post, and about how to explain why reading aloud is so important.  I finally gave up and decided to just recommend this book:

Click on the picture to go to Amazon (I'm not an Amazon affiliate or anything...I just like the book).  The Read-Aloud Handbook is full--FULL--of research on why reading aloud is important for your child's growth.  There's more to it than you think.  This book includes info on everything from television, to library funding, to Harry Potter phenomenon--and the effect they have on your child.  In the back of the book, there's a huge annotated list of good books for reading aloud.  (This is the author's website, if you want to visit it, but I really recommend the book.)

Read it.  No, really.  Read it.  Your local library should have it; it's pretty popular.

And that's how "learning time" goes at our house.  Thanks for playing along!  Next time: back to our regularly scheduled programming.

Learning Time: Fine-Motor Skills

So.  After plant-checking-out, ABCs, and the number line, Little Boy and I move on to what's technically called "fine-motor skills," and which normal people call, "coloring."

Little Boy's fine-motor skills have never been very good.  And I'm okay with that; kids develop differently.  But it can't hurt to work on it, right?  So we usually color a picture or work on a pre-writing activity.

(Little Boy really likes these pre-writing skill cards.  I stick them in a page protector and he traces the lines with a dry-erase marker so he can do it more than once.)

Next time, The Main Event: Stories!

These Mothers Choose Carefully

"Mothers who know do less. They permit less of what will not bear good fruit eternally. They allow less media in their homes, less distraction, less activity that draws their children away from their home. Mothers who know are willing to live on less and consume less of the world's goods in order to spend more time with their children—more time eating together, more time working together, more time reading together, more time talking, laughing, singing, and exemplifying. These mothers choose carefully and do not try to choose it all. Their goal is to prepare a rising generation of children who will take the gospel of Jesus Christ into the entire world. Their goal is to prepare future fathers and mothers who will be builders of the Lord's kingdom for the next 50 years. That is influence; that is power."
 -Julie B. Beck, Mothers Who Know


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Learning Time: 123s

Does anyone else have that Jackson 5 song stuck in their head...y'know, "ABC!  Easy as 123!"  No?  Never mind, then.

Anyway, after Little Boy and I work on ABCs for a few minutes during "learning time," we move on to the number line. He LOVES the thing.  We put up a new number every day.  I want him to be able to recognize numbers from 1 - 100, so we've got a LONG way to go.

Sometimes we play a number game, too, but we usually just stick the new number on the wall and count 'em up.

Next time: Fine Motor Skills (i.e., Teeny Movements for Teeny Hands).

Learning Time: ABCs

So, after examining the pumpkin plant each morning, Little Boy and I move on to ABCs.  We learn a new letter sound each week (I'm pretty sure we could go faster, but Mommy's a little...lazy.  Heh.).  He's already figured out several of the letter sounds that we haven't done yet.  He's a stinker like that.

Anyway, each week we make a new card with the new letter on it, learn the letter sound, and then for the rest of the week we play games with all of the letter cards that we've accumulated so far.  We're learning "P" this week.

Sometimes, if Mommy's really on top of things (in other words, not very often), we point out the letter when we see it in real life, too.

Do you like my pink paperclip?  (Paper clip?)  I love rainbow-colored paperclips.  They're much easier to find in the drawer.  Which has nothing to do with ABCs.

Next up: numbers!

Learning Time: Science

Little Boy and I have "learning time" every day after breakfast for about half an hour (usually it stretches a little longer, but let's not quibble). Really, it's home-preschooling, but try explaining that to a 3 1/2 year old. So, to him, it's "learning time."

Since learning time is a big part of our day, and Little Boy enjoys it so much, I thought I'd share a bit of what we do. I'm going to break it down into a few separate posts, because, really? I'm too tired to write a big, long post right now. And I bet you're too tired to read a big, long post right now. You're welcome.

Anyway, the first thing we do is take a look at the pumpkin seedling Little Boy's been growing. We point out the different parts of the plant, and count the leaves to see if there are any new ones, and water it if it's dry. [Don't tell Little Boy, but the pumpkin plant is going to be moved to his Grandma's house sometime soon. We do NOT have room for a pumpkin plant on our back porch! And...we'll figure out some other science-y thing to do.]

This is the plant--I thought this picture turned out kinda cool. I have NO IDEA how I did it. I don't understand cameras at all.

Next time: ABCs! Woohoo!

¡Olé!

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{This is absolutely NOT my husband. Heh.}

 Isaac works at a health clinic where many of the employees and most of the patients are Hispanic.

 Today is Cinco de Mayo.

 Therefore, Isaac has the day off work today. ¡Olé!

Getting There Is Hard Work

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"Temple marriage covenants do not magically bring equality to a partnership. Those covenants commit us to a developmental process of learning and growing together—by practice. . . Equal partnerships are not made in heaven—they are made on earth, one choice at a time, one conversation at a time, one threshold crossing at a time. And getting there is hard work." 

Bruce C. Hafen