We have a motto in our house that goes something like "We do what we have to do, so we can do what we want to do".
Thursday 7/5
During the summer we "homeschool" most days anywhere from 2-2.5 hours. Everyone has "work" to do, even Kennedy. Here she's doing her sticker work. You can see how much she's focusing. It's a great simple activity to help build concentration and hand dexterity. Plus, what kid doesn't like stickers? For a special treat, I like to throw in some scratch & sniff stickers. She LOVES those. (I should note that Kennedy is not expected to work 2 hours, that's really Alex's time spent doing lessons)
Here's a close up of Jordan doing pin punch work. This is a time consuming, concentration intensive exercise. Her goal is to punch tiny wholes along the entire oval until it can be "punch out" completely. This also helps build hand/eye coordination, hand muscle strength, and helps get her ready for a good pencil grip later. Her fingers are still a bit tense as you can see. Both Kennedy & Jordan may have 3-4 activities laid out for their morning work.
A lot of Alex's work is done online. She does a self paced math/language program through Stanford University. We also practice math facts daily, practice her cursive (she's a lefty and writes like her father) and she has several books she's reading for the various summer reading programs.
For dinner I made this...okay, well Trader Joe's made a lot of it. Orange Chicken, pumpkin risotto and sauteed string beans.
After dinner, it was time for gymnastics.
On Wednesday, we had our morning lessons.
Jordan worked with rods,
here she's blind folded trying to feel out objects (I call them out) inside the bag, then match them to the picture.
Sometimes, I make my own sheets like the match one below. I staple an overhead sheet over the paper and let her use the marker. Somehow using a marker makes her more willing to do it :)
Kennedy also loves her simple shape puzzle and know each shape.
This science kit was to be Alex's & my joint summer project. However I lost the instruction booklet that came with it so.....we're really just swinging it.
Later we went by the pet store to look at lizards & turtles. Someone desperately wants a pet....
On Thursday,
Kennedy was given this simple task of whisking up some bubbles....
and when she gets tired about 2 mins, I add in a little food coloring to make it more interesting. Don't ask what else may get thrown in there....spoons, straws, measuring cups, whatever I put my hands on basically.
Alex did all her regular work and today I added in these cards. One focuses on inferencing and the other cause & effect. The pen lights up green/red and makes a noise when selecting your answers.
after all the work was done, we went to play at Outdoor World to play. But even there I'm sneaking in learning like- hey girls what's the latin name of the grizzly bear?- Ursus arctos horribilis, which means horrible bear. It wouldn't be uncommon to also see me pretending to be an animal for Jordan/Kennedy, so if you see me, I'm not crazy just trying to engage the kiddos.
and finished up our night with more family time at the pool.
The other motto we have in our house, "Work hard, Play hard".
I'd be curious to know if you have any sayings for your little ones to encourage them or just family mottos? Please share!
