Garden Path Schoolhouse: November 2012

Friday, November 9, 2012

Homefront Updates

Our home is always changing, mostly because I love change and am constantly adding, subtracting and rearranging things. I'd say it's an obsession, but really I think it's psychologically supportive for me in some way. It keeps the energy flowing and it allows us all to live surrounded by things that we really enjoy and use on a daily basis.

Recently I added a small learning area to the dining room. I've had this before but have now moved books, more educational games, a soft rug and all the art stuff to the area. I realized that I wanted the dining room (which is the largest room in our house) to be about more than just mealtime, but to be a place for gathering, eating, crafting, playing board games and learning.

We got a chalkboard and both Nora Lee and I realized just how aesthetically pleasing it is to write with chalk. Right away it opened up room for more structured learning with word identification and math problems. It's more fun to write with colored chalk than on a plain old piece of paper!

I'm constantly amazed at how much Nora Lee learns by simply being alive and inquisitive. Last week she began reading her first very simple book by sounding out the letters. She has known the sounds of the letters for two years but has not shown an interest in applying the sounds to forming words. Reading the first "Cat" book seemed like a huge success! She now seems capable of reading most words I put in front of her that can be sounded out. We are reviewing the words that sound different than they appear and that simply need to be memorized such as "the" and "is".

She is pretty comfortable with numbers 1-100 and adding and subtracting one digit numbers. The next step is to begin adding and subtracting with two digit numbers. I've introduced the concept of multiplication but I'm realizing that getting really solid with adding and subtracting is more important right now.

She continues to learn about the value of money (both literally and figuratively) through the use of her allowance and how to spend and save money. Today she took her friend out for ice cream with money her Mimi sent her. I totally dig that about Nora Lee - her generosity. She has this feeling of plenty and the desire to share it. I hope this never ever changes.