Week 17, day 3

Bible: We continued reviewing catechism questions and memory verses, and read the story of Jesus blessing the children and telling his disciples that they needed to become like children to enter the kingdom of heaven.

Calendar: It was slightly warmer today, and sunny. The kids were inclined to argue with me when I told them that 12:30 was pm, not am, but I think we got the reason straightened out.

Handwriting: P traced a sentence of copywork well after I complained about her performance on the first two letters.

Language Arts: P was to draw a box around 2 words that rhymed on her copywork, and she chose 2 words that didn't rhyme but did end with the same letter (that, pot). When I told her they didn't rhyme, she was upset. I explained that the vowel sound had to match as well as the final consonant, and she insisted that she'd never be able to remember that. I gave her a few examples to practice with, and she got all of them right, so I think she didn't feel as hopeless about her chances of remembering after that. She finds getting anything wrong upsetting, though I try to be gentle and encouraging when she does - I think she's just a sensitive child.

E's "school": I selected 4 random objects (a piggy bank, a small toy clock, a chalkboard eraser, and some Legos), showed them to E, and then removed one while he closed his eyes. He was hardly ever able to guess which item I'd removed, only after numerous iterations and with lots of help. We'll stick with this activity for the rest of the week, I think, to give him practice.

Math: On P's 5-a-day, I had her measure 2 identical lines, one in inches and the other in cm, and I showed her that 2 inches is almost exactly 5 cm. She seemed to grasp this pretty well. She's gotten good at using quarters with other coins to make, for example, 38 cents. At lunch she spontaneously told me, "You can make 60 cents using 4 coins - 2 quarters and 2 nickels."

Geography and/or Science: We made it to Titmouse Club today - hooray! (Doing any activity that involves riding in the car with the baby always feels like a major accomplishment). The theme was critters that live in the soil. They discussed ants, beetles, millipedes, moles, and particularly earthworms. The kids learned that earthworms eat dead leaves, their poop is good for soil, and they are both boys and girls (hermaphrodites - though they didn't burden the preschoolers with that vocabulary). Each child was given a pie dish full of soil from the compost bin to poke through, and a magnifying glass to investigate the findings, and both P and E found red worms (the composting kind) in their soil. They were also permitted to hold a millipede.

Other: I wanted E to practice finding C on the piano, and he informed me that he was too tired (right after bouncing and leaping down the stairs). I refused to accept this as an excuse, but gave him the option of saying, "I'm not too tired, I just don't want to." This I accepted. I invited him to play "Simon Says" with P and me, and he told me again that he was too tired. Again, I refused to accept this as an excuse, but I permitted him to tell me he didn't want to, and after a few rounds he'd changed his mind. He didn't change his mind on finding C, though, and I didn't push it. I'll just move on with P, and if E decides to show an interest, I'll work with him again. (P happily and easily played all the Cs on the piano).