Busy Learning - Late Feb 2011

LOOK WHAT I FOUND 

in the draft box.

Did I publish a different copy? way back when?

Who knows.

But here's how much the little ones have changed over the last year.

Enjoy!

You can see, LaRue stays busy

exploring her world.

Whether it is trying on sister's shoes 

or opening bottles and boxes.

And here is Joel!

Carefully coloring a pattern with his new crayons!

And LaRue LOVES Kendra's telephone.

(she refuses to believe that it is JUST a calculator.)

Keeping Busy Learning Things - Late Feb 2011

LaRue is always busy exploring her world.

opening 

bottles and boxes

cupboards and drawers

books and pens

trying on shoes

This is Matthew.

Larue is often right in the middle of the school class.

Don't you love the look she is giving Matthew?

She was listening carefully to everything.

Nearby, Joel was coloring a pattern.

He got a bit of help from Mom.

She loves gadgets.

NOT baby gadgets.

This day, she had ran off with the calculator.

Sometimes she pushed the buttons.

And sometimes she talked on it like a cell phone.

Mid Feb - Joel's Gears

Joel got gears for Christmas.

He plays with them as often as I'll pull them down off of the shelf.

The shelf is to keep tiny fingers from dropping all of the pieces down into the air vents.

He plays with them for hours.

But will always say, "I'm thinking I need more of these."

I'm thinking, "Where will we put them?"

Feb 11 - Science and History for Kindergarten

Our public library has about 50 books on CD 

in the category of science or history.

Joel loves to check them out,

and he gets to choose the one he wants.

He loved Ben Franklin.

And the Bats.

He sits for close to an hour,

with his headset, listening and turning pages

in the books.

Sometimes he changes books,

and sometimes, he doesn't.

He does the same thing with his MP3 player.

On his player right now are "50 Famous Stories Retold"

with stories from the Greeks and Alexandar all the way through William Tell.

Some of the stories are more legend,

and some are more supported by facts.

He also has a Beatrix Potter Treasury.

Both free through LibriVox.

He has a lot of songs and other stories as well. 

Sometimes, he likes to play with his Legos

while he listens.

So he get's math and physics in too.

Do you like his airplane?

Early Feb - Joel Loves His Banana Letters

As often as I will let him,

and provided that we get a clean surface on a table or 

the sidebar (in this picture),

Joel will pull out his bananagrams.

He asked for some for Christmas,

and one of his kind Aunt's couldn't resist them.

He had to have them.

1.  It was a banana.  He LOVES bananas.

He loves apples too - but nobody bought him apple letters.

2.  He thinks he is a monkey - 

and all monkeys have to have a banana.

3.  He is learning to read. 

So he said he needed them to make his words.

4.  His cars needed the letters.

(Though I never quite figured out why?)

He especially loves to play messages.

He hides his eyes,

somebody makes a message,

and he gets to read it.

Feb 4 - Smiles and School

At home, this girl is often grins, giggles, and mischief.

She wore piggies every day for about 3 weeks. She never even touched them. Then one day, she reached up and pulled them both out, minutes after they were put in. For about 3 days, Vannan put them in, she pulled them out. Vannan quit putting them in. Maybe we'll try them again soon for summer. She liked the tiny little piggies that made noise the best. She still doesn't care for large bulky hair bows, nor does she like hats or head bands. You gotta LOVE that grin!

She also loves to help the other kids with their school work.

Joel is doing his Horizon Math here.

Currently, he is 10 lessons from finishing it.
Just like his Grandpa, Mom, Dad, various uncles, aunts, etc.
He is very good at math.
It's in his blood.

He loves when LaRue sits with him like this, hanging on his every word while he explains the concepts of counting, numbers, place value, money, time, and so many other things.

Days In Kindergarten - September

Working on pictures "All about ME".
There is a poem there from the Horizon Kindergarten Health book.

I can't figure out why only Marriana got a picture that day.
I'm not at all busy.
"wink"

Joel teaching Marriana.
These are just some old workbooks that Mom had picked up somewhere.
Joel has a blast teaching Marriana.
She seems to enjoy the extra attention.

Shi working on her traffic light.

Miya practicing the stairs.