Don't Ask

I've had a house showing every single day for the past week! Lesson plans and preschool just ain't happening right now! Hopefully all these showings will end in an offer so we can get back to enjoying life!

Math

Brody does a great job reading 3 letter words and a decent job writing his letters, but what he REALLY excells at is math! I was amazed how quickly he blew threw "Yoke Addition" with 1,2, and 3 ox. This video shows that it takes adding 5 and 3 ox to slow him down...and even then...not for long! Not bad for an almost-4-year-old!

(PS....he did NOT get the math gene from his mother!!)

"Y" not!

Just under the gun, but here it is...Week 25: Letter Y. I had a hard time finding good books at my branch of the library so I had to make a few hold requests to have some better options sent my way. Hopefully y'all will have better luck!

Also, I've FINALLY video-taped us running through a 3 part-drill (during our circle time) and as soon as I have a second I will try to upload it.

Almost "Y"...but until then...

I'm putting the finishing touches on Letter Y, but until then I thought I'd share a little blurb from our life. This is what math looks like when you have a little boy...and who says you have to sit still to understand things?

The Bangert Buzz: How Superman Does Math

"W"-ith a Bang!

And with this coming week [Week 24: Letter W], we conclude the 3rd Quarter with a bang! Y'all might have already hit this point...assuming you didn't take a few weeks off to put your house on the market...but we are just glad to have made it this far!

Looking ahead to the last quarter, I have a few comments about what we plan to do:

1. I plan to combine X and Z into one week...mostly because we are limited on what we can do with those letters (box, fox, zebra, zipper...anything else?)

2. After "Week 28:qu", I plan to jump down to "ph" and back up to "Magic e" (for those of you who are following along in the book Recipe for Reading).

3. The last two weeks I intend to review and assess. Review: (bible verses, 3 part drill, random topics covered) Assess: (letter/sound recognition, alphabetical order, ability to blend sounds, red word memorization) I will post more details about the specifics of this as it gets closer.

I intend to hold all of these expectations with an open hand as I have no idea what our future will hold. Our house could sell and we could be somewhere between Houston and Tucson at any moment! Thankfully, we are only doing preschool and not neuro-surgery! :)

Thinking Ahead

As my recent attempts at persuading my son that he would rather attend preschool at an actual school have failed (and let's be honest...it was really my own selfish attempts at persuading myself that it would be better), I have been pondering how preschool for a 4 year old should look.  I have every intention of continuing with the O-G language arts, but I think he's ready for more than a "letter of the week" structure of content.  After recently revisiting a gift from my mom, I feel I've stumbled upon my solution...a true gift from God! This book contains the crucial-yet-fun elements of science and history packaged to spark any child's imagination (although it is heavily boy-oriented).  My next mission is to find a girl version of this exact book! I will keep you posted...and feel free to offer any book suggestions of your own!

TH-ankfulness

There are many things I am thankful for this week...our first open house has come and gone...the Arizona Wildcats are number 1 in the PAC-10...and beautiful spring weather has sprung in Houston! I'm also thankful that I've somehow managed to finish Week 23:TH lesson plans.

Better late than never! :)

SH-oes