Reagan's Week

My two kids have been very different in their learning styles. Javon is extremely smart since he was very young. He could write his name perfectly at 3 1/2, does math like no ones business, and picks up on things very easily. Reagan is very smart. Her strengths though have not been in writing. She just turned 4 and her name consists of "ololololo". :-) She signs everything that way and wants nothing to do with spelling "Reagan". She says that "ololololol" is how you spell Reagan. However, the girl has the memory of an elephant. She can seriously remember thinks that the average adult wouldn't even remember. And she does VERY good at concept things like "what three pictures go together" kind of thing.

It has been really fun watching her learn because it has been different than the way Javon learns. I'm having fun with her. Today we did her preschool work and she did sooooo good. She really has started loving doing her "pages" over the past few months. Today we worked on colors and numbers and the letter "T" which she did fabulous at writing a big T and little t without any help.
She had her 4 year checkup today and the Dr. asked if she was attending preschool and I said that we homeschooled. She asked what we were doing and I gave her a brief rundown, but she said that Reagan was very articulate for her age. Both of the kids have spoken very well from a really early age. She is just more selective with whom she speaks than Javon. He'll speak to a board...Reagan has to warm up a bit first.

Next week we'll be working on PIZZA. It should be fun. Then we'll end it with pizza and a movie on Friday night. I get ideas from a great website www.pammshouse.com. It has a year's worth of toddler lessons. They are a bit too simple now, but they're a great springboard for weekly ideas.

Tuesday - Nana Day! Yeah....the kids LOVE Nana days.
Math: Number Recognition
English: 4 books
Penmanship: Trace "Reagan" 4 times
Bible: Memory verse from Sunday School
4 pages of concept work
Game: Toss items into a PIZZA box (of onto a frozen pizza box) :-)
Craft: Paint a paper plate with red paint, sprinkle with cornmeal (cheese), onion flakes, other spices.

Wednesday -
Math: Cut out pepperoni circles and count them (Shape - Circle)
English: 4 books
Penmanship: Trace "Reagan" 4 times
Bible: Sunday School page
4 pages in preschool book
Game: Patti Cake Pizza Man style
Craft: Look through magazines and find pictures of pizza or pizza toppings, cut out and glue on a paper pizza

Thursday -
Math, English, Penmanship, Bible, Preschool Pages (same as above)
Game: Toss items into a pizza box
Craft: Make pizza counting game/Make Playdo pizzas

Friday - Math, English, Penmanship, Bible, Preschool Pages (same as above)
Game: Not sure yet?
Craft: Not sure yet?

Any ideas?

Just starting again today....

So I've been horrible at blogging which is not necessarily a bad thing because I simply haven't had time to. When I do go to blog I think of all the things that I have done since my last post and then I think....should I go back to those events? So today I decided to just start where I am right now...today!

Today I was at church for our Annual Church Workday. I never mind going because I get my kids' supplies organized and ready for another season. This year was by FAR the best that the supply room has ever stayed. I've been much better at putting my kids' church stuff away after every Sunday and the teachers of the younger classes have been much better about not just "dumping" things on the ground. It was nice to get things tended to.

My sister, Courtney, was a huge help and emptied all of the cabinets in the classrooms and reorganized it all. Debbie, our associate pastors wife, worked in one of the rooms and they traded stuff back and forth and made sure all the rooms had adequate crafts, snacks, and supplies. I honestly can't say what I'd do without Courtney helping me organize things. She is gifted in organizing. I hate taking everything out and putting it on a table. It's overwhelming to look at it all. Cover your eyes for a minute crafters - I do NOT enjoy crafting! Yes, I know it's one of those things that I think is supposed to come natural for someone who works with kids. I don't mind if it comes in a nice little bag from Oriental Trading Company :-) but just looking at a pile of junk and coming up with an amazing craft like some of you is not my thing. Anyways, Courtney worked hard organizing the crafts and cabinets. Thanks Sis.

THEN I went into the dreaded prop room! It's much better than it used to be, but every year after Christmas it is a task to organize all the props and costumes. I have worked on the items that I personally used in the past, but today I dove into the depths/underbelly of the beast and pulled stuff out from the '70's. Not kidding! Yeah, angel costumes where golden instead of white after that long in a box. It sounds worse than it really was because these items were for the most part neatly shoved under shelves in boxes. That is why it took me TEN YEARS to actually pull then out. For many years, I have acted like I simply didn't want to throw away someone else's things, but today it hit me that no one else EVER goes in that room except me :-) and it was time to toss stuff. Other people do actually go in the room but not for the props or costumes. It sure felt good to get things purged.

So let me ask you a question....if you had a box with 40 pairs of sandels in the prop room what would you do? Most people have their own sandels that they would prefer to wear in a play. Right? And then the question poses itself "When was the last time that we had a play that needed 40 pairs of sandels?" Not in the 10 years that I've been hear. BUT someone went to a lot of work finding all those sandels and then what happens next year when we decide to do a play that involved 40 people wearing sandels? What then? So to keep the sandels or not keep the sandels is the question..........

Oh and I won't even ask about the 150 shepherd costumes hanging up! Were there even a 150 shepherds in the whole town of Bethlehem on the night Jesus was born? Have we ever had more that 5 shepherds in any Christmas play throughout America? Oh, I said I wasn't going there. :-) But I simply can't seem to part with the costumes.

Okay, so I've posted. Not that it has any relevance to anyone's life out there in cyberspace. But still, I blogged. :-)