Free books!

Caitlin recognizes most of the alphabet, but we still do worksheets to help her practice writing letters.

Jayden doing school work on the laptop at his desk

Caitlin listening to Spanish lessons on the laptop

Last week I found out our local used book store ran a promotion, giving school aged customers a coupon for a free book if they turned in a book report. I called in to find out if Cait could participate since she isn't exactly school aged and can not write her own report. It turned out that as long as she dictated the work, it was fine for me to write it. She chose There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed Some Leaves.

She wrote her name on top of the book report she dictated.

Jayden wrote his own book report, all by himself. He chose Little Critter: Just Critters Who Care.

Jayden showing off his book report.

Showing off their coupons!

I forgot to snap a picture of their books, but Jayden got Spongebob Superstar, and Caitlin got Dora's Sleepover.

After that we stopped to get ice cream.

Co-op

It's been a while since we had co-op. The kids were so happy to see everyone.

Jayden during show and tell

Caitlin during show and tell

Playing a game

Obstacle course

Bean bag toss

Jayden doing the limbo

Changes to the blog

I am remodeling the blog.

Every night before bed, I read to the kids for 30 mins. If you want to keep up with what book we are reading, you can see it on the right. If you scroll all the way to the bottom, you will see that I have started keeping track of any chapter books we finish from now on. We still read other books on a daily basis, but they have so many that I decided to only keep track of the chapter books we read together.

I am also working on this year's school curriculum. Stay tuned for an update on the subjects and books we will be using!

Park

We have been taking advantage of a local park.It's not my favorite park, but the kids wear themselves out. Who can say no to that?

Games and School Stuff

We have been trying to make use of our games during this heatwave. The kids LOVE playing memory.

 We tried playing Hedbanz, but Cait kept telling us what we were.

 On one of the groups I belong to, someone posted a fabulous website, Cookie.com, with interactive games that work perfectly for Cait. They have educational games and worksheets for Pre-K up to first grade. They also have a TON of worksheets.

 Jayden is still doing his schoolwork, and excelling as always. We are currently working our way through a trial membership at ReadingEggs.com. Jayden tested at a 3.1 reading level- which means he reads at the level of a 3rd grader in their first month of reading. While I very much like the site, I do not think it will work out for us. This site requires his reading and language arts to be at the same level in order for it to benefit him. Even though he reads at a third grade level, he is currently at appx a second grade level for LA. I am elated at his progress though. This is all from a boy who just learned to read in April 2011. And he is not even officially in first grade yet!

I just got a new desktop so the laptop will soon be set up at their desk for school. I am excited that they will have their own station to work at!