Good morning

We got a lot done today. First Alex did workbook pages on numbers 1-10. There was an activity for each number (ex. color 3 toys, etc.) and then she traced and wrote the numeral. We also worked on more/less. This is hard but it's getting better. After this we took a break because Emma was fussy and Alex was losing focus.
Later this morning Alex was laying in the floor with a pen and paper pad and writing her name. She was saying, "A if for Alex." Then she looked at me and said, "A is for mommy?" So we took it from there and she asked lots of questions concerning what people's names start with. We did this forever. Then she wanted me to write so I got in the floor with her and we started writing. I recalled that level 1 reading involves sentences like, "I see the duck" etc. So I wrote, "I see the ..." We did this about a million times with whatever we could end the sentence with. I know she probably isn't to this level yet, but introducing sight words can't hurt and she was loving it.
All in all is was a good school day.
Alex has PT, OT, & ST today. Emma had PT & ST.

Monday

Alex went to the dentist this morning. She did amazing, but there is a lot of work to be done and she will have surgery sometime in the next few months to repair the cavities and possibly remove some teeth. Emma stayed with Nonnie during Alex's appointment.
Emma had OT this afternoon, Alex's PT was canceled. We went to visit Alissa after therapy and the girls played with Caden and Caleigh.

Friday

Yesterday morning we worked more on letter writing & tracing. Then I made a game. I cut up construction paper to make cards and put A-Z on one color and a-z on the other color. We spread the lowercase letters on the floor and put the uppercase letters in a pile. The girls took turns picking an uppercase letter and then they had to find the lowercase partner letter. I wasn't sure how well this would go, but Alex actually got more right than I had anticipated. The letters that were the easiest are the letters that look similar, but Alex even got a few that look different. The hardest were U & N because their lowercase letters look the same only upside down. We played that game twice through and then called it quits because they were starting to lose focus and attention.

Today

We did Alex's speech homework this morning. She has gotten much better at pronouncing words that begin with a 'y', now we are on to words that have the 'y' sound in the middle. Like... lawyer, ambulance, etc. Then we worked more on identifying the function of objects... still encouraging her to answer in full sentences as opposed to one word answers. Then grouping objects with similar functions. Ex. the stove & a pan are both for cooking. A car and a stoplight are both for driving. etc.
The girls played with their learning laptops today. They think it's fun and all the ABC's can't hurt anything.

Yesterday

Yesterday morning we did some school work together. We played with the flash cards that the girls love and I asked different questions. We are trying to make analogies. For example... Doggies have fur but people have skin. Elephants have big ears but Emma has little ears. etc. I would start it and they would finish it. They did pretty well and I think we added some extra knowledge to the familiar flash cards. I pulled out the wipe off boards and Alex practiced writing her letters again. We also spent some time writing her name. She has been able to do that for quite some time, but we haven't really worked on it in a while and the letters in her name were getting a little jumbled and random. Then we worked on what is NOT. ex. Which leaf is NOT green? etc.
Then we got a phone call that an agent wanted to show our house in 2 hours, so we spent the next 2 hours cleaning house. I can ask Alex to clean her room and she really does a pretty good job. She puts toys where they belong and straightens out her bed. Sometimes she even does this without being asked. Then she comes to get me and says, "Mommy, I clean my room. You come look." We aren't just talking about chores, we are doing them. The biggest problems usually come when Emma tries to pull out something that Alex already put away. Ahhh... sisters.
Alex has her first dentist appointment next Monday so we are going to read books about it for the next few days and talk about it a lot. Once Alex's first visit is out of the way then we will make an appointment for Emma.
The other day Alex was looking at her speech homework in the car and said, "I want Nonnie to do this with me." I forgot to tell Dottie about that, I'll have to remember that next time I see her.
The girls still ask about Daddy every day. When Alex asks where Daddy is I say, "You know where Daddy is." She replies, "Daddy in the Army. Why Daddy in the Army?" My response, "You know why Daddy is in the Army." Her answer, "Daddy help the soldiers."
Yesterday we drove by the armory here in Siloam. They have an old tank in the front and she asked me again what that was. I answered, "That is an Army tank." Her response, "Daddy fix it in the Army." Close enough. Technically he doesn't work on tanks, but he does work on military vehicles and that is close enough as far her her five year old mind is concerned. I was proud of her for remembering what Daddy does.
Alex had PT yesterday and Emma had OT. This afternoon Alex has ST, OT, PT and Emma had PT.

The last few days

I started to only post on the school stuff we did today, but learning is about more than ABC's and 123's... so I will include our weekend. Saturday we went to garage sales. Am I teaching the girls to find a bargain? That afternoon we picked up my grandparents (teaching compassion and service?) and took them to Kayla's birthday party (teaching the importance of family). Sunday we went to church (make time for worship), went shopping for Benjamin's birthday gift (choosing a gift that your friend will like), and then to Benjamin's birthday party at Durham Gymnastics. That is important social time of course, for all those home school naysayers that think we don't socialize. Ha ha. The gym time was great also. I'm going to look into a gymnastics class for the girls, I think that they would love it and it would be good for them.
So today Alex had PT and Emma had OT. Each of the girls got a place mat at Walmart this morning. Alex's is abc's and Emma's is shapes. This afternoon we sat in the floor with dry erase markers and Alex traced all of her letters, they are all lowercase. She really did very well. Then she practiced writing her name. I tried to work on shapes with Emma and we did go over shape names. She gets the circle and triangle, but we are working on the rest. Other than that she mainly colored on the place mat. We read books this evening as usual. One number book. They both count very well, but number recognition is still not there. We are working on it though.

Thursday & Friday

Yesterday I worked a while with Alex tracing her letters. She is still very shaky but tries very hard and is doing better. Then we played with blocks and practiced in/out, on top/under, beside/front/back, full/empty, etc. Emma is the one that really needs help with this. Alex is moving on to learning more complicated spatial terms in speech therapy... through, middle, etc. Then we spent some time pretending with blocks and Disney characters. I was Minnie, Alex was Mickey, and Emma was Daisy Duck. We built a house of blocks and spent some time doing make believe. That isn't my strong point and I think they miss out on that with Drew being gone. He is much better at the the fun silly stuff, but it is very important. We also practiced what does NOT belong in a group. When Emma hears, "Which one is not a block?" she only hears the block part. We are trying to learn what 'not' means. She didn't get it at first, but got much better with a little practice.
Today we spent the morning in Fayetteville and the afternoon taking Dad to doctor appointments in Rogers and Gentry. In the car we spent some time with speech worksheets to practice what does NOT belong. This one was actually Alex's homework from speech because it was more complicated groups. Not 3 of the same thing and one that was different, but 3 that belonged to one group and one that didn't. For example... 3 pieces of fruit and 1 airplane. She had to notice that the airplane didn't belong. I just assume that they know this stuff, but they don't automatically. So we work on it. We are all 3 exhausted from our day out, so I don't imagine we will get much more homework in today.