One month completed and what I've learned.

Was a failure in my eyes.  Nothing went according the schedule but I'm finding out that it really doesn't have to. As long as Connor gets his learning in on the days that is required, then that's all I could really hope for.  I'm finding that he is wanting to learn and do things in his own time, which to me is fine right now as he is only 4. But I say as long as he gets everything in that I need him to, then that's all right with me.

Monday we did our tumbling again.  Its great for the kids but I'd be lying if I didn't say I will be glad when this is over.  Connor wanted nothing to do with it today and Emma just likes to run around.  And with this being a "mommy and me" class, I'm being pulled in every which way.  I have one more week and then we'll be done, which is great because it's wedding week for my best friend and I don't think I could handle it ha ha!

Tuesday was a free day but we ended up visiting the library.  I've decided that Tuesday's and Wednesday's are the best days to go to the library as Mrs. Teri is there and she's awesome. Thursday is always a crap shoot on who you're gonna get. Some people are great, some aren't.  When you've got two, you can't gamble on the crap shoots.

Wednesday was a tough day.  We headed to the library and then would break for lunch and then come back for Play on the Go. Well Emma is at that stage right now where she likes to run around like a banchi and this is having a negative effect on Connor. I attend these story times so he can learn how to listen to stories and sit with other children, but when you have your two year old sister not listening and running around, why should he!  We ended up leaving story time early and sit in the car for 30 minutes (until Play on the Go started) which they were not happy about but they need to learn there is a time and place for monkey business. And before anyone freaks out, I was in the car with them, it was a nice day out and the windows were down :)

They did get to do something with Play on the Go, Emma is really good at putting things into containers and Connor had fun golfing.  They both took their turns at finger painting and I hope to buy some paint here soon so that we can do some of this stuff at home.  I know they would love it.

It was a pretty standard week here, we mastered the number 4 and letter R. But now that I have finished my first month this is what I have learned.

Playing at the pumpkin festival.

Teaching is hard. I never said it was easy though. I come from a long line of teachers and I know first hand that it is one of the most thankless jobs.  I love my kids and I will do anything for them, hence why I am making a terrible attempt at teaching them anything.  But I have noticed a few things.

Connor is learning.  He is getting better at writing his letters and recognizing them and counting.  He is getting better at coloring, cutting paper, matching items and all sorts of other things.  He is learning something, even if it is a little.

-Things I'm changing for October-
I have changed the pages that Connor was writing his letters on.  They had both capital and lower case letters on them, but no room for him to "write on his own."  I have found a new page that he can trace a few upper and a few lower case letters and then have some blank spots for writing them on his own.  He is WONDERFUL at tracing, but he needs to learn how to write his letters with out tracing.

In the middle of the month I also had his name up at the top so he could learn to trace that.  I will now also have him do his last name too.

During morning circle I am now going to have him make the sound that the letter of the week makes.  I will also have him count to the number we are learning.  I'm also having him find the letters and numbers of the week with his magnets on his easel.  We are also writing the letter and number on the chalk board now too.

In the stuff I have downloaded for school, they had tracing words. I didn't do that before but I"m going to start now.  He doesn't need to know what they say yet, but just doing different letters every week should help with his writing.

In the matching game we would do I have written numbers on the back so now he must match the number on the back to the number on the page.  This will be better once I have a picture of him doing it.

October is going to be a busy month!  It's festival time and wedding time for my BFF. Pray for my sanity!