i should probably just home school them

But I won't.

I have bought a few "teach your kids . . . " books lately.

One is Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons.


The method seems different than what I'd expect, but once you get into it there's so much sense to it! I started with Jordan yesterday, and she went through the first three lessons before her attention was irretrievable. Then just for kicks I did the first little exercise or two in lesson one with Tennyson. Jordan will have absolutely no trouble with it, and I'm convinced that it's something Tennyson can do too, although a little slower. I expect that Jordan (since she knows the alphabet and sounds already) will fly through it. She can actually sound out easier words already with a bit of prompting, and is so close that I know she'll have no trouble. Tennyson actually knows his alphabet (writing, the names of letters, etc. - yay Brain Quest!) and I know he can do this too. I'd probably go slower with him so we don't get halfway through the book and have to remind him of everything. One a day will be his limit. He's all eager about it, so it'll be twenty minutes a day that we can spend together doing something productive while the younger two are napping and Jordan is at school. I'm pretty excited about it for them.

The other book I bought the other day is Learn to Play - Guitar for Young Beginners. Jordan and Steven had their first lesson today, and it was awesome to see them in the living room together, each with their own guitars, focused on the book and the two notes they were learning.


Piano lessons are probably out of the budget this year (for now anyway), and I figured that since I had someone who was a bit of a musician in the house, why not take full advantage? Plus, what awesome Daddy/Daughter time! I sat with them for a few minutes and then wandered off to do laundry (it's hard not to hover, after all) and give them some space to work through part of the first lesson.

I love when kids learn instruments!

Actually, I may go through lesson one myself tonight after bedtime so that I can encourage her to practice this week so Steven can show her something new next weekend.

That's about it for what's new here. I also bought the Grade 1 Brain Quest book, and Jordan's a little miffed at me for making her finish parts of the Kindergarten book before she moves on. There are actually a few things in the kindergarten book that she didn't do at school last year - the French Immersion curriculum is a little different, being that there is so much focus on the language. I figure that if I go through this book with her and teach her a little extra it can't hurt. It's kind of a fun age for teaching them things. They're so excited to do their homework. They beg to do it, and then they resist putting it away, which means that I end up losing entire afternoons to it when we get the books out. I'm thinking an egg timer, and a daily homework time slot might be the way to go. Little keeners.

Comments

Jen said…
Sometimes I consider homeschooling and then I realize I'm not that insane yet.

That teach your child to read book seems interesting though.

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