Weekly review - 16 Student became the teacher

I can't believe we are near the end of our first semester this year. We will be finished the last week on November and then we will do some light things through December and start back in January. Last year we did not do anything through December and when it was time to start back in January, it not go well we both had a rough time getting back into the swing of things.

I am planning on Christmas themed activities for December and we will continue to work on math and reading.

This week we did a lot of "playing" he tried to teach me how to play chess. As I have mentioned before he has learned to play chess with the No Stress Chess game. This week he decided I needed to learn how to play. Let me just say, I don't like chess and I have no desire to learn how to play chess but since he wanted to show me how I had no option but to play. When my husband and I were first married he tried to teach me how to play and we decided that me learning how to play chess was not in the best interest of our marriage. This shows how much I don't get chess.



It was amazingly easy and if someone (not me) would like to learn how to play chess this is a great way. With the board having the placement of the pieces printed for you and the cards telling you who to move and how, it made for an easy way to learn chess. While I still have no desire to learn chess, it was a good time.

This week we also played scrabble both working on spelling and counting the points.

One other thing he did this week was, he earned a new game for his leapster, cosmic math. I have has this game for a while and was holding it back because it is math for grades 1 through 4 and I was worried it would be too difficult and frustrating for him. Boy, was I wrong, he loves the game he has played it non stop, the first level is simple addition and he was so excited to get enough points to get to do subtraction. I offered to help with any problems he did not know the answer to and he said no he wanted to do it all by himself. He has memorized more math facts playing that game than in two weeks of worksheets.


As a quick review of the leapster and games, I love them. He has had the leapster since he was 2 and still plays with it, I think we have every game there is out there. I like the learning aspect of the games, it is perfect for car trips and doctor appointments.

Muffin Tin Monday - Breakfast

I finally made it back to muffin tin Monday. I have not done a muffin tin the last few weeks, after all of us being sick and me just plain forgetting last week. Last week LittleBit was asking when is muffin tin Monday again and couldn't we do muffin tin Wednesday. So I had to remember this week, all be it 10pm on Sunday night, but I remembered.

Since there was no theme this week (thank goodness) I did a breakfast theme. He had apple slices, raisins, yogurt, juice, rice krispies(his new favorite cereal) and part of a Krispy Kreme donut.

Weekly Review - 15

This week we got back into the swing of things. We went back to working in our Singapore Math book finished with the review and I have decided to order an extra practice book. The next section is adding 3 or more numbers together to begin learning multiplication. I feel he is not ready for that yet and we need more practice with adding/subtracting and basic facts. He is completely enjoying working in the Singapore math word problems book, he loves them. He brought me the book one day last week and asked if we could do some word problems. I seriously have to wonder if he is my kiddo or not!

We are sailing right through the First Language lessons, it is so repetitive we are both tired of it but we keep moving on. I am positive you could wake him out of a dead sleep and ask, "what is a noun?" and he could tell you verbatim the definition according to the book.

We read three more chapters in our Story of the World history book and of course did as much map work as I could find. He loves his maps worksheets.

He is enjoying moving onto copy work and in order to get more handwriting out of him I am letting him copy work from his lego catalogs or lego comics. He thinks its great and doesn't mind practicing as much.

While working on some coloring sheets he told me, "coloring is like watching paint dry, it is so boring". Funny funny boy.

Besides school this week, he studied and practiced for his next belt in TaeKwonDo, he did great.

He and Dad deconstructed a cooling fan for a laptop computer that has met an untimely end. He was a big help in replacing the speakers in the truck, he learned all about removing a door panel, how speakers work, how it important to have the right tools so you finish faster and with less headaches, how the door locks work etc. It was a fun time with Dad and a little learning too.

Scavenger Hunt with pictures

Today for something fun and different to do we had a scavenger hunt with pictures. I gave LittleBit the digital camera and sent him on a hunt for things. Here are a just a few pictures he took 5 letter "T"s and 5 animals. I did find it funny I asked for 5 things that began with the letter T and he found 5 letter "T"s.







The Animals

Weekly Review - 14

This was a bit of a slow week, while I have gotten over the flu I am still coughing every time I talk, or move much. Feeling like you are coughing up a lung does not go well with reading and school work but we did have good week. Mostly this week we caught up on worksheets and history reading. We were behind on a few maps sheets and a Columbus Day word search.

Math with Monopoly and other board games

Dad and Little Bit usually enjoy a game of chess at night before bed. Last year for Christmas we purchased No Stress Chess, http://www.amazon.com/Winning-Moves-1091-Stress-Chess/dp/B0007Q1IO4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=toys-and-games&qid=1256765036&sr=8-1

It has been great, if you are looking for a easy way to teach Chess to your kids, I would recommend this set. You play with cards, which tell you which piece to move and how they move. This way by using the cards you learn how each piece can move and when. Little Bit has recently started playing without the cards and is doing great at playing a regular game of chess.

Recently he wanted to play Monopoly, it has been a great way to work on his math skills. We use the dice to add and it he loves to help you add your dice and count the moves for the pieces around the board. He enjoys collecting properties and adding the rent money.

Scrabble is also a great game to play and you can work on spelling skills. We when we play scrabble usually it is me and Little Bit against Dad. It is always fun and interesting to see what words Little Bit tries to make. I just purchased the new Scrabble Slam card game, I hope it will be fun.

Board games are a great family night activity and make an excellent Christmas gift.

Weekly Review - The Flu

This has been a long week. Dad got the flu last week and I came down with it on Sunday night. Little Bit was given Tamiflu as soon as Dad got sick hoping he would not get it, with his heart condition this flu could be dangerous for him. So far it has worked, he has had the sniffles and a cough all week but it has not gotten any worse.

We are behind very little school was done last week although Dad did try for a couple of days. I am behind on school, housework and everything else. This upcoming week will be catch up week for all of us. I was hoping to be done with this semester of school by Thanksgiving but we will be going into December now.

Little Bit and Dad did a little handwriting and he did work with him on his math. He also finished a 100 piece Spiderman puzzle this week. He also got a good bit further in the Wii Star Wars Lego game and had a great time building all kinds of lego creations, I am sure there is a learning application in there somewhere:)



I look forward to getting back to our schedule and getting caught up this week.