Using That Twice as Fast Processing Speed!

The bread is rising on the counter, the roast is in the oven, W is down for his morning nap and F and Su are outside in the sand-box. Time for a cup of coffee before I go upstairs and get ready for school.

Today F will finish one of his preschool books, and Su will continue learning to count and recognize shapes and colors.? They will both practice singing the ABC song while I point to the letter cards on the wall. Su will count to 10 and F to 19.

We begin with the Lord’s Prayer, the collect for the week and the Morning Collect. Then we work on memorizing the Nicene Creed. F knows about three quarters of it at this point and Su chimes in on the words she knows. Last week we learned a new tune for the Sanctus and this week we are working on the Gloria. It is a great help to church participation (and behavior) for them to memorize the parts that repeat each week.

F then works semi-independently for about 20 minutes, while I do things with Su that require most of my attention. Then she does some coloring while I work with him. We sing the ABC song and count and then she goes downstairs to play by herself while I finish with F.

They are both learning to pick out beginning sounds, and I suspect that they will be reading by spring. Right now they think that in order to “read” you have to know the book! They must think I have a prodigious memory!

Here is a list of some of the other things we’re doing:

Chores: they both have regular chores plus just helping as needed. F in particular is really learning to be responsible about getting his work done before playing. Su is still learning to keep working when I’m not in the room.

Reading: I read to each one separately after lunch, first W (current favorites Mr. Brown Can Moo, Can You? and Hop on Pop), then Su, while F clears the table and wipes it (Little House in the Big Woods), then F gets a couple of chapters of On the Banks of Plum Creek.? As I finish reading to each child they go down for their nap.

Conversation: we talk (and sing) a lot. They ask questions which I try to either answer or help them think through the answer.

Altogether I think we are all learning throughout the day, most of the time it’s a lot of fun, sometimes it’s really frustrating and sometimes we all need a time out, but looking at it from a long term perspective somehow it works.

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