Phonics: We started working on reading two vowels together, like 'ai' and 'ea'. He did ok with this, but now any word that looks like it might take some thought makes him fall apart.
Math: We started formal addition. Crumpet has been adding in his head on his own for a while, but now that it's written down in the book, it's just too much for him to think about.
Science: This, at least, was a lot of fun! We made a simple circuit and lit a light bulb with a battery. We both enjoyed this. We changed the placement of wires and battery to see what would happen. We also experimented with adding things into the circuit - a penny, a metal paperclip, a plastic coated paperclip - to see if the light would still shine. Very interesting!
(I'm sorry about my topless boy. I'm not a real fan of boys going shirtless, but Crumpet's best friend never wears a shirt or shoes, and now Crumpet wants to be just like him... Sigh. Choose your battles...)Other Crumpet news: This week, we saw Gnomeo and Juliet at the movie theater. Very cute. It came at a good time too, because we had just read the Magic Tree House book about William Shakespeare, so I could explain the connection. This seems to happen a lot in our studies - we'll read about something once and then it's everywhere. Maybe I just never noticed before?
As for the afternoon rest I wrote about earlier in the week... well that has been challenging too. Crumpet is definitely ready for a break at 2:30 every day. But, if we go read and snuggle, he falls asleep every day. Clearly he needs the rest. Except that no matter how brief the nap, he is up til late at night, and wakes at dawn the next day. So, now I'm just trying a break in the socializing. I send his friends home and we read or run errands. It seems to help with the meltdowns, and he still sleeps at night. A work in progress...
We're heading to Maui for a week on Sunday. I can't wait! I'm hoping that school will be less upsetting for Crumpet when we return. If not, I may slow things down a bit. Maybe he just isn't ready for all these new ideas.
Taking a break usually helped a lot here. I love the picture - Crumpet looks so grown up!
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, thank you for commenting over at my "place"...and for your awesome comment on the electricity post on my blog. :-) CONGRATS on being so low under the average utility. That's inspiring to me!!!
ReplyDeleteSecondly - does he seem to be hitting a physical growth spurt? This sounds a lot like how my little man responds emotionally/energy level...only our "witching hour" is about 4 pm. He sounds like such a bright boy. Maybe his system is just overloading itself with growing and learning and playing and LIFE. I hope your vacation helps! Have fun!
I think you may be right to think about slowing down a bit on things that frustrate him. I have seen that with Caleb too. If it really frustrates him he really just isn't ready for it yet. I can try it again in a few months and get a totally different response.
ReplyDeleteYour comment about phonics reminded me of Caleb a little too. He can read just about any book I hand him without ever slowing down to sound out a word, but if you take all the words from the book and just make a list he suddenly starts looking at some of the words like he has no idea what they are.
Enjoy your vacation! And it will be a great time for a fresh start when you return :)