We have had one of those weeks where we were busy but I can’t for the life of me remember what all we did at the minute.
I miss caffeinated coffee.
On Wednesday morning, we met Eryn, Evie, Gracie, Clint, Leigh Ann and Hayley at our Chick Fil A for their free breakfast special. Nathan and Evie had a fabulous time feeding each other the chicken minis.
I love those two.
I’ve been trying to be more proactive as far as having actual “learning time” with Nathan. He’s getting old enough to where he’s picking up so much so quickly and I feel like if I make the time to really teach him his ABCs and colors rather than just sing them in the car, he might enjoy learning them. 🙂 So, we picked up some flash cards on sale at Walmart and so far, he’s been enjoying them for .007 seconds before he wants to play with his cars or read books again. 😉
I have a deadline for the second novel in the new upcoming Paige series on December 1st, so that’s been taking up a lot of my free time lately since I got a little ways behind of where I wanted to be with everything that happened this summer.
Friday night we met Clint, Leigh Ann and Hayley for an impromptu dinner at Rudy’s. The kids were hilarious.
I really hope that Nathan someday comes up to me and thanks me for surrounding him with all of these beautiful girls. 😉
Then Saturday, we celebrated my parents’ 30th anniversary. We made them a fajita dinner and got them this wine barrel sign. I was so happy the sign turned out so well!
One of Nathan’s favorite parts of every weekend – eating popsicles in the pool with Pops. He was shocked when Caleb ate a popsicle inside the other day and kept saying, “Eating it out of the pool?” like “I did not know that was possible!” Ha!
My baby boy. I do not think I could love him any more. He’s the sweetest, funniest, goofiest, most aggravating child I know. 😉 Two is going to be a very interesting year!!
As a former middle school language arts teacher and current elementary school librarian, I have to put my two cents in.
Reading to Nathan is a much better teaching tool than doing flashcards. It's more authentic and making a bigger impact on him as a future reader. 🙂
While it's cool that some kids come into kindergarten reading when some come in not knowing their letters, all that levels out in about first grade. So, don't feel like you're a bad parent because he doesn't know the letters. You are a wonderful parent! Reading to him is the BEST thing you can do for his education!
If you feel the need to work on letters (which is great if he's into it), you could do coloring books or something more interactive than flashcards. He's doing something (coloring with you) while seeing the letters. You can talk about the sound while he colors. Color sparks brain function, so that's an added bonus.
The quality time you are spending with him each day and the Biblical principles you are teaching him are worth much more than learning letters. 🙂
I hope I don't sound preachy, but sharing a love of reading and books with kids is my passion!
Thank you Laura!! I often feel like I have NO IDEA what I am doing when it comes to helping Nathan learn the basics. We do love to read though, so I will keep doing that! The flashcards were 88 cents and I figured, why not? 😉 Thank you, thank you, thank you for the tips!!! 🙂
I don't think flashcards are bad. You can play matching or memory (when he's older probably) with them, or he can build a house of cards or make a card train around the living room. 🙂 While those seem just like fun, he's looking at the letters and what object starts with that letter.
I meant to mention it in my first comment, but I am REALLY looking forward to your new series!
The first photo looks like he's practicing for wedding cake!
Nathan is too cute! My little sister is about his age, and I know how fun those little ones can be! Enjoy him – every minute is so precious!
As a former kindergarten teacher & now middle school teacher, I have to agree with Laura. Reading to Nathan will help him far more than the flash cards (plus he'll enjoy it more!):-) If you really want to work on colors and letters, pick a color of the day & dress him in all red or whatever color you want him to learn. Make a game where you look for everything that color at home or at the store that day. Eat lots of things that color too.
Make play dough shapes of the letters, etc. Whatever you do, make a game of it, & he'll never want to stop learning them. Be careful what you wish for though because you might not be able to shut it off! LOL
Don't stop singing the songs either. They remember them far longer than any flash card. Plus music increases math and reading skills!