Lesson 5: Week 1

My notes on Mavi's homeschooling for Lesson 5, Week 1.

Date: November 27 - December 3, 2009

Curriculum Source: Letter of the Week

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WARNING: LONG POST AHEAD!!!
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LITERATURE

Book for this Week: Dr. Seuss ABC.

This book is Mavi's all time favorite. I bought this book at Powerbooks while we were still in Manila. Aside from the rhythmic phrases, Mavi likes the colorful pages as well as the whimsical pastel-colored images.

He would lie down beside me every time I read this to him, listening intently, following my fingers as I point from one word to another. Now that he is very much interested in reading, I'm implementing an interactive reading. Basically it's just like asking a question, then allow him to answer. Of course, he cannot read yet, but he can already point out the images in the books, the ones I would ask him to look for. Such as,where's the alligator? Where's the yellow moon? Where's the lazy lion? Those are the images in the book that he now identify.

LEARNING ACTIVITIES

Not much activity this week because I wasn't feeling well, but I tried giving him simple activities that doesn't require much of my energy hehehe.

Animal Puzzle

Weeks ago, we bought this wooden puzzle from Turbo Limac. We chose the animal puzzle because Mavi loves animals and he's already familiar with them.

As always, he was thrilled when he saw his new toy. Then I started to show him how the puzzle works. Slowly, I would take one piece from the wooden tray, introduce him to the animal piece then I would return it back.

He knows how to get the pieces from the tray using his fingers but doesn't know how to put them back yet. That's okay. I know that this kind of learning activity is too advance for Mavi but I am just trying to familiarize him with the puzzle. One comment about the toy though, the handle of the puzzle's pieces are not big enough for Mavi to grasp. It would have been better if it has a much bigger knob so Mavi won't find it difficult to raise the pieces from the tray.

Mavi is not allowed to play with this toy alone. Always always with supervision because he tends to put them in his mouth. This can be very dangerous if left alone with a kid. When Mavi gets tired of playing with this, he'll start throwing away the pieces hehe.

Color of the week: Yellow!

Just like when I introduced him to the color blue, Maverick can immediately say the word yellow.. although it sounded like "ellow". I used these yellow blocks for our WHERE'S THE CEREAL activity instead of the blue blocks.

Can he differentiate the color blue from the color yellow? That, I do not know..yet. There are times were I laid out all the blue and yellow blocks on the floor and would ask him to give me the yellow blocks. At first, I would point out to the yellow block and would say "Give Mommy the yellow". He'll pick up the yellow block while uttering "ellow ellow ellow". Then if we try the game again, he can still give me the yellow block without me telling him what's the yellow block. But there were times that he still gives me the blue block. So I can't tell if he really understands the meaning of the colors.

Flash Cards

For this week, I am trying to get him master the 5 pieces of flash cards with animals. This is what I meant in my FB that his book turned out to be flash cards after he massacred it. Hehehe. He has been reading the book since we arrived here in Belgrade, so after 5 months he is very much familiar with the pictures already. Currently, he can identify the dog, monkey, cat, rabbit and his ever favorite butterfly.

To test him at times, I would put the flash cards on the cabinet and would make him point to the card that I'm asking him. He likes it if I would tell a story out of these animal cards with sound effects. Hahaha, that's why at the end of the day, laspag ako. Sobrang daming energy loss pag bata ang kaharap mo.

EXERCISE AND INDOOR GAME

Good thing that we have indoor games for our curriculum this week. You see, since Monday, the weather is bad, it would rain from morning till night and no sun at all! For this week, we did the "climbing the stairs and counting the steps". We have stairs in the house, so I took him out to the apartment's stairs were we can have our indoor game.

Maverick loves going up and down the stairs. He enjoys it. But not me!!! Too tiring!!

Then last week, since the sun was up, I didn't waste the chance to go outdoor. I took him to a playground at a nearby park. The little boy was so ecstatic upon seeing all the kids!! He was smiling so brightly! So I just allow him to play, to do whatever he wanted to do.

Here he is in a seesaw. Again,I am portraying the role of a Paparazzi Mommy. I pity him, ke keeps on looking at some of the kids. I wanted to know what he is thinking. Is he jealous of them because they brought with them their toys at the park? Or jealous because he doesn't have a playmate? Does he wanted to join the kids but just too shy?? You see, it's the first time that I brought him there, so he still has no friends. Well, hopefully.. I bet next year, during Spring and Summer he'll have lots of friends because I'm going to take him out frequently.

Hehehe, I am happy that he is beginning to interact with kids.. not his size.

Eto, he's starting to climb the fence. He's not scared of anything.

Here, looking for a playmate. Siguro kung nasa Pilipinas kami, wala syang problema sa playmate. Ang dami kasing bata doon, dito.. konti lang ang ka age nya na nasa park. Most of the kids there were already 4-5 years old. Katakot lang hayaan makipaglaro kasi ang lilikot ng mga kiddos doon. Nagsisipa sipa ng bola at nagtatabuhan so baka madaganan si Mavi. So talagang sunod sunod ako sa kanya.

And this is one activity he likes the best, chasing the birds. Yan talaga ang gusto nya sa parks, ang mga birds. Mahilig syang sumigaw ng birds.. birds.. birds... with emotions pa yan. Naalala ko tuloy, nung nasa Bacolod pa kami, laging "lizard" ang pinopoint nya. Nung andito na kami, first ang "car".. then ngayon ang "birds". Tuwing mag voice chat kami sa Pilipinas, kino correct ko na ang parents ko, huwag nang sabihing "Where's the lizard" kasi hindi nya na alam ang lizard hehehe.

ARTS AND CRAFTS

These are just random artsy thingy that I have in mind. One of which is playing with the color-coated chocolate. Again, I chose the blue and yellow color since this has been the colors that I am making him familiar with.

I just him play with the chocolates, and allow him put each pieces on the ice-tray. He loves putting them the "sungka" way and would take them out again by flipping the container.

I also introduced him to crayons this week. I bought this jumbo crayons from Crayola. I like it because...because I just love crayons!! Hehehe. The crayons are designed for kids to easy grasp or hold him,suited for their small an cute little hands.

To make him steady, I make sure that he's in his high-chair every time we do this activity. In this way, he can concentrate on scribbling and also to make sure that he won't do some damage on our white walls! When you do this activity (well, those in the high-chair activities),make sure that you put off the TV. They can easily get distracted by the sound.

See the picture on the lower right? He did that by himself, making the crayon stand hihihi.

It always brighten my day seeing him enjoy our activity. And as parents, we should also know when to stop stimulating their brains as well. Once Maverick starts to throw things around, that means he's bored and doesn't want or like the activity. At times, I'm the one who wanted to stop, and he still wants to continue.

FAVORITE PICTURE FOR THE WEEK

I wanted to add this section.. just because.