One of the things we couldn’t leave behind was Hayzel’s Touch Smart:
Yeah, he could’ve done his lessons on my laptop, but then what was I suppose to do while he was using it?
Besides it didn’t take up much trunk space.On week 28 we continued with Math in Time4Learning. This was the “Patterns” chapter. There is a Lakeshore Learning Store about 20 minutes away, so we moseyed on over and got some pattern blocks to complement his lesson.
I love that store! I’ve been back twice since then. They can be pretty pricey, but the quality of their products can’t compare. I joined their Teacher’s Club, which is basically a rewards system and I’m racking up the points.
Some really cool things we’ve picked up are:
I’ll be doing reviews on these products after we’ve made regular use of them. But I digress.
After the chapter on Patterns, Hayzel did one on Algebra. Yes, you read right. Algebra. In first grade. Who knew? It wasn’t rocket science though. Pretty much he worked on the Commutative Property and solving for unknown numbers. I guess we can call that Algebra. Currently he is making his way through Shapes and then Positions.
Hayzel’s LA lessons in T4L are winding down early this year, so I decided to start him on Grammar, Spelling, and Writing workbooks, all at the first grade level. His writing has really taken off in the past couple of weeks. He does a couple of worksheets from each book per week and then reinforces his learning by writing and typing up stories. He took his first ever spelling test a few weeks ago and got full marks. I’m one proud mama.
As you can see from the side panel, Hayzel has been tearing through the Magic Tree House series. It has become a nightly routine for me to read 2 chapters per night to him. Then if he wants (which is most often the case), he is allowed to continue reading (on his own) for an additional 30 minutes. The chapters always end on a cliffhanger and I am very firm about the 2 chapter a night rule,but Hayzel cannot seem to wait until the following night to find out what happens next.
This series has been monumental in developing Hayzel’s love for reading. The series has two main characters, Jack and Annie, a brother-sister team who find a magic tree house in the woods by their house. The tree house has the ability to travel through time allowing Jack and Annie get to visit cool places like the time of the dinosaurs, Ancient Egypt, and medieval times. I’ve caught Hayzel joining Jack and Annie of many of their adventures during his playtime. Its pretty awesome. We’re up to book #8 in less than 6 weeks.
Here we are going to a local library to pick up some more books.
It hasn’t been all hard work and no play out here in Atlanta. In my next post, I will be sharing all the fun activities we’ve been up to.
Until next time.
