Wednesday, January 5, 2011

ABC, What Do I See?

The Bear is right on the threshold of learning how to turn letters into words. Really, one of the most exciting moments of kid life. This book worm Mom is beside herself to share the joy of reading with my son. Just the sheer anticipation of all the imaginative worlds he will discover gets me a little teary eyed. I love make believe. I love stories. I love the wonder of books. My little guy is almost there.

This month I have decided to work on a series of special notecards to place around our home. To get Cubs involved, I'll make simpler ones for him to enjoy. Special Alphabet cards he can use for a letter hunt. The Bear will have Word cards taped to various objects and pieces of furniture. We'll hunt them down and use the words to make sentences and stories. (I know, I am a nerdy teacher to the core). The Bear loves hide and seek type games, he loves to search and discover. Playing this game will help him learn new sounds, words and how to connect things.

We will start out small. For example, I'll hide the letters B, E and D somewhere in his room. We'll hunt for them using verbal clues. Once we find them, we'll put them together to make a new card which will read, "Bed." Then we can tape it to his bed for a new hunt the following day. He'll have a hand in building all the words we use and will therefore have an easier time identifying them later.

Is it just me or is homeschool great?

This game will be lots of fun once we incorporate the boy's new mailboxes. Nothing fancy mind you, just two empty tin containers of Cafe Bustelo that we decorated. We are tying them to the tree out front and using it to correspond with everyone from Diego to the Swiss Family Robinson crew.

Mommy is pleased with this little game. It will entice the 3 year into further heights of learning and provide ample exercise for the rowdy 2 year old while also giving him a few basic challenges.

Lastly, I am contemplating saving all our letters in a scrap book of sorts for the boys to enjoy. Wouldn't it be great to have a book filled with letters addressed to you from Aslan, Robin Hood, Mike Mulligan, and Paul Bunyan?

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