Her loves

I have spent so much time talking about reading and phonics and oh my word, I have worn my own self out thinking and talking and typing about it, so I have decided to show you some other parts of Ada.  Her strengths, if you will.  The things about homeschool that are going well.  Because, at the end of the day, I really am so thankful that we are doing this. 

 Okay, she loves, loves, loves math.  We are using Saxon Math, and I highly recommend it.  We opted for Saxon K, and I am very glad that we did.  If you are a math person, or your child has a really solid grasp of basic stuff, I am sure you could skip to Saxon 1, but I knew I would be more confident if we started at the very beginning.  Here we had a store, and Ada was having to buy things with pennies--so learning about numbers, the value of money, the cents sign, etc. etc.  Very basic stuff.

 Batman was also shopping at our store that day

 Another Ada strength--she is my free spirit, artist.  She adores ballet, dancing her way through life.  Just today, as she was holding on to my grocery cart as if it was the bar, and she was practicing some ballet move, I mentioned to her that a crowded Kroger was not the best place for ballet.  She loves to dance.  Loves it, and she cried and cried the other day when we had to miss ballet because we were all sick. 

Ever the artist, she also loves to put together outifts, accessories, etc. etc.  She loves to put on fashion shows, and her combinations are crazy.  The other day she layered two dresses, and when I asked her why she chose those two dresses, she said because it was two different patterns.  We weren't going anywhere that day, so I gave her free reign with it.

 And she loves actual art, as in drawing, painting, "sculpting" with play-doh.  I am impressed that she has realized on her own to try to copy things when she draws.  The other day, I found her sitting in front of the mirror drawing a self portrait.  And below is her drawing that she did from her copy work.  (For handwriting, I have her copy sentences from books that she can read.  To make it more fun for her, she is allowed to copy the picture as well--her idea, not mine).

 More math.  We do lots of graphs.  Who knew that graphs were such a big deal in kindergarten ;)  Ada loves it when we have to do graphs because they always involve glue.

 John is never far away.

 Here she was graphing her favorite winter activities--comparing indoor and outdoor.  It made me laugh because all of her favorite activities involved snow.  You know, all that snow we get every winter.

 What did we learn from our graph?  She had fewer outdoor activities.  Why?  Because there were only five outdoor activities.  Like I said, it's very simple math ;)

 Okay, I don't do anything at. all. official with John.  We do a lot of counting objects, picking out colors, etc. etc. as we move throughout our day.  Lots of reading books.  Well, what you see above is a brand new toy from Ann, and John loves it, so I highly recommend it.  Thank you, Ann!!!  It's a magnetic board with pattern blocks--by Melissa and Doug, fyi, and it comes with sheets that John has to fill in with the pattern blocks.  It makes a big mess, but it's one of those things that you can clean up really easy because it comes in a neat little package.  What I mean to say, is John can clean it up really easily, and he likes to clean up, so that works out.  And since I now know--one of those things I was clueless about--there are lots of pattern blocks and copying patterns in Ada's kindergarten curriculum, so I assume the above activity is a good preschool thing?

 And more art.  This is Ada's go-to throughout the day.  I keep plenty of plain white paper, and the crayons are out where either one can get to them on their own.  I keep the water colors where Ada can get those on her own, and she knows how to set all of that up by herself.  Any other paint, I keep up higher, of course. 

 Excuse the can of pringles in the background, Scott keeps pointing out to me that I need to "observe the background" before I take a picture.

And lastly, photography by Ada.  John, after baths and ready for bed, reading some of our new books from the library book sale today.  I got a bag full of books for 3.50.  I mean, lots of good books, Little House on the Prairie, Box Car children, and others, for 3.50!!  I am a bit of a book hoarder, though, so I probably need to stop going to these book sales. 

I am trying to see Ada as who God created her to be rather than who I imagined her to be.  I was also reminded this past week from a friend that Ada is only five--I don't really know what kind of student she is going to be, she's five.  So, I am praying for wisdom and discernment as I try to encourage Ada in the areas where God has already strengthened her, and as I encourage her to always do her very best, but not require her to be something that she isn't.  Right now, she is an emerging reader--who knows what that will look like in a few years--but here we are, and I have got to calm down about it!!!