Looking over the pictures I took this past week during school time, it occurred to me how much my kids are learning while having fun. Part of our activity on Day 4 was literally a board game based on the day’s Fable, The Hare and the Tortoise.  A lot of this pictures speak for themselves, so I’m going to let my words be few for once!

 

Rare sighting of Fuzzy while the kids are awake. Normally she recluses to my bedroom until the kids’ naptime.

Our daily fable from the Storybook provided in this month’s Fable & Folktales box.

The rest of the story (spoiler alert)

The fun game with today’s activity. This time, the Lion & the Mouse from Day 1’s fable got to join in on the race.

Peterman was quite excited about the large cube die.

The suspense! Who will win?!

Also, a hidden benefit to this game is an opportunity for Natalie to learn how to lose well. We’ve had some trouble with her competitive nature already, which she gets from her Daddy, and so it’s nice to have some moments to practice this, in the safety of our own home, where I can easily address any bad attitudes or meltdowns without the complications of my embarrassment and disturbing others in the process. (Anyone else relate to this?!)

Day 4 included a journal activity (Each month they receive a new one. I love journaling with a passion, so I love this aspect!), so Natalie started designing her cover.

Natalie and Peterman

Day 4’s journal activities also included this fun tracing practice sheet.

Natalie started out tracing the Hare’s path, which she did really quickly because she wasn’t very interested at the moment. However, it was a great learning opportunity, as her work was pretty sloppy, to encourage her to go slowly with the Tortoise’s path. Afterwards, we compared her work and accuracy with the two paths, and discussed the importance of diligence and the quality of our work.

Peter, all the while, is exploring his journal and the fun magnifying glasses from Day 1 that correspond with this month’s theme poster.

He decided they needed a little embellishment.
Since Peter was happily playing independently for the moment, we took advantage and pulled out Natalie’s More Math book.
As you can see, they have such cute images that correspond with the fables that we have been reading this past week.

As we were discussing how to spell Harwood, Peter was obviously listening in, as he informed me that he had also written Harwood in his journal.

Obviously.

But on a serious note, I love that he is taking in our conversation and probably gleaning more than I will ever know.

So, back to the More Math books. I just love them! They are so cute, and I love how well they allow me to see her progress! For example, since Natalie has loved math for as long as I can remember, I tend to take for granted that she’s retaining certain skills revolving around numbers. However, as you can see below, we had a little mix-up as she started out the exercise. I wish I had gotten a picture before she scribbled them out, but her 9 & 3 had become a “P” & “E”.

Of course, these are really common mistakes as you are learning to write, but I was actually surprised because for so long she has interpreted most symbols as numbers more than letters, so it was interesting to see that changing a bit.

Peter was still having fun entertaining himself, so we continued on.

This is the More Literacy book for August. This specific activity was asking Natalie to identify the beginning letters for each of the words listed, also referring to the previous day’s Fable, the Grasshopper and the Ants.

Thinking through her options

Fiddle was a little confusing for her, as she thought it was supposed to be a violin.

Success!

The whole day really just felt like we were playing games instead of following a curriculum. I also love how it is teaching me to be more intentional in moments that are less structured to be intentional to still ask questions and find the learning opportunities in them.

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