She is constantly thinking and talking about stuff while I am trying to teach her something. We were doing a phonics review of about 40 words that use the short vowel sounds and every time she would read a word she would use it in a sentence or act it out, or both! Forty words! I would point to them and she would say:
"Hit. Like when you hit a big box with your hand it makes your hand hurt."
"Gas. Like when you have to go to the store and put it in the car."
"Cut. Like when I cut my finger on this one (showing me) and it hurt and bled just a little bit."
"Hill. Like when I run really fast down a hill and almost fall down. Oh, and if you change the 'i' to 'e' it's a bad word." And I have never taught her how to spell that word. She just knows the sound of the short 'e'. =)
"Hip. Like this right here." (Beating her fist on her own hip.)
"Hop. Like a bunny rabbit." (Hopping all around the classroom saying, "hop, hop, hop, hop, hop, hop."
"Jell. Like when the police come and they put handcuffs on you and they take you to jail. I don't want to go to jail!" (Running around the classroom like she's running from someone.
"Wag. Like when Delsie is going..." (and she is wagging her bonkie around as if she had a tail.)
"Jug. Like when I drink out of the milk jug when there's only a little bit left."
"Hut. Like when you get down like this (and she squats down) and you put a football between your legs."
"Pop. Like when you have popcorn and it goes pop, pop, pop. I want some popcorn."
"Fell. Like when Teagan almost ran into me on my bicycle and I almost fell down."
"Nut. Like this...." (She's on her back on the floor with her knees pulled up into her chest and says, "I am a nut!" ---She's right!
"Hot. Like when it's hot outside." (She's panting like a dog.)
"Hum. Like when you go Mmmm, mmmm, hmmm, mmm, hmmmmm....." (And she hums the tune of some song I have yet to figure out.)
Forty words. I say, "Neely, just read the words and we can get through it faster. You don't have to act them all out." But I changed my mind about making her stop. I was quite impressed to see her thinking so fast. As soon as she read the word she could immediately associate it with something else. I have to remind myself all the time that we don't have to hurry. Enjoy it, Jennifer!
like you would do someone to see if they are looking at you, or to break their
gaze. She'll smile after a few seconds while still gazing. I wonder what
she's thinking?!
She will also start humming while I am showing her how to do something. I am sure she would have done fine in public school. She did great at Trinity. But, for her to go to be stuck to a chair for 6 and a half hours, she would have to bottle up LOTS of energy. Then she would come home tired and hungry and grumpy because she did nothing all day. Booooring.
She is a fast worker, though. I gave her a math sheet full of number bonds, went to the bathroom, and when I came back she had done them all. They showed her the whole number and a part and she had to come up with the other part. For instance, 9 is 4 and what other number? I had to copy her some extra pages from her extra practice book so I could watch her do them. She can get all of her work done in about 3 hours. Today, she was finished at 11 a.m.
And I found out that the phonics book I bought for Neely goes to the 3rd grade. Teagan can use it right now. That cuts out other excessive phonics worksheets from the reading curriculum I bought. It is awesome because Teagan HATES doing those dumb worksheets. I highly recommend A Handbook for Reading.
And for Olivia, since she was so glad to see them enjoying some Home Economics, the girls made their favorite today---"Chicklin and Dumplin's.
*Forgive the quality. Still can't seem to come across my camera battery charger. :(
Neely is kneading out some dumpling dough.
Cutting the dumplings. It's the first time they got to use a butcher knife. Ruh-roh.
I cleaned the flour mess and Teagan chopped the chicken.
So today we did school, made chicken and dumplings, went to the grocery store and post office, went to gymnastics and then straight to AWANA. Pretty busy day! They would have never been able to fit all that in on a weekday before.