Laminated Kumon Worksheets

Here's more pictures of Sparkle and Glitter working on the Kumon worksheets that I laminated for them.


Sparkle uses a china marker, and if she has trouble with a spot, she keeps at it until it is done correctly. For example, if it is a maze, the worksheet isn't "done" until she's out of the maze. If it takes a bit of coaching to get her through, I have her repeat the worksheet on following days until it is easy for her.

Glitter just scribbles with a washable crayon. I explained the directions on a few of the tracing worksheets, but mostly she just wants to scribble on the pictures. That's fine by me as it keeps her busy and happy.


I store most of the worksheets in pro-click bindings. On Sundays, I take out the worksheets for the upcoming week and file them in my everyday file. Then, each morning I take out the worksheets for the day.

Glitter helps herself

Glitter is starting to be helpful.

Here she is clearing her breakfast dishes. It's really cute seeing her reach way up to get the dishes on the counter, as long as there isn't a bunch of leftover food about to slide off onto the floor.


Here she is getting her own cup of water. And if she spills, at least it's only water.


She still takes a nap in the afternoon. I don't know if she actually sleeps or not, and she would probably be fine with a shorter nap, but I tend to stretch out the nap as long as I can so that I can do afternoon school with Sparkle.


Not bad for a two year old, even if she is almost three.

How Hard Is a Book to Read

I've been thinking about what makes a book or text hard or easy to read.

Here are some of the things commonly used to judge the difficulty of a book. These features are often items that can be counted by a computer.

• Difficulty of individual words (are they sight words, or are do they follow simple phonics, depending on how the child is taught)
• Length of words.
• Number of words per page.
• Number of words per sentence
• Length of paragraphs.

Here are some other things people commonly look at when judging if a book is too hard, especially for an early reader.

• Size of type.
• Presence of pictures.
• Amount of white space between words.
• General density of text on page.

Here are even more things that are cited when looking for a book for a particular child.

• Reader's interest in given subject.
• Reader's prior knowledge about given subject.

Now, here are some more things that I don't hear talked about often when judging the difficulty of a book. However, I find that they are important and can explain why some picture books with simple language can still be difficult for a young child.

• Point of view. Most stories are in the third person. If a book is in the first person, it can be difficult for a novice reader to identify the "I" character. If the point of view changes, novice readers can also get lost.
• Flow of events. The easiest to under stand stories are written in strictly chronological order with no large leaps in time. Stories with flashbacks or large skips in the passage of time can be confusing, especially if the changes in time aren't explicitly stated.
• Location. Simple stories have clearly identified locations, and any movement from one location to another is clearly stated. However implied location changes, uncertain location changes, or even location changes by magical means can be confusing.
• Characters. In simple stories, people are clearly identified by name and relationship. More complex stories might have characters with unstated names (such as the narrator in a first person point of view story) or characters with implied relationships - are they siblings or friends? Usage of varying nicknames for a character or having people call the same character different things can be confusing. Foreign names and similar sounding names can also cause comprehension problems.
• Books without clear distinctions between what happens magically and what happens according to the rules of real life can also cause comprehension problems.

So, that's some of my thoughts about the why some books are too hard.

Drawing and Cutting

I'm experimenting with having Sparkle draw on glass with a china marker. When the china marker is used on glass, it erases more more quickly and cleanly than from laminated paper. I'm using a document frame (8.5 x 11) with the worksheet paper under the glass.



Currently, letting Glitter cut paper has been an effective way of keeping her occupied while I school Sparkle. She'll sit and happily cut and cut and cut. She doesn't get frustrated at the snips not being the shape she wants, and she's pretty good about cutting only paper. (The tough part is trying to get her to throw away her snips.) Here, Glitter is making a ladder out of paper. At preschool yesterday they got to see a firetruck. I think that is where she got the idea.

Sparkle's Dance Class

Sparkle takes pre-ballet at a local dance studio. It's not the closest dance studio, but I like it's philosophy. I like how the girls all wear black leotards, pink tights, and no skirts. However, I haven't encountered any limitations on hair bling, as long as the hair is up. The class is half an hour of ballet, and fifteen minutes of tap.

Sparkle is in the middle of picture, just to the left of the teacher. She has a fluffy pink do-dah in her hair. In the mirror you can see the reflection of the one-way window through which I took the picture. I spend most of the class holding up Glitter so that she can watch the class through that window.



Oh, and in my book, this counts as PE for homeschool.

Glitter at school

Normally I don't go into Glitter's classroom, but Glitter had to go potty after class, and I snuck in and got this picture of her washing her hands.

Monday Library and Gardens

Monday's are my regular library day. (Although it seems that recently I've been going to the library more frequently and on different days due to holiday closures and inter-library loans coming in.)

Sparkle and Glitter have run ahead to door of the library.


I have a cart to transport all the library books between the car and the library. When the cart is full, I know that I can't get any more books.


I let Sparkle get as many books as she likes from anywhere in the library. She usually picks out books based on the pictures, and not the text, so I also pick out books for her. I let Glitter pick out two board books for herself. This limit is a holdover from the limit I used to put on Sparkle, as I didn't want to keep track of too many books and board books are more durable. Those reasons don't apply anymore, but now the limit prevents Glitter from piling book after book in the cart.

After the library, I've started taking the girls to the botanical gardens that share a parking lot with the library. The idea is to get a bit of nature study in.

Here are the girls experience grass. This grass is much softer than the grass in our yard. It has very dense, think blades that stick straight up, instead of thick blades which grow sideways. The tips of the blades are also yellow where they were cut by the mower.




The fish pond is a favorite with both girls.



I tried having the girls draw a picture. Glitter was happy to scribble away. Sparkle had a tougher time because she gets frustrated when the picture doesn't turn out as she wants. However, when she is pleased with her work, she is ecstatic.

Monday Pancakes

I've gotten into a routine of making mini-pancakes for breakfast on Monday's. I use store brand pancake mix that just needs water. I mix up the batter in a measuring cup, and then use a measuring spoon to ladle out the batter.



Here are the pancakes in the frying pan, waiting for the second side to cook. I like this small size, because I don't end up with any half-eaten pancakes. Any leftover pancakes are snacks during the day.

Bouncy Birthday Party

Last weekend I took Sparkle and Glitter to a birthday party for a girl from our church playgroup. It took place at one of those venues with giant inflatable play structures. Both girls really like this place.

Here they are running around.



Sparkle's favorite was the giant slide.


However, Glitter wasn't so sure about the slide. She would climb up the stairs and get to the top. However, once at the top, she would look down the slide, change her mind, and climb back down the stairs. Over and over again. Even Sparkle couldn't convince her to go down the slide.

Then it was time for pizza and cake.



Here's the birthday girl.

Chinese New Year Party

We went to a Chinese New Year Party on Sunday evening hosted by a dear friend.



It was crowded, so I didn't get many pictures.

The kids had a short parade outside. Sparkle got a lantern to carry, but was sad that it didn't actually light up. Wander solved that problem by hanging a small flashlight inside it.


Here is Glitter getting a red envelope. Sparkle got one too. Both were very good and kept them closed until we were in the car.

Potstickers for Chinese New Year

A few years ago a friend gave me the book "Mao's Last Dancer" by Li Cunxin. In a very minor part of the book, the lead character visits a friend's home every weekend and they make and eat potstickers. The book made me really hungry for potstickers. I couldn't find any at an affordable price in my normal grocery stores, so I found a recipe and tried making them. I found that the ingredients are fairly inexpensive. However, making them is very labor intensive, so I don't do it very often. This past weekend I made some for Chinese New Year.

I didn't get any pictures of me making the dough for the wrappers. I mix the dough in the KitchenAid, first using the whisk, and then switching to the dough hook. I use a pasta roller and a circular cookie cutter. The result is a rather chewy wrapper that I like. It has to be used immediately, though.

Here I am filling some wrappers.


Here is a row of potstickers ready to be cooked. I have to remind Sparkle that they are not ready yet and contain raw meat.


Here are some in the frying pan. (Incidentally, I got this frying pan many years ago specifically because I wanted a pan to make potstickers. It gets much use in other cooking, but that was the original reason for the purchase.)


Here they are on their sides.

Dentist

I took Sparkle and Glitter to the dentist today for their semi-annual check-up.

They even took x-rays of Glitter's teeth. They were surprised at how well she did considering that she is two years old. I was proud of her. Of course, it helped that Sparkle had only just finished getting her x-rays, and Glitter wanted to be just like big sister. Plus, she knew that she would get *two* stickers when it was done.

Then Sparkle and Glitter had their teeth cleaned and examined. I think that because Sparkle is getting older, the hygienist expected her to be more stoic. She got a bit squirmy and anxious near the end of the cleaning, but the hygienist didn't stop to give her a break. I held her toe to comfort her because I couldn't reach her hand.

Meanwhile, Glitter just laid back and opened wide, holding firmly onto her stickers.


Thankfully there were no new cavities this time. Plus there was no waiting. From the time I signed us in to the time we were out the door was less than 45 minutes.

Earth: flat and round

Out of the blue Sparkle asked me "How come the ground is flat, but the Earth is round?".

My first thought was "What a great question!" My second thought was "Ooh, if I answer that, I can put a big fat check mark next to 'science' for homeschooling today."

So, I rounded up several balls of different sizes from the playroom (Ha ha, pun fully intended.) I showed her how I could curve my finger around the smallest ball. However, when I lay my finger on the balls of increasing size, my finger curved less and less. Finally on the largest ball, my finger was almost flat. Then I explained that the ground seems flat because the Earth is such a huge ball.

Here is Sparkle with the assorted balls. Her finger is curved around a small pink ball.

Pajama Day

Today was Pajama Day at Glitter's school. That meant that she got to wear her nightgown and bring a stuffed animal to school. The kids got to snuggle and watch a movie. They also got all sugar-ed up celebrating two classmates' birthdays. Oh, and Sparkle wanted to wear her nightgown for Pajama Day too.

Bean Bag Boogie

Our playgroup is doing a thing where each month a different mom plans a special activity for the kids, like a craft or a special treat. This was my month, and I decided to do the bean bag boogie.

I brought our bucket of bean bags, my iPod, and speakers. Sparkle handed out bean bags to all the kids. Then they danced to the music. The song is rather cute if you're a toddler. It tells you to put the bean bag in various places (on your head, your foot, your elbow, etc.) as part of a fun song. My girls really got into it; several others gave it a try; and others just watched.

Can you guess where the kids were supposed to put the bean bag in these photos?