Homebody Wander Sparkle (age 8) Glitter (age 6)

Saturday, October 2, 2010

Glitter's numbers

Glitter is going to be my numbers girl.

In Glitter's reading lesson, she had to read a few columns of words. I used the notched card to guide her on which card to read. As I moved the notched card to the top of the third column, she said, "to." I almost corrected her, because that most definitely wasn't the first word in the column, but held my tongue and she read the actual word. Then we got to the top of the next column, and she said, "three." Turns out that "to" was really "two." She was counting the number of columns that she had read. (This wasn't the first time either; it just caught me off-guard this time.)

After Glitter's reading lesson, she gets to pick any book for me to read to her. She tends to go through phases where she picks the same book day after day after day. One of her favorite books that she keeps returning to "Arthur Counts," a simple lift-the-flap counting book with numbers from 1 to 10.

Glitter likes to quiz Sparkle on adding identical numbers. A recurring car conversation goes something like this:
Glitter: What's 1 plus 1?
Sparkle: 2
Glitter: What's 2 plus 2?
Sparkle: 4
Glitter: What's 4 plus 4?
Sparkle: 8
Glitter: What's 8 plus 8?
Sparkle: 16
Glitter: What's 16 plus 16?
Sparkle (after some thought): 32
Glitter: What's 32 plus 32?
Sparkle: 64
Glitter: What's 64 plus 64?
Sparkle (after a long pause and some furious thinking): 128, right Mom?
Glitter: What's 128 plus 128?
Sparkle: that's enough already

I'm not ready to teach this girl math yet. I'm a little scared at the prospect.

Bedtime pals

Here's the girls with a small fraction of their bedtime pals. I have no idea how they sleep crowded by so many stuffed animals.

Let's Get a Stamp

Now that the weather has cooled off, we have resumed our weekly nature walks, including asking for hand stamps at the garden's office. Sparkle asked for a rose, and Glitter wanted a butterfly stamp.

goodbye chair

I'm slowly trying to free myself from some of the junk piling up in the house. The process involves many trips to Goodwill.

Last week, I loaded up the car with usable stuff that is cluttering our lives, including an old mis-matched chair. When Sparkle saw me load it up in the car, she cried out in dismay -- "Oh no! Glitter, Mommy's getting rid of your old chair!" I had no idea she was so attached to the thing. Even though Glitter hasn't used the chair in over a year, Sparkle remembered that it used to be "her" chair. Sparkle and Glitter whipped themselves into a frenzy to defend the chair's place in our home.

Since it's taken me many months to bring myself to part with the chair, I was not going to let a couple of kids deter me from my purpose at the last minute. I told them (and myself) that, yes, it had been Glitter's chair. She got it when Sparkle no longer used it. Before Sparkle, I had used the chair myself. I got the chair from their uncle, when he no longer needed it. And now, it was time for the chair to service another family.

Once we got to Goodwill, I was feeling nostolgic, so I took a picture of the chair before saying goodbye.

f

P.E.

A week ago our homeschool group had a PE class on playing soccer.

Given that we are not an athletic family, and last year's lack of interest in doing PE, I decided that I'd bring the girls to the park so they could see their friends, but I wouldn't make them play.

The weather was brutally hot, and Sparkle chose to hang out with a few other kids in the only shade around, under a tiny tree.


Glitter, on the other hand, is more physical than her sister. She got right in the thick of things.


Here is Glitter kicking a ball in the middle of the field. She doesn't care that she's smaller or less experienced than the other kids. Even wearing a dress doesn't slow this girl down.


Side note: Wander thought the girls should wear shorts for PE instead of their normal dresses. I countered that they should wear what they like, as girls have been doing PE in skirts and dresses for hundreds of years.