Weekly Report: Week 28

We were gone the first half of the week because I took the girls to Texas for my dad's 50th birthday.  They had a lot of fun playing with their aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparents for a few days.  Because Tyler's schedule isn't very flexible, I took them on the 10+ hour drive myself.  My girls are such good travelers, though, so it wasn't any problem ...except when I ran out of gas in The-Middle-of-Nowhere, Texas.  But that was even not too bad thanks to a friendly local sheriff who came from 20 miles away to help!  Gotta love Texas.  All told, it was a pretty good trip.

We did manage to fit a week's worth of school in after we got home, though.  I focused on reading and Lydia is almost through with the "th" sections in OPGTR.  There are a few sections about it, and they have a lot of practice reading, which is why it is taking us so long.  Also, I noticed that Lydia pronounces unvoiced "th" with a slight "s" at the beginning.  So, for example, the word "with" sounds like "wisth."  I probably should talk to her speech therapist about that, as it was impeding her reading a little.

After reading, our next biggest focus was probably handwriting.  I discovered a new app that I am totally loving called LetterSchool.  It is great because it is simple enough for Lydia to enjoy (she doesn't like apps that are too flashy or fluffy), but it also teaches handwriting in a stroke-by-stroke way with lots of practice.  And the best part is it even has the Handwriting Without Tears font and strokes!  Lydia spent a few hours playing this game last week, and the whole time she practiced fine motor control and correct letter construction.  It was great.

Math was more on the back burner last week.  Lydia's attention span wasn't that great, so I had to pick and choose, and I chose reading and handwriting over math for the time being.  I think we did math one day.  We are still focusing on subtraction, so nothing new or revolutionary.  Although, I am encountering a problem.  I can't get Lydia to grasp the concept of adding or subtracting using a number line.  She does great with cuisenaire rods or counters, but not number lines.  She also has trouble adding or subtracting by "counting on" or "counting back" and I think the two are related.  Any ideas?

Lydia also finished listening to The Voyages of Doctor Doolittle and is now listening to The Burgess Animal Book for Children.  She is really enjoying animals a lot right now, so I'm sticking with books that have animals as a central part.  She seems to be enjoying it a lot and most days she can tell me a few sentences about what she heard in her "naptime story."