Lesson 8

Yesterday, we went to a Winter Playdate at John Eager Howard Elementary School. We were invited by Miss Brenda, who is Elinore's special instructor. The party was held in the rec room and was very well done. The room was organized into centers, supervised by teachers from the tot program. Elinore did not spend much time at Miss Brenda's station which had color sorting, and cardboard blocks. Clockwise around the room, the next station was a floor piano; a bubble station with handouts, bubbles, and bubble wrap; gross motor area with a ball pit, mini-tramp, and a slide; decorate a picture frame station; painting and dot stamping; face painting; and a make and take station for the parents. The make and take included a Wheels on the Bus laminated picture with the different parts of the song on small velcro-ed cards to make the song more interactive. A second project was making a small color wheel with matching clothespins. We even had a catered lunch. Cate engaged Elinore in quite a few activities, though Elinore's main focus was the gross motor area.

Sadly, I have not many pictures, but as I told Jeff, I can keep track of a camera or Elinore, and Elinore is more important.

The women who worked for the program were amazing. They all focused on the children, were polite, respectful, engaged them in activities while still respecting the choice of the child. I am impressed!

I was also impressed, albeit in a negaive way, by something I saw at the actual school. Some of the folding chairs had states and capitals, I guess as a study aid. I thought that was great. Until I saw the capital of Louisiana was Banton Rouge. And that brought home to me, again, the deplorable state of Baltimore City Public Schools, and why I homeschool. At my most generous, I allowed that it could have been done by a parent volunteer, but somone should have noticed. And fixed it. There were only a few chairs labled, obviously left over from another time, which to me indicates there was time for someone to notice, a teacher, the principal, another parent, someone. Sad. Also, a rat or mouse in the hallway.

Special instruction today featured things that go. Miss Brenda used a book written in verse that had an actual storyline, and illustrations that attached to the book with velcro. Awesome. Then Elinore played Bingo with the vehicles, and extended patterns on the iPad.

Elinore completed lesson 8 in Calvert Pre-school. It is flowing along at a perfect pace, average of three days a week, just like I hoped. Each lesson begins with Opening. Our Opening starts with:

Prayer and
a Bible story. Today we finished story number 60 in Bible Stories to Read, by Rod and Staff publishers. It has a companion coloring book that we haven't used yet, because Elinore is not that interested in coloring. Maybe next go-round she'll like it. Tomorrow we start The Bible in Pictures for Little Eyes.
Starfall calendar for month, year, days of the week
Flag salute, the one introduced by Calvert (Red, white, and blue, I love you)
Song, such as Itsy Bitsy Spider, Twinkle Twinkle, etc.
News time, same as show-and-tell
and Thought For the Day, such as Be kind, Be thoughtful
Lesson 3 started teaching left and right, so for now, opening also includes putting a sticker on her right hand, which she promptly moves to her left.

Our discussion time was spent on seasons, focusing on spring. Number readiness presented the concepts of opened and closed. That was a lot of fun with eyes, mouth, door, gate, refrigerator, boxes and arms opening and closing. Story time covered Little Boy Blue which we dramatized, and Little Bo Peep. It was hard to convince her to color with crayons for Things to Do, but we will try again on another day.

Monday's occupational therapy went well as usual. Elinore is finally engaging in imaginative play. She put the weighted lizards down for a nap and my outside-the-box thinker put the pillows under their tails. She has about mastered buttons, and is getting the hang of zippers. She used color changing markers to write E, and got in a swing with the precious lizards. Miss Jodie and I were talking about all the progress she has made, and when we got to the neighbor's to get Hannah, she promptly stripped down to shirt and diaper. So much for progress. Miss Jodie highly recommends Handwriting Without Tears, so we are looking into that.

I am getting long winded, so I'm skipping off for my Pinterest fix.