Its funny how things can suddenly just "CLICK" sometimes. Sophie has always struggled with time increments (like decade, century, minute/hour) and money (remembering that a quarter equals 25 cents for example). I think that's due in part to the weird spiral method math curriculum that the school was using. They would just touch on a subject before going to something else, and Sophie just can't learn like that. I never really made a big deal out of it, just correcting her mistakes or explaining when she would ask. Out of habit, I often refer to times as "quarter of" or "half past" and that ALWAYS tripped her up. She would pause and ask me what that meant, every time, and I would have to explain over and over. The same with phrases like "3 decades" or "several centuries ago"; she just didn't get it. She's done a little better lately with money, mostly because I've been giving her all my change and she is big into spending her own money on things. If she has a pile of change, she has to count it all up to figure out how much she has and what she can buy. She's always been a saver (when she was 6 or 7, she had saved every bit of change and money given to her and had $150!), and loves to splurge at Dollar Tree haha. Well, tonight we were watching one of our typical scifi like shows (Monster and Mysteries in America) and a man said he had been dealing with something for 4 decades. Sophie immediately asked me if that meant 40 years... yay!!! I didn't make a huge deal though, because it tends to embarrass her. I just said yep, that's right, and we continued watching. That really might not seem like a wow moment to many people, but it is to me. Anything math related really comes hard to her, even when it doesn't seem math-y. Its almost like any time a teacher even mentioned that it was in her math text, she just put up a mental wall or something. And that's hard for ME, because I love math. My brain just makes little math equation out of everything. She's also doing better with things like minutes and hours because of the TV guide thing with our cable. She can pull up the guide and see how certain shows are 30 minutes (e.g 8:00-8:30) and that would be a half block compared to say an hour long drama show, or even a quarter of a movie. Its a very visual way for her to see it. Fractions kind of clicked for her that way, too, when I happened across fraction strips online and showed her. Now, she will say, "Good Luck, Charlie is on for 30 minutes, and there are 3 of them on until Daddy is home, so that's an hour and 30 minutes." Another big step for us, that maybe most wouldn't understand :)
More cooking stories! We made no-bake cookies yesterday. They're super simple and have a lot of "easy" measurements that the kids helped me with. Sophie can whip out ingredients and measurements like nobodies business now, when it comes to cooking. Also, I arranged them on one long piece of wax paper to set up, in equal rows. I showed the kids how to count in a fast, easy way by saying "there are 3 rows, with 5 in each row. That means 3 5's or 3 x 5, which is 15. So we have 15 cookies." Doubt this stuck with them, and I didn't really go into more than what I just said, but maybe if we do enough visual things like this, it will eventually "click" like other things have this week. FYI, those things went FAST. No more cookies :( lol.
Sophie has been a texting/emailing demon lately. She is keeping in contact with several of her public school buddies via Facebook. I love that they are at an age where written communication is possible. Sophie isn't a phone person (comes by that honest... I hate to talk on a phone!), but is such a social butterfly. She has especially been talking to her BFF Makayla, and I've read quite a few of these convos (with Sophie's permission!). They both type out all their words, no "text language" of u for you or ur for your etc. Sophie is very good at typing out things, waaaay better than her actual writing of her thoughts. We still struggle with her putting her words and ideas on paper. I still blame this on being told that her written assignments were "bad" and that she wasn't good at it. I wish teachers could understand how much damage they do!! We have been using the Rory's Story Cubes a lot and I can't express how much I love, love, love these!! A big thanks to a couple friends for pointing me in their direction (Felica :))). Sophie can tell some pretty imaginative and awesome stories VERBALLY, but will freeze when asked to write a story on paper. Something we will continue to work on, but I refuse to push her on. I feel like if I push her with anything, she will just push back, and that helps no one. We are still in the stages of "de-schooling" and unlearning all the bad habits and ideas that public school instilled in us both.
Lil Man has been doing a lot this week, too, besides being a meanie. He's rebelling a lot, and trying to push our limits. I'm working on saying NO less and trying to pay him more one on one attention, because I think that's part of his problem. Typical middle child syndrome lol and he's just naturally a very strong willed person, like his Daddy. He has been talking about rhyming words a lot, and will ask me if things rhyme. Usually they do not. He confuses rhyming words with words that have the same beginning sounds. Example: he will say, "Do SPOON and SPILL rhyme?" and I will say "No, but SPOON and MOON rhyme." We'll go back and forth like this forever, and eventually, he will come up with a rhyming set, but most likely, the second word will be a nonsense word. Its a long road, and I keep reminding myself that he is just five, and really good at math type things. Its only normal that he isn't strong in all areas.
We haven't really been focusing on too many "science" things lately. We've broached the topic of anatomy when I was sick and the kids were curious about what was wrong with me. Sophie wasn't as interested in this as Lil Man, and I didn't really want to get too awful in depth with him. Sophie is still super into dinosaurs and reads about them a lot in her free time. Lil Man has been investigating the world outside, since the weather has been nice, and will often ask me to identify leaves or other plants. Max is also into the whole, "What is this?" thing when bringing me flowers from outdoors.
We have talked about the government briefly when we were still going the textbook route. Sophie tends to zone out, and I don't blame her, its BORING. She did really enjoy a supply and demand worksheet we did, and lately we've discussed some things similar to that. Being a pre-teen girl, she really GETS the whole concept of it, and it appeals to her because of her desire to open a bakery. We've talked about things she would like to sell in her shop, and how a lot of people really liked our snickerdoodle bars, so they would sell fast, etc. We've also been talking a lot about our present government and how she doesn't agree with a lot that's going on. Sophie is very into the Hunger Games; she's seen the first movie and read about half the first book. She's been talking about how she can see how things eventually led to how they are in the story. Very intuitive of a 9 year old I think.
Just a quick catch-up post since I've been so random about my posting lately. Its been hard, being sick and trying to keep up with house work and the family. I need more hours in the day!!!
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