Tracing, Puzzles & Kid Pix

Part of K's day today was tracing various things I drew on paper...an "X" a "zig-zag" and a few other shapes.  She didn't want to trace the shapes - wanted me to do them.  Ha!  She finally did them and traced them okay (not a big deal to me this year since we don't work on any writing officially anyway).  The star at the end I drew holding her hand...

She was able to tell me Q's name & sound!  And later today when I was reading another chapter in the Little House in the Big Woods over lunch, she heard the word "quiver" and told me it began with "Q!"   She also loves the rhyme this week since it's about Baby Jesus!  We read about the wise men coming to visit Jesus and the Bible story book had it correct Biblically: the wise men visiting an older baby (toddler) in a home, not the stable!  Hooray! 

After we did her HOD things for today, I brought out a few puzzles for her to work on with me while D was occupied with the computer.  She is quick to say, "You do it, Mommy!"  So I'm forever telling her, "No, K, YOU can do it with my help."  We took turns putting in pieces today of the one that has the cardboard frame.  Then when we put together the Disney puzzle (no frame, 24 pieces) we sorted the sides, corners and middle pieces to make it easier.  She's learning...my goal is to get her more independent for next year when I'll have to spend more time helping D with his school work.

D created a Pac Man picture on the computer this morning using the program: Kid Pix.  It's a very fun, creative program that allows the kids to not only "draw" pictures but make them move, make sounds and lots more.  He "drew" everything on the screen but the yellow dot background (that was an option he chose).  I thought he did a nice job and even included a star adn the words, "Go Pac Man."  

D completed small crossword puzzle of opposites for his Thinking Skills page, copied the beginning of his memory verse for the week which is Ps 96:4a - "For great is the Lord and most worthy of praise..."  and went through a TON of flashcards with me again.  He's getting better!  We pulled out cards with the same answer (7+6, 8+5 and 9+4) so he could see how the numbers changed slightly but resulted in the same answer.  The Singapore computer game does this for him to see (and we did it yesterday with colored stones) but when we talked through it again today and he saw the cards of the same answers next to each other somehow it "clicked" for him!  We'll keep doing facts until he's faster - maybe into next week?!  I'm also searching for more math games that would be "fun" to keep reviewing the facts and I also need to make a bigger set of dice to include high numbers (7-12).

For history today, D learned about Vasco Balboa (first European explorer to see the Pacific Ocean from a mountain near where the Panama Canal sits today).  He listened to the story and then we looked at the globe and found where Panama is...we'll be looking at pics on the internet of it soon, too.  I love re-learning history with him!