Getting Back on Track!

Whew...it's been way too long!  Taking the month of December off from school ended up being December and January and the first week of February.  YIKES!  We just had one thing after another come up and it was just getting out of control.  So I sat down and created a Family Schedule to help us get back on track and to help us manage our time more effectively.  Today was our first day to implement my new schedule and it worked PERFECTLY!  I felt like I was in my element again, and ended up getting more done than was even on the schedule.  It felt great and we had a blast.

I was amazed at how much Alan has changed in just the past couple of months.  He was always interested and wanted to be with us while we were 'playing school', but he would just kind of do his own thing.  Well, now he wants to be involved in everything and participate in all of the activities.  It made it extra fun and interesting at times! 

Evan jumped right back in like we had never taken a break.  I was impressed at how little he had forgotten.  The child remembers EVERYTHING!  We sang our 'Days of the Week' song and the boys changed the magnets on the board.
 

Evan patiently reaching over Alan to change the Day Magnets.

We had a lot of reviewing to do so we started at the beginning.  We reviewed the letters that we have worked on so far and then focused primarily on the Letter A and B.  We practiced our writing (Alan included!) and went through the Lapbooks for each letter reviewing all the things we had done.  We also read through the B4FIAR books that went with each letter.  A:  Play With Me.  B:  Jesse Bear, What Will You Wear; Blueberries for Sal.  C:  The Carrot Seed; The Red Carpet.  Evan was so excited to get these books back out!  He just kept saying, "Let's read another one of those!"



After Evan practiced writing the Letter A, Alan wanted to also.



"Which word starts with the Letter A?"



Evan couldn't wait to put on puppet shows!  A lady from church made a really cute puppet theater and gave it to us.  Both the boys thought it was just the best thing in the whole world!  We put on show after show after show.  Buzz and Woody even got involved at one point!  They had so much fun!  It's like the puppets are alive to them - even if they are just paper on a wooden stick!  They love them!  It's so precious to watch!



Evan super excited about his new puppet theater!



Evan putting on a show with Angie A.

 

Alan getting in on the action with Al the Alligator!



Evan and Alan's puppet show version of Toy Story!

We did some vocabulary / reading practice using the "Your Baby Can Read" program.  Both the boys enjoy watching these videos and looking at the books and flashcards.  It's amazing how Alan is even picking up on some of the word recognition.  We got out our AlphaMat and played on it for awhile too.  They love when we get this out and set it all up.  Normally we just have a couple of letters out at a time, so when we do the whole thing, it is quite a treat! 


Having fun on the AlphaMat!



As soon as Alan sees a camera, he immediately says, "CHEESE!"

For our Bible Story and Family Bible Time, we reviewed the Creation Account and talked about what God made on each of the six days.  Evan was able to answer most of the questions about the story on his own and just needed a little prompting on a couple of them.  Whenever he doesn't know the answer to something, he says, "Say it with me!"

Evan is now up to having 6 verses memorized.  We are so proud of him and he loves to recite them!  He knows (in the order he learned them) Genesis 1:1, Luke 2:52, Genesis 2:19, John 14:15, Genesis 1:3, and Ephesians 6:1.  

It was good for all of us to get back on track today.  It was a good day in the Orr home!