What works for Carli

I love finding tips for any and everything on the blogs I follow, specifically ones that make homeschooling to run as smoothly as possible. I've discovered something that helps Carli concentrate and actually enjoy flashcards for blends, arithmetic and lots of other facts that need memorized. It started one day when Carli's eyes were glazing over--I wanted to get done, but I didn't want her to hate it either. I got her personal-sized white board out, and told her to take score: One point for Carli when she got a flash card right and one point for Mommy when she got it wrong. She was like a different person, and she quickly caught on that she couldn't just look at part of the fact and guess--she had to know the answer to get a point.

Since then, we've used the basic idea in many different ways: hangman, building towers with blocks, and bar graphs, for instance. It makes it a lot more fun, and quicker, too, since I'm not trying constantly to bring her back to the matter at hand.

I'm very excited that school is going as well as it is: You know how it can be for a first time home educator. Carli is learning quickly, and now can read bigger words with special sounds using one- and two-vowel rules very well. She told me today that she was going to read her primer all day on Saturday so she can learn lots.

In other news: Olivia told me the other day that she needed to talk to my ear. Trying to stifle my giggles, I asked what she needed and she said, "I need to go to the store and buy some eggs." What could a 3-year-old need with eggs?? :)

Maddy started speech therapy last week, and I'm super excited about it. Since it involves all play, signing, singing and reading, I think she likes it, too.