Sunday, December 21, 2014

Just a Few Things This Week

We didn't do any formal school time this week and probably won't next week either. 'Tis the season for celebrating! And learning hard lessons on being patient while waiting for exciting holidays.


DJ received the Melissa & Doug Pattern Blocks and Boards for his birthday. His initial response was frustration when he didn't have the dexterity to make the patterns without the tiles sliding all over. After getting some great advice, I began playing with the tiles without the pattern boards. In this picture, I made the flower. DJ was inspired and before I knew it, he had designed the circle to the left of my flower! He asked me to hold the yellow hexagon still but he placed all the squares and triangles himself.

Friday, December 12, 2014

Still Learning




DJ started out his "school" this week by having me help him put this world puzzle together that he got for his birthday. While he has mastered the 12 piece wooden Melissa & Doug jigsaw puzzles, a puzzle with this many pieces and such a complex picture is still beyond him. I simplified the task by stacking the pieces into 7 piles corresponding to each continent. We started with Antarctica and worked our way clockwise around the map.

Saturday, December 6, 2014

More School Days




DJ and I went to a puppet show of the Very Hungry Caterpillar this week. The puppeteers were from Nova Scotia so when we came home, we pulled out the World Map puzzle to see where Nova Scotia is. DJ's grandparents recently went to San Diego for the winter so I showed him where we live, where San Diego is and where Nova Scotia is. I had told him it would take two days to drive to San Diego, which made a big impression on him. He keeps saying "it's really far away!"

Wednesday, December 3, 2014

Game Day




DJ received this My Very First Games - First Orchard Game by Haba for his 2nd birthday a year ago. It said on the box 2+ but DJ wasn't really ready for it last year. He didn't understand taking turns and the goal of the game was lost on him because he WANTED the crow to eat the fruit and couldn't be bothered with rolling the die. He played with it for a bit and then ignored it for a long time so it got out in the garage and forgotten for months.