tennis

Tennis started today at the park, it is a free program run by the parks dept. for about 1 1/2 months every summer. The kids met a few friends there and had a good time playing around. This year there were double the amount of kids as last year so they split the groups up... all 5-7 yrs old is from 1-2 pm and all 8-11 yrs old are now practicing from 2-3 pm. Which means we will be there for about 2 hours twice a week....
Then once a week they'll play soccer and of course dance until the beginning of August for the girls. So I breathe when? lol
They are so excited to be able to play their favorite sports all summer long. Not to mention the friends they will be seeing... yeah no socialization issues here.

We are also continuing schooling all thru the summer as we did last year, just not as focused. We will still do math and reading and other things as they come up but he kids have more free time to do as they please. Not that it stops them from asking a zillion questions, looking things up on line, reading and just wanting to know every thing.....

F is finally getting over the having to understand everything as soon as he sits down to read the problem. I have tried to explain to him that he is not expected to know every problem that I put in front of him. I am here to help him to understand it and to work with him. And we have come to the conclusion that if he just doesn't get some concept he can always re visit it the next month, year and try again. A lot of the math concepts need to be presented in real life and then the child will understand it because it is relevant to him, and this may not happen at the grade level it's supposed to happen. He is introduced to everything is he supposed to know for his grade but some things are not focused on until they can be applied to some thing in every day living. So far he seems to be above grade level in a lot of things because he is interested in learning them for his own sense of knowledge and not because he is forced to learn them because it's for his 'grade level'. Then some things he is still learning as he goes.

J and A are both learning the sounds of the 26 letters and counting and doing simple math, either with me or with F. J is using Starfall a lot and is sounding out simple words. But ask her anything about animals and she will talk to you until the cows come home :). The girls have been spending a lot of time these past few days drawing and playing with their Legos and their doll house. A built one of F's big kid Legos with very minimal help from F. The age on the box said 6 to12 yrs old so she was beyond proud when she finished the 36 step instructions to build the model.

I love Legos. :)