Toddler Time

Today Hunter started his winter session class of "Toddler Time" at the library.

It's a half hour long and they do a few finger plays ("Open Them, Shut Them" "Two Little Hands" and the weekly special, this time it was "Snowflakes, Snowflakes"). They also read a couple books, play some games (like tossing the "snowballs" [rolled up paper] into a can, or helping to build a felt snowman), and watch a short video (about five minutes).

For the last few minutes of the class, the parents come in and help them do a craft. It's usually some cute little textbook creation that involves gluing the pieces together or putting stickers on or something of that sort.

He wasn't too fond of the crafts this time around. Last session, in the fall, he did the crafts with the utmost care and forethought and was usually the last one done. This time he got it done as fast as possible so he could resume his precious play with the train set outside the door. Maybe it was just today, but my observation is that his love for the train set has been growing, not diminishing. And for that matter, his memory has, too (I wouldn't be surprised if he spent the entire class thinking about his unfinished business with Thomas the Tank Engine).

Thankfully, he keeps his composure despite his undying love for those tracks. When called away from it, he comes, without a fuss. "But I don't want anyone to play with my trains" he carefully reminds me as he walks toward me, his head turned as his eyes are still fixed on his abandoned box cars, flat beds and engines.

What can I say? He's all boy. And he loves his trains. And even though he was excited about the class, and even though I'm sure he enjoys it, his real love is with the engines.

And perhaps, by the end of the class, he'll learn to actually talk to and play with the other 2- and 3-year-old freight-lovers. Maybe.

Me and My Guitar

Hunter really enjoys playing with his new guitar. Usually once or twice a day he begs to play it.

His dexterity isn't all that great yet, so he's a little shaky on the chords. But he is simply fascinated with ever so carefully plucking the strings with his jumbo guitar pick (from First Act). It took him a while to figure out how to play the strings gently, but he's finally gotten the hang of it and is intrigued with the workings of the instrument.

He's gained a lot of respect for it. Whenever he gets it out, he carefully takes the bag off of it and brings it to me. It's amazing to see how thoughtfully and cautiously he slowly makes his way across the room, eyes pinned on his guitar, so that he doesn't bump it into anything. I make him let me tune it each time before he plays so that his ears will grow accustomed to the sound of a tuned guitar. And at this point, he always sits down while he plays, so that, once again, he doesn't bump into anything.

He usually only stays occupied with it for about five to seven minutes. And at this point, that is just fine. It's an exciting thing that he is learning how to play this wonderful instrument at such an early age. It will certainly be a benefit and a joy to him throughout his life.

"Praise him with stringed instruments...Let every thing that hath breath praise the LORD."

from Psalm 150:4 & 6

All Aboard!

Spiderman, Patrick, Rabbit, Baby, and Monkey all line up to see our math and reading cards.

Lately Hunter just loves to make sure that all of his "friends" are around when I show him his math, reading, and encyclopedic knowledge cards.

Whatever toy he may have been playing with before we do our cards, he always makes sure that they get to come along and watch.

"They really want to see them [the cards]" you know.

He lines them all up, and positions them where they can "see" good, as in this picture.

Indeed, he loves this special times of learning throughout the day, and is always sure that his toys will get to take part in the fun. Learning reading, math, and encyclopedic knowledge has certainly heightened his imagination, curiosity, and love of learning, not crushed it.

ABC's

Hunter doesn't really know that many of his letters yet. Back when he was one and a half, I taught him "H" and "S" because those are the first letters of his first and last name. He also learned H says hhh and S says sss.

But for a while he didn't learn anything else, until this summer, when he was almost two and a half, I realized that he didn't know hardly any of them yet, so I went out and bought him some foam alphabet letters to play with in the bathtub (he couldn't use the magnetic ones we have for the fridge, because we had to pack them up for Anthony).

I taught him a few letters, like B is for Bekah and M is for Mommy. Then the bathroom was under construction, and he stopped taking bathes.

But right when it would have been about time for me to "be worried" by today's standards that he didn't know most of his letters yet, I heard about whole-word reading and why reading is a brain function, just like speaking or hearing, and that we don't read letters but whole words. I decided that I would start teaching him how to read, and mostly dropped the alphabet as we've been focusing on other things.

But now our bathroom is done being under construction, and he's taking bathes again, and I've discovered that he really does know a lot of his letters already. "I wanna make Kevin" was the first thing he said when he got in the bath, and with a few clues about finding the right letters, he spelled it, and was very proud of himself.

So, I'm not worried that he doesn't know all his letters yet. He'll learn them soon enough, and as long as he has fun doing it, we'll be fine.

Noticing things

Today when I was helping Hunter put his toys away, I lined up his two racing cars at the top of his zigzag track to put the thing away. But Hunter watched me and said, "No Mommy, you did it wrong" and carefully picked up the little yellow taxi and precariously turned it around, the "right way".

I didn't even really notice it, because the cars are nearly symmetrical and go down either way they're faced. But though Hunter was never taught, he knew which end of the car was forward and which end was backward, and made sure they were placed correctly.

Once again, I am amazed at the little things he notices, the things we think he's "too young to understand". Little kids truly are little geniuses

Teaching Preschoolers Piano

Hunter loves playing with the piano, and now he gets to really learn how.

I've been teaching him "perfect pitch": playing a note and saying, "This is C!" etc. But now I've labeled all the keys with colors (red for C's, purple for A's, etc.) so that he can find the notes when I ask him to play a particular one.



We've only begun, and his hand control isn't that good yet. But he's getting there, and with practice, very soon he will know the joy of making music.

"O come, let us sing unto the LORD: let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation."

Psalm 95:1

Police Station opening

[Actual Date: January 14, 2008]

A new police station opened up in Valpo this week, and Hunter was anxious to go to the open house to "see the police cars". We went, and toured the new building, which he wasn't all that interested in. But he got to say hi to a lot of officers, and he got some cookies. But what he really liked was riding in this little "refurbished" metal police car, a cool antique repainted, polished, and ready for preschool use. He finally figured out how the petals were supposed to work when it was time to go (rats), but left willingly with a promise of another visit, perhaps a field trip sometime soon, and the urging that the real police cars were outside.

He only got to see the real guys from a distance, since it was so cold, but like we promised, another time [that is, when it's warmer].

Learning to Read

Today we began our reading program. I started off with animals, because that is what he is really into these days. There's no hat, cat and sat in teaching two-year olds. More like elephant, motorcycle, and humerus.

Nonetheless he loved it. I made a book of "couplets" (two words, such as purple butterfly) with pictures on the following page. I knew that he wouldn't go for just the words, unless those words meant a step into him being able to read books. He loves books, and isolated words aren't very interesting to him unless they mean something - which in this case means being able to read books.

A few months ago I tried teaching him the names of everyone in his family. He lost interest right away. The words didn't mean anything to him because he couldn't use them. But now that he has a book in his hands demonstrating those words being used, he's totally interested in reading them.

He's really excited about reading. Today he asked to see the word about four times, and each time I showed them to him he begged "Again!" His toy animals were even asking to see them.

We're hoping to do about 200 words by the end of April. We will be making lots of homemade books, and many, many words. We make them very big and very bold (and red, because it's attractive) so that his little eyes can see them easily as I show them very quickly (flashing speed of less than a second per word). We'll be having a great time opening doors to learn new things about our world.



But what about phonics?

Acdicorng to a rcesearh at Cbmraigde Uinsiertvy, it deson't mtaetr waht odrer the lteetrs in a wrod are in, the olny ipmroatnt tihng is taht the frsit and lsat lteter be in the rgiht plcae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can slitl raed it wtiuot a porlbem. Tihs is bceasue the mnid deos not raed erevy lteter by isteslf, but the wrod as a wohle, and the barin fgiuers it out aynawy. Cool!

If you can read the sentence above, then you're probably a decent reader. The words are all mixed up, but you can read it anyway because the first and last letter are in the right place. That's because our brains read whole words and even whole sentences at once, not letter by letter. That is why there are many words that you can read just fine but you cannot spell. Reading is a brain function that humans are born with. You do not have to have a knowledge of phonics or even know the alphabet in order to read, just as you do not have to have knowledge of grammar or spelling in order to speak.

Understanding that words are made up of letters and sounds is an important skill to have. But so is understanding that sentences are made up of nouns, verbs, and prepositions. But that never stopped us from teaching children how to speak.

Reading is a brain function, just as is speaking, and children can learn how to read words long before they can understand the technicalities of phonics. Giving them a head start in reading will make phonics come easy (and actually make sense).

"Very young children can and do learn to read words, sentences, and paragraphs in exactly the same way they learn to understand spoken words, sentences, and paragraphs.
Again the facts are simple - beautiful but simple. We have already stated that the eye sees but does not understand what is seen and that the ear hears but does not understand what is heard. Only the brain understands.
When the ear apprehends, or picks up, a spoken word or message, this auditory message is broken down into a series of electrochemical impulses and flashed to the unhearing brain, which then reassembles and comprehends in terms of the meaning the word was intended to convey.
In precisely the same manner it happens that when the eye apprehends a printed word or message, this visual message is broken down into a series of electrochemical impulses and flashed to the unseeing brain to be reassembled and comprehended as reading.
It is a magical instrument, the brain.
Both the visual pathway and the auditory pathway travel through the brain and where both messages are interpreted by the same brain process.
Visual acuity and auditory acuity actually have very little to do with it, unless they are very poor indeed.
There are many animals that see or hear better than any human being. Nonetheless, no chimpanzee, no matter how acute his vision or hearing, has yet to read the word "freedom" through his eye or understood it through his ear. He hasn't the brain for it." -Glenn Doman, How to Teach Your Baby to Read

Reading whole words or whole sentences at once is indeed true reading. We must stop assuming that a two-year-old who reads a paragraph quickly and easily "isn't really reading", yet the seven year old who slowly and painfully makes his way through a simple sentence ["ttthhhh-uh kaaaa tuh…. Ssss, sssiiii tz, sits oh-nnnn, er, um, ON ttthhh-uh mmaaa-tt." Translation: the cat sits on the mat. Child's understanding of what he just "read": none] is the one who is "really reading".

Keep in mind that if an adult "read" like the seven-year-old we just described, we would call him functionally illiterate. But if an adult reads a thousand words per minute in the same way that the two-year-old just did, then that adult is considered a superb reader.

Making a Collage

Hunter had a lot of fun making a collage today: I just got out a bunch of paper scraps, glue, and crayons and let him go at it. He was very particular about how he cut and pasted each piece, and make some interesting scribbles to add to the decor.

He spent quite a bit of time on it; about twenty minutes or so. And of course, any input I might have had was kindly reprimanded with, "I do it all by myself!" Which, of course, are his favorite words right now.

He did it all by himself, and was quite proud of his finished work. His color choices were very selective, and so was his placement of the pieces (and his scribbling as well). I really think that even tiny kids have a propensity for real art, and I'm hoping to nourish his artistic abilities. I'm currently reading the book Drawing with Children by Mona Brookes and intend to start some of the teaching techniques with Hunter soon. The goal of the book is to give children the tools to draw realistically while they're still young, before they hit the "I can't draw!" stage at eight or nine years old.

So, hopefully with these teaching techniques and lots of opportunities to practice and develop his creativity, he will be creating many more future masterpieces and hold onto the joys of art into his teen and adult years.

Learning mathematics

I've been doing the Glenn Doman How to Teach Your Baby Mathprogram.

It's supposed to be for babies and toddlers under 30 months, but since I hadn't learned my numerals yet (1, 2, 3 or I, II, III, etc.) we were lucky enough that I was still able to do it.

With these dot flash cards, I am actually able to perceive true quantity without counting. For instance, I can tell that this card I'm holding has thirty dots, not twenty nine or thirty one. I don't like being tested ("Can you tell me how many dots you see?") but I don't mind demonstrating my skills by picking out which ones which - you hold up two cards, say twenty nine and thirty, and ask me "Where's thirty Hunter?" I can tell you.

It is an amazing ability. I am also able to do this with any other thing, for instance, when Mommy showed me a new book she made with different numbers of cars on each page, and asked me "Where's fifteen?" I knew it right away. I'm not just memorizing patterns on the dots, I can actual see the true amount of items without having to count!

This is a very exciting program. I am currently working on addition and will soon be moving to subtraction, multiplication, and division. We'll see how it goes!

"Many, O LORD my God, are thy wonderful works which thou hast done, and thy thoughts which are to us-ward: they cannot be reckoned up in order unto thee: if I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered."

Psalm 40:5

Perceptive Mind

Today on the way to Kevin's house, the radio was on: it was some guy talking with background music. Suddenly Hunter shouts in delight, "Mommy! He's playing the guitar!" Sure enough, that background music was a guitar. I was so amazed at how perceptive he was in recognizing the music as the sound of a guitar, even when I thought he wasn't paying attention. We give little kids far too little credit.

"According to all that I shew thee, after the pattern of the tabernacle, and the pattern of all the instruments thereof, even so shall ye make it."

Exodus 25:9

Events: North Carolina, December 31 - January 9

Hunter had a splendid time visiting our friends in North Carolina for New Years (and the week and a half thereafter). The trip was, to the extreme, last minute (we didn't finalize the plans until hours before they left to come up here). But nonetheless we had a wonderful time anyway.

Besides the chickens, goats, pigs, a horse, and several dogs and cats, he had seven--count em--seven older boys to play with, ranging in the ages of six to twenty years. And also, one of his favorite companions, Rachel, the ten-year-old, and his buddy Elizabeth, the twenty three-year-old.

The Jackson family and us

The family of eleven lives in rural North Carolina on about twenty acres of land that includes all the animals, kids, and recycled toys a kid could ask for. Being homeschoolers, all the kids were great with diverse ages and treated Hunter like a beloved little brother, taking him along to do all sorts of things and helping care for his needs and wants, without ever being asked. I could rarely pry him off of the boys for anything, as he was in heaven having all the wrestling partners he could ever ask for.

Besides running around in the spring-like weather on go-carts, horses, and tricycles, he also had a fun time playing with cards, UNO Stacko, and their Thomas the Tank Engine train set. He also loved doing his math, geography, and presidents at bedtime before his audience of three or four kids who always came up for the excitement of quick flashing facts and lots of hugs and tickles to follow.

Yes, we managed to get in a full week of math in, including our introduction to addition. With the excellent way our program has been going, I didn't want to mess ANYTHING up (by taking a week and a half off), especially considering that the entire beginning was pushing our luck since we started it when he was so "old" (over 30 months). We also got an introduction to the countries of the West Indies and Presidents up to Ulysses S. Grant. I was glad to get in some "school" even though it was vacation. For indeed, it's not like it's a lot of work or that it's boring. Hunter loves it, I love it, it's easy, and it brought some regularity and familiarity into our new environment and routine.

Reviewing our presidents and flags in the "book" I made especially for the trip

Doing our addition from one to ten

And all in all, Hunter had a great time enjoying life in the country and life with big-family homeschoolers. And I'm sure he exuberantly looks forward to our visit in the spring.

Hunter's new buddies: "Ham" and "Bacon"

Dante, his favorite horse

Go-cart + cowboy boots + dirt roads = too much fun

Playing cars with Caleb

Worn out after a long day

More pictures and videos coming soon...

2007 milestones

This blog will contain pictures, videos, and milestones of the year 2007.