Pre-K Here We Come

In the beginning of August we began working on reading skills with our Bob Books set. Babycake really took off with it and enjoyed it. We flew through the first five books, but then they became more and more difficult, as each new book built on top of previously learned words and sounds. By the time we were to start book eight, Babycake was finished. She has a hard time not "getting" it right away. She understands that learning means practice, but she thinks practice means going over something once, maybe twice, and then you're a master. She doesn't like to repeat something 10 times in order to fully comprehend the lesson. So. We have taken a hiatus from reading, though she did just read "Bears on Wheels" last night, because, you know, she wanted to so she did. (insert eye roll here) Babycake has always loved learning, so I don't want to force her to read if she doesn't want to. She's smart and will get it in her own time. Plus she's only four.

Anyway, since completing her Preschool workbooks, Babycake has really enjoyed working on her Kindergarten workbook and talking all about how ready she will be for Kindergarten next year. As with most workbooks, each page builds on the content learned on the previous page. She is enjoying the Math and Games sections of the workbook, but so far is finding the Language Arts section boring as it has her tracing letters. Babycake already knows her letters by sight, and can write most of them without aid. However, I still have her doing these pages as her letters are not perfect and half the time they are backwards. So far its been a good experience and she's enjoying it.




 Here we are enjoying some learning outside, tracing letters and doing a word search.

Preschool: Mission Completion!

Well I would say that as far as Preschool/Pre-K preparedness, we're finished! Last year when the new school year was beginning, and all the new school supplies came out for sale, I scooped up a couple Pre-K workbooks to use with Babycake. Buddyboy was only about 3 months old so we had been lacking in our learning time and I wanted an easy fix to that. As I've shared in other posts, Babycake LOVED these books. She thought it was so cool to do "school work" like big kids and would be happy to complete 20 pages a day if I let her.

Unfortunately for Babycake we never seemed to have a rhythm or schedule that lasted for a significant period of time during Buddyboy's first year so her education was sporadic at best. For a while we focused on learning a lot of safety topics- safety near water, safety around town, safety at home, where do we go when there's a fire?, where's the safe spot for a tornado?, etc. Babycake learned her whole name and address. Another span of time we were reading one Magic Tree House book per month and creating lessons to go with it. (this actually lasted 4.5 months) Thankfully she's such a curious child that we could turn anything into a lesson when there's no routine or schedule.

Our workbooks were the lessons I'd turn to after realizing we'd done nothing for a week or two. Thankfully Babycake's daddy was happy to help his little girl perfect her Pre-K maths and language arts if all he had to do was sit next to her and read directions. So.... After a year of on and off  working, we've finished! Babycake knows all her letters by sight, upper and lower case, as well as the sounds they make. She can count to 30 on her own and can continue to 100 with occasional assistance. She loves patterns, learning how to spell and write words, and enjoys walking around the house with a notebook and pencil "taking notes" on everything.














Babycake was so excited to finish one book that we had to immediately go to the next and get through the 10 pages that were left. Then she declared that she's ready for Kindergarten and I needed to get a Kindergarten workbook for us to start on. Most of Babycake's friends are 5 and started Kindergarten this year so she has been pretty bummed she didn't get to start school like them. The fact that she now has a Kindergarten book and is "learning the same things as all my friends" has helped ease that bit of resentment she had. (thank goodness! :D )