Cai's Home Learning

I missed a weekly update because--so sick. So very sick. Cai came down with gastro at a borthday party, and we followed, and then I followed with health issues of our own. For a while our house was its own circle of Hell.

So, what, apart from the time lost to illness, have we been up to?

Cai's birthday girl friend loves games too, so that's been a big thing. He played games with her that I would have thought were far too challenging for such little kids--she's just turned four!--and seeing them play Rory's Story Cubes and make up stories was a revelation. They had story races, seeing who could make up a story first!

 I went a little crazy at the Kidstuff 20% off sale--Cai has a birthday soon!--and put most of it away for later. Seriously, with an unlimited budget I would fill several houses with stuff from there.

The one thing I did bring out immeditely was Penguins on Ice, some maths manipulatives that have been a big hit. I really like them. There are ten bars of "ice" and 10 rubbery, solid penguins of each of ten colours. The bars snap together horizontally or vertically.
At first Cai just happily sorted them for ages. He also made up his own games. I've also made up games using a ten sided die with them for sorting, subetizing and place value, which have been big hits.

I was particularly pleased with how quickly Cai took to place value--once I taught him "a trick for counting fast" he wanted to use it to do it every turn, and for me to write down the numbers.

I have plans to use the penguins as a resource for number line addition and subtraction and for multiplication, but I will find and adapt or make up those games later. It's also, I think, a really good (and cute) way to build a foundation for arithmetic abacus/sokoban skills that I want to introduce later on.  And the Base 10 set I bought in a rush of enthusiasm when he was three. :D

We just have to be really, really careful not to lose penguins, which may be a challenge.

We also introduced UNO, which has been a massive hit. Almost too massive. Played other card games, too.

 Lots and lots of reading, especially math and science books. Concentrating on the concepts of place value, skip counting, fractions and number bonds in book choices. Reinforcing the concepts while cooking. Geography books, especially about the US (his mecca). And his other mummy made a huge hit with a book about microbes, which has led to constant questions ever since.

Cai really, really takes to maths. When I reached the hot stove part of cooking the other night, the part he can't help with, he pulled out a list of addition number facts and read it to me, with exclamations of excitement and cheers. It's so cute. He really is a unique child in some ways.

My big failure of the fortnight is something I need to try again. I was reading a book of maths games. Many of them mentioned using Numicon to teach number bonds.

 

 Well, Numicon is expensive, and Cai loves Pokemon, so I designed a set using Numicon colours and shapes but using pokemon instead of plain colours, and designed a pokemon hunting set to go with it. This was right before I got sick.

Yesterday, I got my printouts, laminated and half killed my hands making the card pieces for the game while Cai played. (How much do I now appreciate all the work my mother did as a junior primary teacher, and in her own time?) He came across just as I was cutting up the final few, and had a complete hysterical meltdown at me "ruining" the Pokemon by cutting them up. NOT the reaction I was hoping for.

They've been set aside for a bit, and I'm hoping to bring them out and actually try the game later on... Bit of a disappointment for now.

 The other big things have been finishing his game development badge by making levels in several games, and his decision to be a YouTube Let's Player, which I've been working hard on fulfilling. No usable videos as yet, but I think this is a good learning experience for him. Lots of learning for me, too... He's helped me design channel graphics, and we're getting there.

 I know not to let him read the comments when he does. Ethangamer, for example, the little cutie, has comments saying they want to punch him in the mouth. I have no idea what would lead adults to comment like that on a kid's video. It's vile

 I still worry too much about Cai's writing, but he's actually done some colouring (!) and I know I'm being silly. He'll get there at his own pace. He' not even five. He's playing with blocks and lego and playdough and these are all important prewriting skills, getting his fine motor skills better so he'll be able to manipulate pens and pencils. Might do some clay work with him today.

His colouring is very below his age level, but his sensory issues mean I am ecstatic he did any at all. Maybe I can convince one of his friends to colour with him and get some peer pressure going. ;)

Apart from illness, life is great in our little homeschool. This week, I look forward to more social and outdoors play, getting his Youtube channel going, and trying out some science activities in another book we found at the library.