Showing posts with label education. Show all posts
Showing posts with label education. Show all posts

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

First Day

It's hard to believe that it's been 5 1/2 years since I held this baby boy, small and helpless in my arms. I look at William who looks so much like Andrew did as a baby and wonder how we got here.

Andrew has been ready and waiting for this day for years. He learned to recognize all his letters by 2 1/2 and knew his numbers 1-10 before Isaac was born. He was ready, and today was finally the day.

I asked him how it went. "It was good." I had to probe a little more. "We read 3 stories." and finally his dissapointment, "I didn't get to play in the room yet or on the playground." We agreed to get there earlier tomorrow (we were almost late) so he could have time to play on the playground.

Today marks the beginning of a new phase for him and for me. I am now a mom of a school age kid. From now on I will be dealing with homework, projects, school bells, homework, teachers, PTA, and homework. And so will he. He will also be dealing with the new social experiences. I worry about that part. What will he learn from those other kids? Will he bring home garbage words to teach Isaac? Will he learn too early about things 5 year-olds have no business knowing about? I know it happens. I guess I will have to take the bad with the good.

I'm excited for him to learn. To learn to love learning. I hope that happens. I hope he learns to make new friends and learns what a best friend is. I hope he learns to try things even though they are hard. I hope he learns of the joy from accomplishing something even though it was difficult. Here's to hope, here's to our First Day.

Friday, November 9, 2007

Fun and Educational Toys

I started writing an email to share some links for some great toys with my sisters and mom, but then I thought, I could post this on my blog. So here I am.

Here are some toys that I found that you might like for your kids. (or grandma can buy for the kids). Melissa and Doug toys are really nice, well made toys. Andrew already has some Melissa and Doug puzzles that he likes. For some reason I like the idea of toys made of wood so here are the links to a website with some of the toys I liked. There are a ton more great toys there and this isn't the only place to buy them.

Standard Unit Blocks
These blocks are just like the ones that KC and his brother's played with as kids, we have a big bag full of them. Andrew loves to line them up to make a road or buildings.




Cutting Food Box
I thought this toy is a great idea. Velcro holds the slices together and they use the "knife" to separate them.





Lace & Trace Pets
This seems like it would be good for times when they need to sit still for a while like in church or on car trips.






Magnetic Responsibility Chart
This isn't a toy, but it seems it would be very useful. I've been trying to think of a way I can make some sort of job chart for Andrew that would have graphical representations of chores since he can't read yet. So this sort of does that for me and better.








Shape, Model, and Mold Play Set
I guess you can get versions of these all over, but I liked the wood thing and how it seems like little toddler's fingers could use them easily.







See & Spell
No not the old electronic game. I really like this because it combines a puzzle feel with letters and pictures. This is one I am seriously considering getting Andrew
 
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