Just when you begin to wonder...

Just when you begin to wonder if all the weeks and months of teaching is accomplishing anything, if all the hours preparing and praying and planning have been at all fruitful, if all the days of reading, phonics, and math have sunk in (even a little bit *fingers crossed*)...you have a day like today. :)

I woke up this morning with a new resolve to teach the kids some things that we've been working at only haphazardly. So, when we sat down at the table this morning, I was one determined momma. And they both were ready to work!

I was intent on helping Elyse get those addition and subtraction facts down pat. We've worked on them nearly daily for the past couple of months, but with no real drive or systematic practicing.

I read an article yesterday in the L.A. Times about the math program we're using. "Singapore Math" has recently been adopted by the California Department of Education as an approved math text. It mentioned that one of the daily things Singaporean students do are "60 second sprints" in which they attempt to answer 30 math facts in 60 seconds. Elyse loves to be timed when we do her flash cards, so I decided to begin including that as part of our math time. So, it came as no surprise that she greeted this new challenge with "yahoo!"s. :) I set the timer for 2 minutes hoping she would be able to come in under that time, but expecting her to probably go over a little bit. Elyse finished her 30 addition problems using the numbers 0-5 in only 1 minute and 22 seconds, and didn't miss one problem! Within the first 60 seconds, she had finished 25 of the problems!























And then she worked with the Cuisinaire Rods to complete her worksheet all by herself! She even worked the grid adding the two numbers on the top and side and writing the addend where the lines connect. I was thrilled!























The other task on my agenda was to begin (again!) teaching Aidan the letters of the alphabet and their sounds. This has been an ongoing thing all year, but he has really not shown any interest or retention in the past, so I would give it a rest for a month or so and then try again. It was only recently that Josh and I felt like he was really showing some sign of readiness, and I've just been waiting for the right time to make another concerted attempt.

So, after Elyse's success, I was all the more encouraged to get started with Aidan. I told him that we were going to work on the letter A and he said "that starts Aidan!" I could almost hear the heavenly choir singing, "HA-LLELUJAH!" I got out the Cuisinaire Rods and the Cuisinaire Alphabet Book and put him to work on the letter A. I was astonished. He immediately went to work connecting the single unit white rods to create the lower A. Then with a little guidance he followed the directions and answered the questions on the worksheet correctly as I asked them.























After the first sheet he asked to do the second "A" page and worked that one almost entirely by himself! This kind of manipulative work is right up his alley!






It was a day of surprises for me--and I'm glad that my kiddos proved me wrong! These are the days I need every once in a while just so I know that we're on the right track. All the effort the whole family puts into our educating is so worth it! I am so proud of my hard-workers today!