T is for Train and Tents

Ok, I'm a bit behind. Things in the alphabet world have slowed down. I don't know whether to blame spring fever or Adam. He's done with the alphabet. He's ready to learn to read. He wants to do what Jason and Beth are doing. He'll be 5 in one month! Sooooo...we're going to finish and we have been, but we're lagging. T took two weeks and we didn't do much. We ate tacos (Adam's idea). We visited Great Grandma Mae and played on the train in the backyard (can't believe I don't have pictures of that!) We used our body to make the letter T. We also read our book of the week, which Adam does still enjoy doing. It was Two Little Trains, a fun story of two trains, one real and one a toy, and their journey. The trains go across the prairies or across the living room. They go up a mountain or upstairs. Adam found it pretty amusing. It was simple but considering he is now happy to stay up and listen to me read chapter books like our current book On the Banks of Plum Creek, I don't mind reading him simple stories as well.

Daddy also decided that tents start with T so he erected tents in the bedrooms. These were a huge success. They slept in the tents for three weeks. Yes, three weeks of sleeping on the floor in tents. I had some cranky kids one day and decided everyone needed to return to their own bed so they finally came down this week. It also made keeping the rooms clean a challenge as most of the room was a tent! But it was fun enough and easy enough that we'll do it again...for a night or two.The girls actually slept on their bed since they have a full bed and a small tent AND a rail to keep the tent from sliding off.In other activities Adam likes these new pattern blocks we received as hand-me-downs from a friend. And he impressed me as I found them quite challenging and worried that he shouldn't even try them for fear he would be discouraged. Silly me, he had no problem. Most of the rest of his day is spent playing games with me (we love Skip-Bo, Cathedral, Uno, Dominoes, Crazy 8's, Sequence to name a few,) playing on the computer (he would do that all day if I let him. I have to use a timer to keep it under control,) and doing what Jason and Beth are doing. They color state pages and so he asks to color state pages. They copy their Bible verses and color pictures for them so he does, too. I love that I have a copier and hope I'm not breaking any copyright laws by copying their curriculum to let him play along! This transition to participating in the daily lessons is exciting as I begin preparing for next year and Kindergarten when he'll have actual real daily lessons. I'm happy to know he'll want to be learning right along with his siblings.