Disney Pics

We went for a quick overnight trip to Disney October 21-22 to see the fall decorations. Tanek tells me every single day how much he misses Disney, so he was very excited to go (even with strep throat he was ready to get to the goofy rollercoaster and the lego store)! The Lego store is Tanek's favorite place to go at Downtown Disney. We have to visit there every time we come so he can play with the legos! An amazing "Woody" built out of legos!

Tanek won't watch the movie, but he loves Buzz Lightyear anyway!

Tanek thought he was one cool dude with his new Pluto hat and sunglasses on!

Everything he needs for a good night's sleep - blankies, baby Pluto, "Mine" pillow, and his favorite glow-in-the-dark Buzz Lightyear jammies! And of course, his thumb...!

Momo 3

Tanek has been asking for a new fish lately, so a couple of weeks ago we went and picked out a new beta fish. He chose a pretty blue and yellow one (since yellow is his favorite color) and named it Momo again. I guess all of his fish will be named Momo followed by a number, kind of like Uga the bulldog. Momo 3 gets to live in a new bowl located on Tanek's dresser, so Tanek can help take care of him and feed him. He is also a frequent visitor to the school room to keep Tanek company during school time.

Updates

It's really hard to find time to update this blog... but, sometimes I feel like I don't need to because my Mom is so good at keeping hers updated with info about Tanek! It's much easier to just go read hers. Anyway, Tanek is having so much fun this fall with his school and other activities. T-ball is in full swing and he loves to play "baseball". He's doing much better than he did in the spring, too. Sometimes, he actually makes it to base (every once in a while, he even makes it to home)! The last couple of games, he has gotten to play catcher - this makes him feel really important. He hasn't quite learned that he needs to hold the ball until the batter is done before throwing it back to the coach. Luckily, no one has gotten hit by a stray ball thrown by a very eager catcher!

We spend about an hour and a half doing school each day, a little more if you count the time spent reading to him. He likes math the best and practicing his handwriting the least! Nana likes the history readings the least. A lot of the history probably goes over his head, but he does remember some of it, especially when there are little projects that tie in with it. This past week, we made a golden calf out of peanut butter, honey, and powdered sugar. He had fun with that and had me read the story over again at least 5 times. If he remembers nothing else about Moses, the Israelites, and the golden calf, he will always remember a couple of things: the Israelites made the golden calf to worship it, but God is the only true God that we worship; and that Moses melted the golden calf and made the Israelites eat it (yes, there is a little more to it, but this is what he remembers). Oh, and that his golden calf tasted much better than theirs did!
Here is a picture of his "calf".





Today we made the layers of soil (edible soil, that is). We made the bottom, rocky layer out of chocolate chips, the rich topsoil out of crushed peanut butter crackers and crumbled up brownie, and then added slivered almonds as the layer of dead leaves. We talked about the rich, fertile soil the spies found in the land of Canaan. We also talked about how God seperated the earth from the water on the 3rd day of creation. On a side note, we also finished taking about the sky (clouds, rain, and snow) by doing a science experiment and making snow! Here is Tanek with his yummy soil:








He is doing really well with his reading and math. We're a little over half way through "The Reading Lesson" and working on his Explode the Code workbooks. He could breeze right through the ETC books if it weren't for all of the writing. We added the Singapore Math Essentials kindergarten workbooks to his math program which rounds out the Right Start math very well! Makes it a little more challenging for him. We keep plugging away with the handwriting, too, but he doesn't enjoy it much. That's why I started having him write a "letter" to his cousin Emily, because then he wanted to write! So, we'll be doing more of that in the future.

We're also continuing to memorize Psalm 23, and a new Bible verse each week. He loves listening to his Bible memory verse songs! He seems to memorize things very easily. He gets some of the actual scripture chapter and verses mixed up sometimes, but he's memorized quite a bit! We're still learning the states and capitals, too, and throwing in some geography here and there. Other than that, his main interest and obsession is with legos. He could spend hours everyday building his "Lego City". He pores over his lego catalogs on a daily basis talking about what he is going to build when he gets more of the legos that he wants. Of course, the ones he wants are not at a 4 yr. old level - he wants to have them for Mommy to put together so Tanek can play with them!

1st Year of Homeschool: Curriculum

We officially started "school" this week- this will be our first attempt at homeschooling. The whole idea of it is very overwhelming, especially for someone with a Type A personality (such as myself). I am always concerned that we won't do enough.... but then I also worry that we'll try to do too much. Tanek is, afterall, only 4, and I have to remind myself that "playtime" is just as important as "schooltime" at this age. So, the challenge is finding the right balance that works for all of us, so that learning continues to be fun. At this point, I want his "schooltime" to be just as fun as his "playtime".

Anyway, like many others, I have spent hours and hours obsessing over the various curriculum options trying to find the perfect one that will meet the needs of our family. Since I've also spent plenty of hours reading about the curriculum everyone else has chosen, I thought I would post ours as well. Hopefully, in a few years when I look back on how our first attempt at homeschooling went, I will still be pleased with the choices we made! And, hopefully by next year at this time, we will all feel more secure about this whole process in general!

For math, we are using Right Start Math Level A. I spent a really long time trying to decide on a math program, so I hope this will work out well for Tanek. I really, really liked it when I saw a demonstration of it at a convention!

The Right Start program was developed after studying the way math is taught in Japan. It is a very visual and hands-on program that teaches a person to see quantities in groups of fives and tens instead of counting by ones. It also uses a lot of games to teach the math concepts, which keeps it fun and entertaining. Sometimes we do supplement his math with "The Verbal Math Lesson", Miqoun Math (Orange book), or some other workbooks. Tanek loves to do workbooks, so we throw in some of those for fun.


For Language Arts, we are using Language Lessons for Little Ones 2. I definitely like the Charlotte Mason approach to learning and the focus on narration, memorization, and copywork. Narration is not one of Tanek's favorite things to do, so this is a big focus for us this year. He loves to read and be read to, but he doesn't always like to answer questions or tell the story back to you. Especially if it involves studying a picture and making up a story about what might be happening in the picture! Next year we will probably start on First Language Lessons for the Well-Trained Mind, but we'll see. We plan on reading many books this year, including classics such as The Complete Adventures of Peter Rabbit, The House at Pooh Corner, The Wind in the Willows, etc. For memorization, we'll work on Bible verses and some poems from A Child's Book of Verses. Right now, we are working on memorizing Psalm 23.


We are using The Reading Lesson and Explode the Code for his reading and phonics lessons this year. We use Bob books, the 1st grade reader, I Wonder, from the Reading to Learn series, and other early readers such as Dick and Jane, Dr. Seuss, and Little Bear. I'm sure we will continue to use the Reading to Learn series because they are nice, wholesome stories -similar in many ways to the Amish Pathway readers.

Handwriting: We are using Handwriting Without Tears for his handwriting program. This is Tanek's weakest area. He still writes with both hands which doesn't make it any easier. We go slow with the handwriting and I only have him do as much as he will do. Once he says "it's enough", we stop. I don't want him to hate writing later on, so we only do 1-2 pages a day. He does like to do mazes, so sometimes he'll do some of those instead, to work on his fine motor coordination.

Science: We are using The World God Made from Christian Liberty Press. It is perfect for his age and is centered around the 7 days of Creation. We're also planning to do some experiments using Blast of Color, which I know he will enjoy!

Geography: We are using the Beginner's World Atlas and Galloping the Globe. We'll also use geopuzzles and geography songs CD to reinforce what we're learning (and make it more fun). We could end up spending a disproportionate amount of time on geography if we're not careful because Tanek, my Mom, and I all really enjoy it!

History: We're using History for Little Pilgrims (also from Christian Liberty Press) for a brief overview of history. I think this will be a good introduction that won't be too overwhelming for a 4 year old.

Bible: We're using Leading Little Ones to God for this, and Devotions for the Children's Hour. We also have multiple Bible memory verse CDs that we listen to. Tanek frequently prefers to listen to his music than watch tv, which is nice, because there isn't much on tv that I like for him to watch!

Thinking Skills: I have several books and activities that focus on thinking skills and logic. We're starting with Developing the Early Learner. Then, we also have critical thinking books such as "Mindbenders" and "Lollipop Logic", and we're also going to try out the MiniLUK system. I've read a lot of great reviews about the MiniLUK, so we'll see if it is as interesting as others have said it is!

So, that just about sums up what we have planned for the year. He has plenty of educational toys and games that he can do during read-aloud time or whenever else he wants. Oh, we also have a couple of Russian and Spanish language CDs for kids that he listens to just for the exposure.

I think this will be a fun year with lots of learning (I hope). If anyone has any ideas or suggestions, please let me know! This first year is a little scary! I want Tanek to have a great education so that he can be successful in the future. But most importantly, I want him to grow up knowing God, having a relationship with Jesus Christ, and developing the character traits that are pleasing to God.

Tanek's School Room - In Progress...

We finally got the new carpet put in Tanek's school room and bedroom. He is pretty excited about it since we let him pick out the carpet. The school room is almost finished except for his table and putting the maps/pictures/calendar/Kazakhstan flag, etc. on the walls. Oh, and we haven't decided exactly what we'll use for his "reading nook". Tanek thinks he might like a big bean bag chair, so we'll see.

We're hoping to figure out a way to use the ribbon we brought back from Kazakhstan to make pillows to use in his school room (or curtains, or something...). The ribbon is very pretty and the colors would look really nice in there.

Here is his bedroom - since we took the bookshelf out, he decided he wanted his bed on this side of the room. So, we rearranged his furniture so he would have more room to play. He thinks the new carpet makes his room "so beautiful"!

"To infinity and beyond..."

Now, I just have to finish planning his curriculum and daily/weekly school routine! And then, I have to keep reminding myself that he is only preK and that a routine is really not that important yet!

Tanek Loves his Hats!

Tanek loves to pretend and play with his hats. This "cowboy" outfit used to be Ricky's when he was a little boy, so it was extra special to play cowboy like daddy did. He likes to "gun" down the bad guys! He hasn't really learned to "shoot" people, which is okay with me. He just guns them instead.

Tanek is having fun riding his horse that Mimi and Pawpaw gave him and yelling "Hee haw"!

He just thinks he is so cute - he was definitely in performance mode!

Now he is a train conductor - also one of Ricky's hats as a boy!

"Woo woo"! Let's get this train moving!

This is Tanek's beach hat, but he was using it as a makeshift cowboy hat this weekend.

Now we have Tanek, the fireman! He usually carries around his jump rope to use as his hose, but not this time.

Tanek, the builder. He has built many, many things back when he was a builder, but most of the time these days, he just wants to be a little boy. He's tired from all the work he's done - he's built the Disney buses, monorail, houses, fixed roads, dug big, huge holes, etc. He needs to rest and play now!

And here he is in his traditional Kazakh hat. It's already too small for him, but he likes to pretend he's a baby when he puts it on!

Saying hello to Mickey Mouse, wearing his Disney hat! He still talks about Disneyworld or the Disney ship everyday!

Tanek in his "baseball" cap, ready to catch a ball!

Tanek is very easily amused and I'm glad he has a vivid imagination to enjoy all of this pretend playing!

Tanek's ER Visit

Tanek has now "officially" been diagnosed with asthma. And, I have to say, being up for 24 hours doesn't really work all that well for me! After getting up to go to work at 4:30 am, having a wonderful day at work (notice the sarcasm here) without having time to eat, we then had to take Tanek to the ER. He wasn't feeling good all day, was having trouble breathing, and complaining that his stomach hurt. Mom said he wasn't interested in doing anything and then he was falling asleep by 5:00 pm (which is not at all normal for him). When she called to tell me and I heard him absolutely screaming in the background, I asked her to call Peds After Hours and bring him over and I would meet them there. Peds After-hours couldn't see him, so we planned to just take him to Shands ER. By the time they got there, he was actually looking and feeling better (since he had just done an extra 5 puffs of albuterol and then threw up all over himself in the car), so we decided to get something to eat and see how he was after that. He finally decided he was hungry after not really eating or drinking all day. By the time we finished eating, he was already wheezing and struggling to breathe again, so we took him to the ER at about 10:30. He started screaming and crying again in the waiting room that his stomach hurt. All of the crying "Mommy, I'm still hurting. I want to feel better. Help me. Mommy" over and over had me in tears, too. But, we didn't have to wait very long before they took us back. They gave him three neb treatments, steroids, and did a chest xray. Then we had to wait a couple of hours for the steroids to start working and make sure he could maintain his oxygen level above 93% before we could take him home.

The doctors and nurses were very nice and made him feel special. I think they especially liked the way his tongue and teeth turned so blue from the gatorade! By the time we left, he had lots of stickers, a little stuffed dog, and some magnets to take home with him! We were finally able to leave a little after 3 am and got home around 4:oo. Tanek was alittle hyped up from the steroids and was not at all happy that he couldn't sleep with his blankies - those were a bit contaminated when he threw up all over them. He picked out some substitute blankets, and although it wasn't quite the same, he finally did go to sleep around 4:30 am (after having to use his inhaler again). The doctor told him his stomach hurt from having to use all of his accessory muscles to try to breathe - he did the equivalent of at least 1000 sit-ups yesterday! The ER doctor sent him home on 4 more days of steroids and more albuterol when he needs it. He's still huffing and puffing and wheezy today, but not nearly as bad as yesterday. Hopefully, the steroids will get everything under control and we won't have to do this again anytime soon!