Progressive Learning

I want to take a quick minute to tell you about something we did this afternoon. As I've shared before, my oldest can get bored, discouraged and turned off by my "traditional" ways of teaching her. As a result, I have to come up with some fun ways to review what she's learning at school and introduce new things. Today was a day of review.  I did it "progressive" style and here is what it looked like.

1. We started in the kitchen with a pile of letter flash cards on the floor. The girls' job was to put them in the order of the alphabet.

2. Next we moved to reading room (it's really just our formal living room, but "reading room" sounds so much more functional) and reviewed all our phonograms.

(I couldn't get an action shot, since I hold up the phonograms)

3. Next we moved to the family room and the girls had to put our number flash cards in order from 1-100.

(She was so proud. We lost little sister to a balloon).

4. Then to the dining room table to work on some patterns with the manipulatives I shared with you a few months ago.

5. Finally to the play room where they received their prize for hard work - candy window clings from the Target dollar spot. It's funny how candy anything seems like such a treat.

(Sorry this is so dark, but the pose was irresistible.)

(notice oldest's bike in the background with a car seat on the back. And yes, that is a carpool sign in the front. I swear she is going to force me to retire from my "mom" job early.)

You'll notice that I didn't do anything fancy with the way we reviewed things today.  Just moving around the house and anticipating what was next made it more fun.  So, if you need something to spice homework/schooling/reviewing up a bit, you might give "progressive learning" a try.