Monday, October 06, 2008

Become One With The Lesson

So we started studying the rain forest yesterday. We read that a poison dart frog carries its tadpoles on its back up a tree and deposits each in its own bromeliad. Instantly, Mia wanted to be a tree frog. She asked my to make a tadpole from construction paper and tape it to her back. Then she went out in the yard and climbed a tree. I tried to reel her back in, but either she forgot everything she's learned about math in the past 6 weeks, or I failed to recapture her attention. School canceled due to total lack of focus.

Then today, I broke out the funtastic frogs and the balance to attempt something fun, yet math related. Well, about one minute in, she wanted to be the balance. I worked with this by having her hold an item in each hand and guess which was heavier. Then she placed the items on the real balance to check.

Wednesday, October 01, 2008

Learning to Ride

Here's a bike riding tip I picked up last week. Take the pedals off the bike and lower the seat until the child can place her feet on the ground. Then the child can become comfortable with balancing without having to worry about pedaling.


First, Mia only took her feet off the ground for a few feet:


But pretty soon, she was coasting all over the place:


We're going to put the pedals on this weekend and see what happens.