DJ started out his “school” this week by having me help him put this world puzzle together that he got for his birthday. While he has mastered the 12 piece wooden Melissa & Doug jigsaw puzzles, a puzzle with this many pieces and such a complex picture is still beyond him. I simplified the task by stacking the pieces into 7 piles corresponding to each continent. We started with Antarctica and worked our way clockwise around the map. When the…
DJ and I went to a puppet show of the Very Hungry Caterpillar this week. The puppeteers were from Nova Scotia so when we came home, we pulled out the World Map puzzle to see where Nova Scotia is. DJ’s grandparents recently went to San Diego for the winter so I showed him where we live, where San Diego is and where Nova Scotia is. I had told him it would take two days to drive to San Diego, which…
This was a short week with the Thanksgiving holiday. DJ selected the Brown Stair and Pink Tower together. Ever since I showed him examples on the internet he’s been very interested in building them himself. First he rebuilt the long chain that he had done before. He did this one from memory but skipped one if the blocks, so he just added it to the end. The first time he built this he had been disappointed that I didn’t take…
The past few months have been a whirlwind of activity that has amazed and excited me. But at the same time, I’ve been noticing that DJ hasn’t been settling into his schoolwork. Instead of being more focused, he’s been flittering from one project to the next. Instead of procedures becoming good habits, he’s been avoiding even the steps, like using a work mat, that he initially enjoyed. In my reading, I’ve learned that one way to get back on track…