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MANY BLESSINGS!!!!!
Monday, January 9, 2012
Saturday, January 7, 2012
Teach me Chess Mommy!
How many four year olds want to learn chess? Over the past few months chess pieces have found their way into dollhouse beds, added to train cars, wacked around by cats, baked in toy muffin tins, and nearly sucked into the vacuum. Trying to keep them from getting lost was a loosing battle until now! Giant chess!
http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=12237754
Check out this set at TRU. Amazon has a set as well but for $20 more.
What is not to love about huge pieces that will never find their way under the vacuum? Love it! The only thing I hate is the vinyl "board". We do our best not to buy any vinyl products due to the toxic off gassing so I may replace this with a canvas board eventually. The first 24 hours it smelled horrible and momma earned a severe headache so I suggest airing it out before letting small lungs breathe the nastiness. Smelly toxic mat aside this set rocks! The pieces are perfect size for kids and everyone gets a clear view of the game. The king appears to be approximately 9". The mat is 3' x 3' and clearly labeled.
All the girls have helped set up the pieces and are learning the proper names as well. Sugar Bean is eager to sharpen her skills and played a very good game today. She is doing quite well understanding the value of each piece and was nearly devastated when I showed her a poor move would cause her to loose her queen. She took great pleasure in capturing my pieces and held a very strong opposition. She would show me which piece she wanted to move and I would help her foresee my next move if she moved to that spot. Talk about a smart kid! An hour later I was finally able to checkmate her, only after we both put each other in check numerous times.
She is not pouting but giggling that I finally caught her king! Lol! I miss having someone to play with and who better to teach! She loves having mommys undivided attention. I'm not sure skipping naptime is going to be good everyday but it is the ONLY time the two of us can focus on her schoolwork uninterrupted and she is craving knowledge. Momma needs a siesta too so we will have to split the time somehow. Don't hesitate to teach your child something you enjoy doing just because you think they won't get it, they may just surprise you! Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
What is not to love about huge pieces that will never find their way under the vacuum? Love it! The only thing I hate is the vinyl "board". We do our best not to buy any vinyl products due to the toxic off gassing so I may replace this with a canvas board eventually. The first 24 hours it smelled horrible and momma earned a severe headache so I suggest airing it out before letting small lungs breathe the nastiness. Smelly toxic mat aside this set rocks! The pieces are perfect size for kids and everyone gets a clear view of the game. The king appears to be approximately 9". The mat is 3' x 3' and clearly labeled.
All the girls have helped set up the pieces and are learning the proper names as well. Sugar Bean is eager to sharpen her skills and played a very good game today. She is doing quite well understanding the value of each piece and was nearly devastated when I showed her a poor move would cause her to loose her queen. She took great pleasure in capturing my pieces and held a very strong opposition. She would show me which piece she wanted to move and I would help her foresee my next move if she moved to that spot. Talk about a smart kid! An hour later I was finally able to checkmate her, only after we both put each other in check numerous times.
She is not pouting but giggling that I finally caught her king! Lol! I miss having someone to play with and who better to teach! She loves having mommys undivided attention. I'm not sure skipping naptime is going to be good everyday but it is the ONLY time the two of us can focus on her schoolwork uninterrupted and she is craving knowledge. Momma needs a siesta too so we will have to split the time somehow. Don't hesitate to teach your child something you enjoy doing just because you think they won't get it, they may just surprise you! Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
Homeschool Mom Pet Peeves and wooden love
So perhaps it's just me but I get annoyed with educational toys and books that are incorrect or just plain old lacking. For example...
I LoVe puzzles...in fact I really love puzzles! I seem to collect them for my children although hubby is quite certain they are for me. I have an infatuation with wood toys in general and beautiful wood puzzles are on the top of that list. It may of began as a kid admiring the eye candy of wooden toys in my Great Grandmothers small private school or when my first wood shop project was inspired by younger sibling and I made simple wood puzzles with the scroll saw. But either way I can not resist picking up these gorgeous natural toys. That being said along w its warm fuzzy reminiscing I must say educational mistakes annoy the crap outa me!
This awesome wood puzzle from a well known big box store sporting that yellow smiley face and roll back prices, well it's just flawed and yet I intend to remedy it. Sugar Bean stated the RED is actually OrAnGe. In fact none of the pieces are even remotely RED! So she asked if I could fix it. Why sure! Let me just whip out my magic paint fixer! No really I'm going to have to fix it!
The other issue I have... There is an absence of INDIGO! Say what? Okay here comes another pet peeve.... It's ROY G BIV folks! Not Roy G Bp. I don't know why I'm so obsessed with the proper color names but I am. Even the munchkins have been instructed its not "...blue, purple"
It is "blue, indigo, violet." Is it just me or is it a weird homeschool mom thing?
Here's my other issue with a puzzle I haven't bought yet and still might if I can remedy it. The Solar System. That big box store that I dread has a very nice wooden puzzle of the plants and you guessed it... minus PLUTO. Ugh! Okay I know it's like some dwarf planet or something but it's still a planet to me! So this will be like teaching creation evolution to my kids... Some believe this and some believe that. I'm strongly tempted to buy the darn thing and slap a Pluto sticker on it! I also saw LeapFrog Tag reader has a solar system map that I'm interested to see how they interpret Pluto.
Many toys have come thru these doors with good intentions just for me to get frustrated with a mistake or misinformation. I want things my children play and learn from to not conflict with what is right. One such toy was supposed to say alphabet sounds and failed with pronunciation.
Yes I'm finicky with my children's education and what I expose them to. What mother isn't? I love love love beautifully made wood toys and anyone who has been to my house can tell you, our home is full of great wood toys and only a few plastic that pass my approval. Not to mention I just want them to last thru more than one kid. I believe the toys my children play with influence them in ways we may not notice but they do. I know my childhood toys influenced me and my choices later in life. It's sound silly and maybe it is but I'm a weird homeschool mom so who cares!?!!!!
Do you care what your kids play with?
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
I LoVe puzzles...in fact I really love puzzles! I seem to collect them for my children although hubby is quite certain they are for me. I have an infatuation with wood toys in general and beautiful wood puzzles are on the top of that list. It may of began as a kid admiring the eye candy of wooden toys in my Great Grandmothers small private school or when my first wood shop project was inspired by younger sibling and I made simple wood puzzles with the scroll saw. But either way I can not resist picking up these gorgeous natural toys. That being said along w its warm fuzzy reminiscing I must say educational mistakes annoy the crap outa me!
This awesome wood puzzle from a well known big box store sporting that yellow smiley face and roll back prices, well it's just flawed and yet I intend to remedy it. Sugar Bean stated the RED is actually OrAnGe. In fact none of the pieces are even remotely RED! So she asked if I could fix it. Why sure! Let me just whip out my magic paint fixer! No really I'm going to have to fix it!
The other issue I have... There is an absence of INDIGO! Say what? Okay here comes another pet peeve.... It's ROY G BIV folks! Not Roy G Bp. I don't know why I'm so obsessed with the proper color names but I am. Even the munchkins have been instructed its not "...blue, purple"
It is "blue, indigo, violet." Is it just me or is it a weird homeschool mom thing?
Here's my other issue with a puzzle I haven't bought yet and still might if I can remedy it. The Solar System. That big box store that I dread has a very nice wooden puzzle of the plants and you guessed it... minus PLUTO. Ugh! Okay I know it's like some dwarf planet or something but it's still a planet to me! So this will be like teaching creation evolution to my kids... Some believe this and some believe that. I'm strongly tempted to buy the darn thing and slap a Pluto sticker on it! I also saw LeapFrog Tag reader has a solar system map that I'm interested to see how they interpret Pluto.
Many toys have come thru these doors with good intentions just for me to get frustrated with a mistake or misinformation. I want things my children play and learn from to not conflict with what is right. One such toy was supposed to say alphabet sounds and failed with pronunciation.
Yes I'm finicky with my children's education and what I expose them to. What mother isn't? I love love love beautifully made wood toys and anyone who has been to my house can tell you, our home is full of great wood toys and only a few plastic that pass my approval. Not to mention I just want them to last thru more than one kid. I believe the toys my children play with influence them in ways we may not notice but they do. I know my childhood toys influenced me and my choices later in life. It's sound silly and maybe it is but I'm a weird homeschool mom so who cares!?!!!!
Do you care what your kids play with?
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
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