ventures

Ok, I had Morgan on the brain this week since she teaches preschool for real... and I don't. But we are doing a neighborhood preschool for Olea. Five kids and us mom's each take turns teaching. This is my first week. We do Tuesday and Thursday. It was fun, it went well, we ran out of time, so I figure that's better than twiddling my thumbs. So to make sure we get to the fun part tomorrow I have a plan. I have to surpress my pride though in my little Olea. She was super motivated and task oriented and listened really well. (This is surprising since we were in her own house with her own mom...) Most of the other kids are at a similar level, but one must play video games all day. The kid didn't do anything unless you sat by him and kept him on task and practically traced the letters for him. It blows my mind. I am so used to Olea who can follow instructions (though of course she doesn't always) and is excited about paper and pencil or coloring activities.

We did the letter K and the number 9. I explained that the number nine was like a helium balloon on a stick that lost it's helium. the kids thought that was SO funny. It helped them imagine it and they did a good job writng it because of this image. If I'd had an endless supply of money and time I would have got ballons fresh and wilted on a stick so they could see but they have good imaginations. It worked out. I found out that there are a lot of online worksheets for preschoolers and that has been nice. A friend also told me about starfall.com. Olea loves to play on that site and it's good learning stuff. It's cute and has worksheet download area too.

So I feel some success especially after last week, the mom whose kid doesn't do anything (mean, I know) taught and none of the kids wanted to go back to school on Thursday becuase they were so bored on Tuesday. I was worried the bad attitude would last and I would have very difficult kids, but I didn't take the excuse they used with her (My hands are tired). Hands don't get tired unless you are milking a cow, I told them. I used to milk a cow by hand. I know. And then you keep working and they get strong.