The boys built a large structure out of blocks over the weekend—an armadillo house. It was almost as tall as Gareth: Had a hiding space for armadillo and his food (the corks): And what I thought were chimneys on top, were in fact additional food caches: It was just so nice to see them playing cooperatively together, about something other than dinosaurs! :-)

Yesterday Daegan and I took a break from his math curriculum, Math-U-See, to play some games. Daegan is in the midst of mastering his addition facts, and I am wanting some options for reinforcement beyond ‘yet-another-worksheet.’ He enjoys doing his triangle flashcards while jumping on the rebounder (can you say kinesthetic learner?), but I thought I’d try a couple games as well. Both were very well-received, with him wanting to play multiple rounds. And it provided yet another opportunity to learn the art of winning and losing graciously (quite a challenge with 6-year-olds I am finding). Here’s the games: ...

Daegan is using Math-U-See for the formal part of his math education, and it has proven to a be very good fit for him. I know he learns very well off DVDs and videos (dinosaurs, anyone? or bugs? <g>), so the way this program is laid out—watch a short lesson on DVD, then do the exercises in your workbook—is an excellent fit for him. He quite surprised me in how he approached the first level, Primer, back in September. Daegan chose to watch all 30 math lessons in a row (over 2 days), and only then go back and watch...