Power Camp Homework

Each evening Zachariah is given "homework" to do after his preschool power camp. Tonight,he had 3 things...

1. Practice drawing a circle . Start at 2 o clock...and draw counter clockwise. We practiced this on a dry erase board.

2. He had to practice "small line down". I drew some very large hand writing lines on the draw erase board and guided him hand over hand for this practice.

3. The only thing worth taking a picture of...was using tweezers to pick up small blocks and putting them in the plastic cup without dropping them.

Busy Week...

Z man is going to a preschool power camp for the next 2 weeks...and both boys are taking swim lessons in the afternoon. Preschool Power Camp is a prewriting camp for 3 and 4 year olds at The Handwriting Clinic.
http://www.thehandwritingclinic.com/
I went to a parent training class a few weeks ago and was very impressed by their program. I am posting just a few activities that are suggested to help with those early fine motor skills.

These are just plastic animals in playdough...the kids practice picking them up with tongs held by their "go"fingers and putting them into the cup without dropping them.

This is a similar activity with jacks.

Zachariah does not have the correct grasp yet....but today was only his first day!

Beach...

We just returned from 2 days travel and a 2 day stay at the beach. We had a fun time, but I will admit taking three toddlers to the beach without grandparents or a mommy's helper proved to be very challenging. I wish we had planned better and had one of the above with us. The “relaxation element” in going to the beach is completely removed when having to keep up with 3 toddlers with your main goal to be keeping them from drowning at all times. We had a stroke of luck in that Ava nor Zachariah would go anywhere near the ocean. Our 2nd stroke of luck was that Levi picked up swimming in his floatie with ease....and so we were able to let him swim while we each held onto one of the other two. I did get one trip to the pool alone while the kids were taking a nap. That was a real treat.....so my only “story” for the trip.
Before we left for the beach my mom ask me if I had “planned” a family portrait. I would have loved to have the perfect family photo...you know the ones with everyone in white, everyone looking at the camera, pretending they are having the best family vacation ever...thats the one I could have had in my mind. But I told my mom, no I am not going to plan anything. If it were planned and didn't work, I would have been upset, defeating the purpose of a fun family trip.. right?!! I did however take a white dress, a pale outfit for Ava, asked Gordon to grab a white shirt. I do not buy white for the boys anymore,so after getting to beach, I went to a local Walmart and grabbed 2 white tee shirts.Might as wel dress up and see if a picture presents itself..right!? So we decided to hit the beach right before sunset...we start to get dressed...the 2 tee shirts I had bought for the boys..were missing, must have gotten thrown out with the garbage. Oh well, I was determined not to let a “missing picture” ruin my time with my kids. So I put them in the only clean shirts left....and we went to dinner first. Within 5 minutes at dinner, Zach got ketchup all over his shirt....sigh (phrase stolen from my cousin, Jayna!).....Levi...drool all over his shirt....sigh....and a few minutes later...ketchup on ME! After dinner, we head out to the beach...to our right is a family in all white, snapping away....oh well, maybe next year. So I sit with Ava and Gordon takes out our camera and it won't work!!! Hence the fog look in the pictures. About that time another family comes up and starts snapping their pictures. The “mom” comes over and offers to take a picture of all of us. I tell her thank you and explained that our camera is broken. She then says to me, "I can take some with my camera and email them to you." Really?? You'd do that for me,a total stranger to you. Wow! Nice people are still in this world! So then she starts to take pictures and then says, "I love taking pictures and I want to make sure we get a good one." She probably took our picture for 10 minutes or so. After she finished our “photo shoot” our camera was working again. Gordon said it had something to do with the humidity. Anyway, she then took another 5 minutes or so of pictures with our camera. (The ones posted are from our camera..I haven't gotten hers yet!) So this just reminded me to thank the Lord for the small blessings in life...like the perfect family picture!

Well Versed Family

As a Christian parent, I know it is important to teach God's word to my children. My head knows it, but somehow it gets put behind teaching shapes, colors, ABC's, and then there is the laundry, the list goes on and on. Over the past few days (a little over a week now) of hearing my friend Marsha quote scripture through email, voice messages, etc to pray over Brexton, I have found myself thinking, I wish I knew scripture they way she does. Wow...to be able to think of a need or situation and find a scripture verse to pray for my child. About a year ago..I was at Marsha's house and she encouraged her daughter to share her toys by quoting a scripture that not only encourages a child to share, but to share willingly. (I Timothy 6:18)

About 6 months ago...Carolyn Boykin spoke at my MOPS group. She has written a book on just this subject matter. I bought the book, and it ended up in the bottom of my dresser drawer with all my other well intend to read books...that end up collecting dust.

For some reason, I packed the book with my things to take to Tennessee. I was able to read most of the book one morning on my parents porch, coffee cup in hand, while watching the kids play in the Tennessee Sun. It encouraged me not to wait for Awanas, Sunday School Rewards, etc, but to start teaching them scripture NOW...even at 1,2 and 3 years old. Ms. Boykin has many many techniques and fun ways to teach scripture to your kids.

This is my first attempt....Proverbs 16:24

Pleasant words are like honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones.

(This was also their first taste of cereal with sugar!)

Our family is headed to the beach this week....I am planning on packing lots of Honeycomb...so I can pull it out to remind them if our words get yucky...and that goes for mom and dad too!

I will post other scripture memory activities from her book as I try them with my kids.

She quotes one teen and adolescent expert in her book who says
"scripture memory is the single most effective life shaping tool in a parents toolbox!"

Check out her website at
http://www.wellversedfamily.com/

"The Beach"

Well....its day 10 of our extended Vacation. The kids are doing great. Other than waking up at a crazy early time, they are sleeping "normally" both at night and a nap time. That was my biggest concern of taking such a long trip. Our days have been filled with lots of trips to see the cows, rides on Poppa's tractor..and many many hours of play time in their play room that Nana made for them. My dad loves having them here so much, he offered me land in front of his house to build a home for us! Good to know in this crazy economy though:) We took a side trip to Atlanta and my cousin's husband kept all our kids so we could enjoy some girl time and go shopping.

Today, we went to "The Beach" This was a great way for my dad to spend time with them in an activity they both enjoy. The Beach is at a local Fitness Center. (Even new Baby Colton was there for the fun!)