Practice Makes Perfect

Well, Anthony's writing skills have finally seemed to "come in". Practice makes perfect, right? Well, actually it doesn't. Did you know that some children, especially boys, don't start to develop writing skills until the age of 7 or 8? Yes, 7 or 8!



He got creative here and used 2 different colored markers.

 Today we worked on tracing shapes that I printed off of 1+1+1+=1 http://www.1plus1plus1equals1.com/index.html I printed them off, laminated and cut them out. We use dry erase markers on them. (I love laminating for this very reason!) I have noticed such a change in Anthony's writing skills. From the way he holds the pencil or pen, even crayons and markers, from his control of his lines. It's so cool to see it coming along. (Wonder if he'll enjoy writing one day as much as I do?) While tracing the shapes and talking about them and how many sides some of them have, he mentioned Doodleburg. It's a game he plays on his Leapster Explorer. The game is actually called, Mr. Pencil Saves Doodleburg. It's a GREAT learning tool for writing and I think that has also helped his writing skills. I highly recommend that game for Explorers and if you don't have an Explorer, I recommend saving some money and purchasing one. They are a wonderful learning tool. All the games, are learning games. Although, I'm not a big "electronic" person, Anthony does play with his Explorer each day for determined time. Personally, I think that is a big issue with lots of kids now a days. They are allowed to spend way too much time on the computer or playing wii, etc., verses interacting with real people. I try to keep in mind, that everything is permissible, but not always beneficial. :)

After he traced all the shapes, he got to hang them on our ribbon in the kitchen. Typically, this ribbon hanging on the wall is where we have been putting his crafts he did at bible study or worksheets we worked on together at home. It's also a great place to put up bible verses that you want to memorize. It's right in front of our table where we eat, so at meal time it's great to go over them together or talk about them.


This is what our "wall of accomplishments" looked like before I clean it all off.