Busy Little Z's

Last week was a very trying week since my house was still torn apart from a little house renovation turning half of our laundry into my office and homeschool niche. And seeing as how it was the week preceding Z1’s ninth birthday party I was fit to be tied putting everything back together. So, suffice it to say that I winged it as much as I could and still attempted to get the house party ready (thanks, Honey!). Z1 and Z2 are excellent at keeping Z3 and Z4 occupied so they played and taught them in their own version of homeschool. Basic preschool for Z3 and Z4 includes daily cleanup and following simple directions. Z3 can be super helpful and super destructive and Z4 is taking after her. For example, Z4 will be 19 months old next week and she knows how to put her dirty clothes in the laundry and can take trash to the can (sometimes good stuff gets thrown away, too). Z3 and Z4 both like to help hand me the dishes out of the dishwasher and can put the silverware away all by themselves. The biggest chunk of learning for my preschoolers is communication and early motor skills, for instance, coloring with a hint of creativity; by allowing Z4 to color without constraints or perimeters and with Z3 it’s a little different because she is 3. I give her instructions and she is able to use whatever creativity she likes but she is expected to stay in the lines. I am not talking drill sergeant instructions because I do not correct her if she doesn’t, but I tell her the bold lines outlining the picture are intended to be the walls that hold her colors in. I am a big believer that talking to your kids, especially those who are putting simple sentences together and following simple directions should be spoken to like a regular person “as if” they can understand you. When you change the way you speak to them from oversimplifications to conversations that not only expand their associations but their vocabulary. Their audible speech will take on a whole new definition. Z4 is kind of shy to strangers by nature but she understands me and asks questions and speaks loosely in complete sentences. As a result there is always a way for her to express herself since she can understand and be understood. Because she can have conversations the likelihood for tantrums that involve the frustration regarding “being heard” are far and few between. It is a lesson that I continue to expand with Z3 who is in the “between” stages of growth somewhere between a toddler and a kid so she can be easily perplexed when she feels like she should have attention as a baby girl and as a big girl. Never fear communication is here! All I have to do is remind her that she can voice those feelings to get an appropriate response from me instead of throwing a fit and me throwing one shortly after.
As for Z1 and Z2, last week they wrote in their Wonder Journals about the field trip to the historic courthouse and I allowed Z1 to go to my aunt’s to help teach the CDC class she teaches. She worked so hard to read to them and help with each child’s need. I let Z2 blow out some steam in Sunny Day Imagination Play where he got to be himself, his own hero, in his own world. Worksheets, worksheets, worksheets just to review and present some new concepts in bite size portions to Z1 and Z2 and then finished off the week with my favorite tool to teach English, Mad Libs. Z1 and Z2 love them and it’s an easy way to teach them English word types and jobs: Pronouns, nouns, verbs, adjectives, plural nouns, etcetera. Z1’s birthday was a cultural experience all its own with the Oriental theme she chose over a year ago. I made beef stir fry with rice, we ate with chopsticks, Z1 wore chopsticks in her hair and a traditional dress. We had fans and parasols and origami lace the house for decorations. We all learned a lot about Asia as a result which meshed nicely with our lesson on the differences and similarities of kungfu and karate from Z2’s Wonder Journal entry earlier this month. Yes, yes, I know, we are such busy little Z’s!