Kamy – May

May brought an end to Kamy’s dance class.  She has really enjoyed going to class weekly, and not once did she tell me she didn’t want to go.  She had an awesome year.  I am proud of how hard she would try, how closely she’d listen to the teachers, and how teachable she was.  Nearly every week I’d hear one of the instructors commend Kamy on being ready or trying hard.  We finished the year with a parents program at a local church.  Min, Jess, and Granpops were all able to come and Kamy appreciated all the support!  Kamy is already asking if she can do dance again this fall!

Kamy loves to help in the kitchen.  Caden has expressed more interest lately too, so now the kids get to alternate who helps with breakfast and who unloads the dishwasher.  Kamy is doing great in the kitchen and it won’t be long before she can handle some tasks without supervision.  They both helped with dehydrating bananas for snacks and Kamy was very proud of her rows.

The U Pick strawberry patch opened in Pittsburg and we visited several times to pick berries.  Caden had a tendency to eat all the berries he picked, but Kamy was a great helper and picked a lot of berries.  We ate a ton, made jam, dehydrated some, and froze a bunch for using in muffins and cakes later this year.

When talking about eye colors, Kamy was asked what color Daddy’s eyes were.  Her reply confused Keller for a bit, since “basil” isn’t exactly a common color choice.  =)  Hazel is the word she was looking for.  Her vocabulary continues to grow and I am constantly looking for opportunities to give her new words and phrases.

Kamy has started to play Super Mario 3D World with Daddy on the Wii.  She is figuring out the controls and it requires different skills to move her character around than racing on Mario Kart.  She’s been practicing some by herself too and has completed the first couple of levels.

Kamy’s little math-oriented mind continues to expand.  She is realizing how ubiquitous math is and looks for real-world applications all the time.  One morning I heard her say, “Three times two plus two is eight!  That’s how many cinnamon rolls we had this morning!”  Kamy realized that both Caden and she had three rolls and I only had two … hence her math equation.  Another morning she said “Three times three plus one is ten!”  In that case, all three of us had three crepes and there was one extra at the end.  Daddy has been asking her “a question” just before bedtime too.  The questions are getting more complicated — larger numbers, pattern recognition, and extra information are all fair game.  One night, she was asked: “If you have five jelly beans and Caden has two Smarties, how many more jelly beans do you have than Caden?”  Kamy’s prompt reply: “FIVE!”

Out of curiosity, I printed out an addition worksheet and left it on my desk.  Not long after I found Kamy working on it and she brought it to me when she was done.  She had not seen addition problems in this format before, but she made some assumptions and figured it out!  Out of 20 questions, she missed one, but only because she forgot to write the 1 for 15.  When I pointed out that that answer was incorrect she immediately saw the problem and fixed it.

I am starting to delve into the abyss that is homeschooling curriculum.  I thought I’d landed on a math program to use with Kamy, but after looking at the workbook in Mardel one afternoon, I’m not quite convinced.  Particularly with math, it may be tricky to find a curriculum that is challenging without pushing her faster than she’s interested in.  To be fair, I think she can do more than half the concepts in the 1st grade math book, and multiplication doesn’t show up until second grade!  She’s a smart one …