Day One

Well, today was day one of summer vacation and I'm happy to say that we hit the ground running! We have big plans to keep busy this summer and not lose any of the excellent learning Abby has gained this year. I have to say though that by 1 p.m. I was instituting "rest time" - not for Abby, but for me. It didn't take long for her to wear me out, and Zeke was there right along with me.

It's hard to see here, but she's getting some pretty good
height on her jump!

We began our day with a walk in the park. We have a lovely park pretty close to us and the exercise will do all of us good. So we buckled Zeke into his harness, tied our tennis shoes, and were off. I have to say, it was a great way to start the day. The scenery was beautiful as we passed by a pond filled with cattails and walked across the bridge through the woods. The best part though was watching Abby as she greeted everyone we passed. I love watching her hand out happy hellos.

Next, we came home to get ready for some errands. First up was heading to Mom's school to pick up some math papers. I've decided that everyday we will do some reading, writing, and math. The first grade teacher at my school generously offered her files to me, and so today we went to pick through them to get our daily math lessons. I also got a lesson in compromise. Abby was so good while I gathered her work that she convinced me she deserved some time on the playground.

Twirly slides are only second best to the swings.

After the playground it was off to the library. Yes, today was a big day; Abby signed up for her very own library card. I have to say that even I was impressed with the beautiful new kids' section in the recently renovated library. Abby immediately sat down to play at the computer, while I scoured the stacks for some of her favorite book characters. One of the best parts was that she was able to check out her own books. Pretty cool, huh?

Scanning her very own card

Checking out her own books

Finally, we were on our way home, but our planned day was not over yet. After lunch we had "carpet time" and enjoyed a fun tale about a little dog that dreamed big. Zeke enjoyed that book.

Next, we had math time and reading group. Our book this week was about emotions and what faces tell us about how people are feeling. It was interesting (but not surprising) that Abby did not want to talk about, or emulate, any of the negative faces. She was thrilled to show me "happy", "excited", and "sleepy", but wanted nothing to do with "sad", "mad", or "shy". When I asked her to draw her favorite face she chose "happy", of course.

For writing this summer I'm going to have Abby keep a journal detailing all the things we do each day. She also needs to practice putting events in beginning, middle, and end order. So, we ended our lessons today by writing about our morning. I wrote the sentences and Abby provided the illustrations. Then she put the three pages in the right order.

I got two eyes for this one. Abby told me she only needed one.

Apparently, today my desk needed to be green.

Here she drew the stacks with books. She informed me that the orange
books were "Daddy's books".

It was a fun morning mainly because she continues to impress me with how much she learns and her desire to learn more. I'm realizing that my challenge may not be getting her to continue to work this summer, but finding enough work for her to do! That, my friends, is a great problem to have, wouldn't you say?