Penguins, & Media, & Ben, Oh My!

Along with starting back to homeschool this week, we started back to some preschool work at home for Mr. Benjamin. He still loves doing school and keeps asking when it is his turn. I need to have more of a plan in advance for him, because he looks for things to do on his own. We did have lots of puzzles in the foyer during one of his "entertaining himself" moments.

Because I was very busy trying to get Faith back on her schedule, Ben got a little more media time than normal. He's very into using the computer like Mommy & Daddy right now, so


Daddy set up his extra laptop for him so he could play on his own. Right now, his favorites are Handy Manny and Special Agent Oso on Playhouse Disney and a Thomas the Train game that we have on CD (not an online game). The online games are a novelty as the kids' laptop is theirs because the air card is broken, so it only plays CD games.

Daddy also got into the whole preschool thing by downloading an awesome game for his iPhone for Mr. Ben. (*I* do not have an iPhone because you still can't get one through Verizon and I am not switching coverage. Instead, I am slugging it out with my old Razr until Verizon offers an iPhone.)


The app is called Teach Me Kindergarten and I think it was only $1. It has simple sight words, easy math problems, and some kind of thing where you earn coins for correct answers. Ben is obsessed with this coin idea!

Besides our media frenzy, Ben & I decided to learn a little bit about penguins this week. I perused our bookshelves and came up with several penguin books to read. I didn't realize we owned any penguin books, much less several of them!

Our List (the first two are non-fiction, the last four are fiction):
The Emperor Lays an Egg by Brenda Z. Guiberson
Penguins, Penguins, Everywhere! by Bob Barner
The Littlest Penguin by A.J. Wood
Flip & Flop by Dawn Apperley
The Penguin Who Wanted to Fly by Catherine Vase
Five Little Penguins Slipping on the Ice by Steve Metzger

We also downloaded a cool penguin book from Enchanted Learning and Ben colored it & answered the questions! He couldn't unscramble the words, but if I gave him clues, he knew what they all were! He also traced the correct answers for writing practice.


He & I also made a penguin craft. I couldn't find anything online that I loved (or had the supplies for), so I came up with this little guy!


He's made out of a toilet tissue roll, black scrapbook paper (construction paper would work too), some white printer paper, orange craft foam, and a couple of googly eyes. Add scissors & glue, and you've got yourself a penguin! Ben wanted to sleep with him, but I managed to convince him that Penguin would be much happier standing on his dresser watching him instead!

I need to come up with something fun for next week! Ben still wants to do a platypus unit, but I'm not quite ready for that one. I'm leaning towards The Mitten by Jan Brett instead.

Comments

  1. I always forget to check out Enchanted Learning for cool stuff to do.

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  2. I LOVE the penguin - how cute is that?! I want to get Enchanted Learning too but you have to pay for it. I hate paying for stuff like then when there are so many free resources out there but I love their stuff, i think it's worth it. :) Great job mama!

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  3. I am impressed with how well Ben does with the computer. I have to get this game for my iPod touch - nice alternative to iPhone.

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  4. That penguin is ADORABLE!

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