Odds and Evens

Not a mathematical concept, although it is next on our to do list!  The title refers to our activities these past two days.  Today has been an odd day; Benedict's blood sugars have had more of a swing to them than, the orchestrated polls of the up and coming elections!  As a result we've gone with the flow and although we didn't tackle what I'd set out to do, Benedict achieved quite a lot:  hand writing practise, spellings, helping to paint wooden slats for a garden trellis, reading everything and anything, drawing and designing his own railway network.

Yesterday was more of an even day:  using the cuisinaire rods as a practical tool Benedict tackled three pages of his maths workbook.  It was interesting to see how by using the rods he was able to tackle concepts that previously would have had him floundering.  It was like watching a Eureka! moment and confirmed once again that, the rods have been worth every penny. 

After the maths session, Benedict read The Vikings, which is part of the Level 8 series from The Oxford Reading Tree Scheme.  Although I would classify Benedict as an independent reader, he will read anything and everything given the chance, he still enjoys the stories portrayed in this scheme.  All credit to the authors as they have been able to provide a scheme that not only supports early reading but does so in such a way that captivates the reader's interest and enthusiasm.

It was then time for our tea break.  Benedict had a run in the garden whilst I pegged out the washing and had a welcome brew!  By now it was eleven o'clock so in out last hour before finishing formal lessons for the day, we tackled the new list of spellings, counted in two's and played the clock face game and Benedict drew pictures and wrote accompanying messages on his work.  Any written work completed by Benedict is read by me and together we look at the spellings and any corrections are usually written above the appropriate word in pencil.

As a reward for all his efforts he watched Redwall with big sister Sara.   I think he found the storyline quite challenging as there seemed to be several twists to the plot.  I think a second viewing might help him and maybe spark an interest in reading the books of the same name by Brian Jacques.  The remainder of the day was spent in the workshop hammering and tinkering.