Learning with my eyes closed

It’s funny. I spend so much time worry and thinking about how I am going to teach my kids, that I often don’t remember that we are learning all along. As the end of the “school year” comes to a close, I spend a lot of time looking back at what we were supposed to learn, and while we may not have met every goal on the list, we sure met a lot that I never even considered…

Tonight was a great example of that… During bath time, my daughter was making “soup” with the foamy alphabet letters. I held up each letter to her and was amazed to find that even as young as she is, she has a basic mastery of phonics. (Simply put, she can tell you what many of the letters are and what sound they make… and she isn’t even 2 yet!) I know where she has learned this, and as much as I would like to say that I spend all this time teaching my children each day… it simply isn’t true. But I do capitalize on all the wonderful abilities God has given my children to learn… And I take advantage of the things that teach them… in this case, it actually happens to be a great little video from Leap Frog called “The Letter Factory.” Leap Frog is a company that produces games, videos and a myriad of other toys that help preschoolers learn colors, shapes, counting, phonics and even other languages. And honestly… my kids love them! So I use it…

There are many times throughout the day that I am simple too worn out to do anything but lay down and rest. And more often than not, those times do not coincide with my kids wanting to rest. So I pop in a movie… Leap Frog is often a choice we all agree on… me because I know the kids are learning something, and the kids because the stories are entertaining, the songs are catchy and the characters are engaging. It’s a win-win situation… Especially when I can look at all three of my children and see the proof of new knowledge blossoming.

From the one video we have (one disc, two videos) Everest has learned how to skip count, Terran and Laeliana have both learned their letters and the sounds they make. On top of that the videos teach sorting by color, shape and size, adding, patterns and a bunch of other fun things. This is a great way for Everest to review what he already knows and for the little ones to keep learning.

Pairing something like these videos with the foamy alphabet letters, ABC stories and blocks, and coloring pages… how can I lose? The kids are learning… even when my eyes are closed and I am simply a body to snuggle with. And we are all having fun.

Granted, it won’t always be so easy… but I’m enjoying it while it lasts.