Teaching Amanda Her ABCs

Most of you know that Amanda turned 5 this year.

I was concerned that she had to remain in the

playgroup another year before graduating to

Kindergarten (Grade R in South Africa) and
that she'll only be in Grade 1 when she's 6

turning 7.

From what I understand, that's a
whole year later than in the States.
So, I decided to start teaching her at home,
after school. I only spend about 5 - 10 minutes
with her, but I've seen that it makes a difference.

Today I'm sharing about 3 of the books that

I've been using with her. We have several

other ABC resources too. Some are
battery operated with sound. I like variety,

so I don't focus on the same books or

teach with the same method every day.

I also like to be spontaneous. Here's

a peek into a few of our lessons. Enjoy!

First Fun ABC is published by Miles Kelly.

I like this book, because Amanda gets to

practice the alphabet at the top of the page.

Also, the letter that the page is focusing on

is highlighted in the alphabet row.

I noticed that Amanda

was running the letters L - N as one

word, so here we practiced slowing

the famous alphabet song down and

saying each letter name carefully.

I got My First ABC Glitter Book on sale.

It's published by Hinkler Books and they have

a whole series, including Colours and Numbers.

Amanda commented that it was for babies.

I liked the shiny pages. I also knew that

even though it's in a toddler's book style,

it's still right for her age.

I like that each picture has the upper case

and lower case letter. I think it's better

if kids learn both from the beginning.

What I didn't like is that the letter A

on the inside of the book stood for

"alarm clock" and R stood for "rubber

duck." Amanda saw the clock and said,

"A for clock" and saw the duck and said,

"R for duck." This was too confusing.

Amanda got this wonderful Animals, Wipe Clean,

Learn to Draw Activity Book for her birthday

a year or two ago. It's published by Priddy

Books. She used her marker until it ran dry,

so the one in the photo is not the one that

it originally came with, although it does

look similar. This book also comes in a

series, including Letters and Numbers.

What makes this book so versatile is that

it not only teaches drawing, it also teaches

how to write the alphabet in upper case

and lower case letters.

I got Amanda

to practice some of these letters on a

white board that we could wipe clean

and use again and again.

We could have used the book

for this, but I wanted her to

see how the letters make words.

In the last picture, Amanda had a word

with a missing letter. Each time I gave

her a different missing letter for the same

word, to help her see what letter was

missing and to put it in the right place. 

If your child isn't old enough to write yet,

you could simplify this exercise using magnetic

fridge letters. Let your child place the

correct letter in the missing space.

I found this neat ABC internet resource today.

It's called ABCya and has free games and apps

from Grade K to Grade 5. I'll let Amanda

check it out with me tomorrow. Maybe

you've already heard of it. I'm living in a

corner of South Africa, so I'm still

discovering these things.

I'm linking with the Kid Lit Blog Hop.

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Learning Lessons from Hermie a Common Caterpillar

Last night I read Hermie a Common Caterpillar by Max Lucado to my daughter, Amanda, who is 4 years old. This is a board book and recommended for ages 1 – 4, however, the message is suitable for older children too. Hermie is a common caterpillar who wishes that he could be like the ant, snail or ladybug; because he sees and admires their special qualities. God keeps reminding him and his friend, Wormie, that He isn’t finished with them yet. The message of the story is that God has made everyone unique with a special purpose.

I have read this story to Amanda before, so it isn’t new to her. In fact, she remembers seeing it on video too. This time, she interrupted the story to ask why God had given her two toes that are stuck together. I wasn’t expecting the question, but it was a good opportunity to explain that God had made her unique. It showed me that she was processing how Hermie felt and that she could identify with his feelings. It just goes to show that this story would be excellent as a tool for discussion with children.

The part of the story that made her giggle was when Hermie had a dream. He dreamt that he was special like the ant, the snail and the ladybug. (Our book says “ladybird” as it is a South African publication and they use British English here.) The funny illustrations are what made her laugh. Her favorite part of the story was when Hermie turns into a beautiful butterfly. She exclaimed, “Wow! He’s so beautiful.”

I think it’s a wonderful story with a meaningful message and beautifully illustrated. I even like how the book is cut out along the picture on the cover. I recommend this book for parents, grandparents and Sunday school teachers to read it to younger children and discuss its relevant message.

I'm linking with the Kid Lit Blog Hop #2 at Mother Daughter Book Reviews.

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What Do You Do When Your Kids are Sick?

You might notice that something is different here at Amanda’s Books and More. Well, the template was giving me trouble. I decided that it would be best to change it with something more reliable. It could be that the code for my new blog hop buttons was the problem. I’m going to look into that, but I’m a novice at these things. Something went wrong with my template for 1camera1mom also. Now, two of my blogs have new templates. I let Amanda choose the background for this one. This blog is about her, after all. I hope you like it. I’d love for you to leave me a comment and tell me what you think.

The girls in our family, including me, have come down with a cold. My daughters have had flu symptoms as well. Here are some photos of Amanda with me during a previous illness that she had.

Here I was soaking her feet in warm garlic water. I don’t know if it helped, but I was willing to give it a try. I kept her entertained by reading to her. The book that she’s holding in the photo to the right is called, Little One, God Made You, written by Amy Warren Hilliker, illustrated by Carol Thompson and published by Zonderkidz.

The book that she’s holding in the photo to the left is called, Who’s Dinner?, illustrated by Kaz Lammie and published by Bright Sparks. At the end of the book, it refers to us as being animals. I believe we were created in the image of God and that we are not animals. So, I asked Amanda what we are called. I didn't expect her to know, so I was surprised when she answered, "Human." She certainly is a bright spark.

I also took her outside to sit in the sun for a few minutes. You can’t tell by the smile of her face, but she was really sick those days.

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Choosing a Name for this Blog

Once I decided that my daughter, Amanda, would be enough of a topic to keep me blogging for a long time, I needed to decide on a blog name.

The idea came to me one afternoon when Amanda and I were lying down for a nap. Her routine at naptime and bedtime is to take books and dolls or stuffed animals to bed with her. She asked me to read to her from one of her chosen books. I wanted to tell her no, that I was too tired, but then I decided that one book couldn’t take too long. It was a toddler’s book after all. Of course, this made her so happy that it was worth it.

If I was going to write a blog about Amanda, then I’d have to write about the things that are important to her – hence the name, “Amanda’s Books and More!”

In this photo Amanda has just turned 2 years old. She's opening up her birthday presents and is holding her new book, Barney: My First Book of Colours.

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