Sort-of-Hopscotch

Isaac playing his Sort-of-Hopscotch game (which I talk about more as you read below)

We continue to work toward learning a letter each week in our home. I am proud that this activity has carried on, and they we haven't lost steam. We are now on the letter G.
What is even better, is that the boys can use these letters to "tell time." They know that Grampa and Grama K., for instance, will arrive when we are almost done with the letter I.

I want to tell you that don't know me personally what people who do know me personally already know. I am not one of those moms. I am not crafty. I am not obsessed with my children. Everything I do does not revolve around them. My house does not have letters and kid posters plastered everywhere. I don't have a "school room." I don't buy supplies. I don't research things online. This is something I have been doing with next-to-no extra time invested at all.

I was simply convicted. Convicted by the fact that my little boys are, right now, sponges. They are soaking up everything. And it won't always be that way. So instead of putting in "decent" stuff, I wanted to put in "excellent" stuff.

For instance, while we have always kept TV to a minimum (less than an hour a day as a rule), I have been trying to only put things on the TV that are pure. This doesn't mean they are only Christian things. But if I have to say, "Oh, Cruella shouldn't have called that guy an idiot. We shouldn't do that..." then why show it to them. There are plenty of other things that don't require me to preface it. Currently we are watching The Backyardigans, Mickey Mouse ClubHouse, Dora or Diego, and Fireman Sam.
Okay. Digression. My strong suit. Sorry.
Back to the "Letter of the Week" and the picture I posted on the top of the blog. We focus each week on the sound the letter makes and on trying to draw the letter. However, I keep this very casual. I don't force them to do anything. It is all done in fun. They watch videos about their letter on youtube like this one: The Letter G Song. We try to find the letter of the week on stickers we already have and stick them on top of a letter G I drew on a piece of paper. We look for the letter G in books. We draw it in chalk outside. We just try to make it part of our daily life.

I have also just started letting them learn how to use a mouse and the computer (something, it appears, I am way behind on, as all of their same-age friends can navigate around a computer and an IPAD with complete ease by now) with games like this one: Dog's Letter Pit which helps teach letters. I do not want my kids stuck on computer games, but computers are what they will grow up on, so I am trying to make their use of it purely educational at this point.

In addition, we are learning a memory verse for each letter of the week as I wrote about in a past blog post. So far the boys have learned and can say from memory:

• All things work together for the good of those who love Him.
• Be kind one to another.
• Cast all your cares on Him for He cares for you.
• Do unto others as you would like them to do to you.
• Every good and perfect gift is from above.
• For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son that whosoever believes on Him should not perish but have everylasting life."
• Give thanks to the Lord for He is good. His love endures forever.
• Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your understanding; in all your way acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight.
• With God all things are possible.

Yes, I know T & W are not in alphabetical order -- they learned those at another time and so we keep practicing them. What's even better is that I am also practicing my memory verses as I go. I just say the first word, and they say the verse for that letter. And as they say them, I am saying them and hiding His word in my heart. It's awesome!

I have realized that my boys are sponges for only a short time. There is a reason this is the only time of their life that they can learn a second language and not have an accent. So I am hoping to give them all the positive, good, that I can within my limits (not crafty for example) as I can.

The picture at the top of this post shows one of the ways we practice our letters. I have the letter A thru G written in squares of tile on our porch. (We also have the numbers 0-10 as we are practicing all our numbers every week as well.) The boys took one of their "treasure rocks" (pretty stones Daddy bought them when he went to Utah last year) and threw it. If it landed on the letter A, they had to hop to find the other letter A that matched it. They loved it.

Of course, like all things, it lasted about 4 minutes. That's about our limit with a 3-4 year old attention span. In addition, little sister wanted to walk and crawl through the chalk leaving her filthy and the letters smeared. But it was fun while it lasted, and I noticed them playing on their own the next day.

What about you ... my readers. What are some easy, no-cost, no effort ways that you have helped your kids with their ABC's.