I've been teaching her most days for the past weeks and it's been going quite excellent. I documented the whole first week in photographs (and admittedly stopped doing so the second week, so there probably won't be much more about this for a while).
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| Day 1: Learning basic colors, matching, finding colors in nature, and a little snack |
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| Day 2: Basic shapes, drawing + coloring, forming shapes with pipe-cleaners |
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| Day 3: Revising colors, learning numbers 1-5 |
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| Day 4: Revising numbers 1-5 by counting groups of objects, introduction to the alphabet |
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| Day 5: Learning numbers 1-12, revising colors, recognizing colors from gummy bears as a Friday treat |
I was so impressed at how much she was able to retain everything she learned each day. She caught on to all the names of shapes, colors, and numbers 1-12 so quickly! Fun fact: That wooden clock in the first picture of Day 5 is actually mine from when I was in elementary. My parents bought it at IKEA and it was a huge help for me in learning how to tell time, so I was pleased to have found it for another little one's benefit.
So the first week went great. My cousin was so excited about learning, even after some difficulties she faced with the alphabet. The second week and going on into this week, we're still trying to get past those difficulties with patience. We've slowed down considerably, which I hope will help in her remembering and understand the alphabet.
Which brings me to something I've been wondering: Is it normal for the alphabet to be so difficult to learn? For some reason she can name all sorts of things, including "animals" and "elephant" and even a couple of phrases, but easily forgets the one-syllable names of her ABCs. She can sing the song well, and adorably so, but when I ask her what the letter "A" is called, she blanks out and struggles to get any sound out. But like I said, we're taking it slow and we're both exerting a whole lot of patience into this task.
Teaching has sure been an experience, not as "fun" and "exciting" as I initially thought it would be. But it has helped me tremendously in many aspects and I'm proud to say it has helped my little student as well. We're both learning together.
I send out my respects to real school teachers. Thankfully I was never much of a trouble-maker in school and was excellent at knowing when to behave, so I don't feel too guilty. c;
xx
