Doing it YOUR way.

No sense leaving well enough alone if you ask me.  I gotta be me and my girls gotta be them.  So this means me encouraging them to like what they like and me trying to accommodate things if maybe they're not exactly...girlish. 

My daughters like dinosaurs.  They really like them.  My Oldest will spend hours looking at dinosaur bones on PBS Kids and reviewing their characteristics.  My Youngest also really likes the show Dinosaur train, but she's not as adept at working the interwebs as her big sis.

I encourage this because I really really really want them to like science and math.  This is because I didn't like science and math and really wish I had.  Maybe if I had been more into the sciences, I would have finished college. 

As it is, I feel that my girls are getting a well-rounded childhood from myself and The Mister as we are both knowledgeable in opposite spectrums.  He helps them with the math and science bits and I get them interested in history and reading bits.  So, we really do have it covered between the two of us.  Yay!

So, I am actually going two places with my intro.  One is...if your girls are into something that's typically made for boys...then fix it so it works for them...this works better for girls than boys just because it's harder to make things that are pink and purple boy-ish.  But, if your boy doesn't mind pink, go for it.

I know it's a bit late, as this was My Oldest's Easter basket, but it works on many levels.  You can do this to almost anything.  I didn't want My Oldest to feel bad that her basket was a boy basket.  My Youngest tends to call anything with boy colors handsome and it makes My Oldest sad if anything handsome is said about her.  So, Mama couldn't let it happen.  So I just took some felt...one of my favorite sewing mediums and some markers and I made the boy basket a girl basket.  Easy Peasy Lemon Squeezey.


I gave them dinosaur eyelashes and lips and a pretty flower behind her...ear.   My Oldest was thrilled with it and had no idea that Mama fixed it.  Which is what I wanted. 

All you need to do this is some felt and some craft glue...So, if there's a toy or an article of clothing or a pair of shoes or anything that's boyish that your girls might like...if they weren't quite so boy then fix it.

The other part of this post is about summer learning.  Not "Summer Lovin";  that's a Grease song.  "...had me a blast. Summer lovin' happened so fast.  I met a girl crazy for me-e-e.  Met a boy cute as can be...."  Sorry.

So, it's summer now officially and the babies are out of school.  But I want them to keep learning through the summer.  So, My Oldest is going to be re-doing her homework assignments from the school year, as well as reading small books on her own and reading chapter books with me each night.  We're currently reading "Summer of the Monkeys", and she is doing surprisingly well with it considering there isn't a single picture inside the covers.  It might help that I do voices and sounds...there's a lot of monkey grunts and hollers in this book.

Now for My Youngest, this is where things are going to be more difficult.  My Oldest has a serious love of learning and would almost do math problems all day if I let her.  My Youngest though has to be coaxed into learning.  So here's our alphabet plan. 

Every day we are going to have a letter of the day.  I am going to post it on the fridge and we are going to reference it quite often.  Then we have a "Letter A" Hunt. 

This is where I place 4 letter cards throughout the house and My Youngest has to search for them and holler "A!!!!"  The final step is to have her trace the letter A and then have her write them on her own.

So far, day 1 has gone smashingly.  She had a lot of fun learning and it wasn't a struggle.  I'll keep you posted.

So, there you have it.  Do things your way.  If something needs to be changed or done better or fixed...do it.  You'll be happy you did.

Thanks for reading!

Heather