Georgie the Giraffe

Getting Dad's bike fixed at the bike shop

1LT CJ's pre-school class has a mascot (Georgie the Giraffe) who goes home with a different kid each week. The kids all take pictures of themselves with Georgie and then write about their escapades in the class journal. I was amazed at how much CJ was willing to write in the class journal since handwriting is not one of his favorite "subjects" (basically if it doesn't involve math he wants very little to do with it. His comment today was "If I do ten pages of math can I just skip phonics?")
The XO had the brilliant brainstorm of adopting this idea into our homeschooling, so we're going to be starting our own journal with one of our family's stuffed "friends". When you think about it, they can learn an awful lot with this seemingly simple project - photo composition (which ones are the best pics to include); summarizing thoughts (by choosing a heading or caption for the pics); handwriting (even if it is very simple sentances); early writing skills, grammar and punctuation (as they dictate their report on the events to mom and dad to record in the journal); and counting (as they number the pages); not to mention all the learning that happens on the adventures that get recorded!
I don't know who is more excited about this plan, mom or the kids!

Exploring the Llano River

Helping to feed the birds

Enjoying the backyard playscape