More shapes and cheese

I blogged sometime back about cutting pieces of provolone for Precious to learn shapes. I've found a more structured way to incorporate this into our everyday blur of events. After her nap, she usually eats cheese toast. She inevitably asks for cold cheese while the toast is toasting and the cheese is melting.

So, I cut her little cheese pieces into shapes, and she tells me the shape before she eats it. How fun is that?! We're good to go on rectangles, triangles, circles, and ovals. Squares are still "rectangles," which they are, only with equal sides. I'm still trying to get that across to my two-year-old!

And speaking of shaping-- young minds, in particular... Aunt Ma recently pointed out The Lilting House blog to me, which has completely explained and sold me on the Charlotte Mason method. Here it is in a nutshell: Parent reads book (or page, paragraph, or sentence-- however much the child can handle). Child retells selection after one reading. The result: Acute listening, synthesis, and oratory skills. Wow. I'm going to be a Charlotte Mason mommy. The way-cool thing is that it applies to any subject matter. You can read about whatever you want the child to learn (or s/he wants to learn!).

Another method I'm learning more about is the Classical Education approach, which I've been researching via Trivium Pursuit. I really like the Bluedorns' Ten Things before Age Ten article. Charlotte Mason and the Classical approach both offer me substantial learning curves-- more fun for me!