Five. Two. Two.

Today in Math, I decided to go a little tougher with addition and subtraction to see how much Babe could handle. So I put out three piles of dog manipulatives and had her try to figure out where the equals sign went and if it required a plus sign or a minus sign.

She didn't quite understand at first, but after about five or six different number sentences, she got the hang of it and was completing them with ease. It was actually really neat watching her try to figure each one out. Now I'm confident Babe knows the difference between addition and subtraction.

With Math done, we jumped right into Reading Comprehension where she read "Ten Little Puppies." At the end of the book she told me she was going to start begging her mom for ten puppies. Ha! The book was actually pretty cute, but when I asked her if the things in the story could really happen (dogs driving, dining, moving in next door, etc.) she said,

"No way! No one can have ten puppies like that!"

Ha. We talked more about what happened at the beginning, middle, and end, and if what the dogs were doing in the story could really happen. She asked me if she could make a list of things dogs can and can't do! Amazing. I couldn't say no to that, so I got a sheet of paper, split it in two, and wrote "can" and "can't" on either side of the line.

I forgot to take a picture of it, but according to her, dogs can: eat, play, walk. Dogs can't: watch TV, eat at the table, talk.

So cute.

After Reading Comprehension, we continued our talk on community helpers, concentrating today on mail carriers. I asked Babe to tell me everything she knew about mail carriers.

"They make a lot of stuff!"

"What do you mean make a lot of stuff?"

"Well they made my Indian princess costume for me and they put it in the mailbox!"

I was beside myself! She actually thought that when someone orders something online from a catalog or website or whatever, that the mailman makes it! And then when he's done making it, puts it in the mailbox! I debriefed her in my knowledge of the postal service and told her that mail carriers do not make the stuff they send. Other people make it, put it in their own mailbox, and then the mail carrier takes it from their mailbox and delivers it to her mailbox. She started understanding it a bit more.

We then played a mail carrier game provided by her last curriculum, pre-school through Mother Goose Time. I set up four illustrations around the room - a cafe, a fire station, a hospital, and a school. I made a mailbag and put four postcards in it, each one featuring a different community helper - a fireman, a teacher, a doctor, and a waiter. I had Babe, Bubs, and Z stand at the end of the hallway with the mailbag and they took turns pulling out one postcard at at time. When they had their postcard, they had to deliver it to the correct destination. Then me, as the postmaster general, looked at each destination when they were done to make sure the postcards were delivered correctly. They played this for a while, until they got tired.

"It's hard being a mailman!"

It was the perfect opportunity to show appreciation for our own mail carrier. I had them each sit at the table and make a thank-you card for our mailman!

We gathered up some snacks when they were all done and I grabbed a water bottle out of the fridge. Then we hiked down to the mailbox.

DRATS! There was already mail in the mailbox...he already came. Babe's face dropped but I assured her we would do it first thing tomorrow morning.

We stayed outside to play and then had lunch. After lunch, Babe learned about inferring and using clues to figure something out. She was pretty good at this, so after giving her some scenarios of my own, she did the Calvert-assigned worksheet.

We had a bit of time before dance, so I got out Hi-Ho Cherry-o and told her she was going to have to keep count of how many cherries were in both our buckets. I couldn't believe how well she did with this! She didn't even need to write anything down. After every spin, she knew how many pieces we each had in our buckets. Amazing. So with that, and in doing her Checkpoint, she was done with school for the day.