First letter

As we are going into our second year of homeschooling, I have found that I have to take teaching moment with Sydney wherever I can get them.  She does not have the concentration to sit for long (or even moderate) amounts of time and do schoolwork.  She is very bright though, and tends to catch on quickly.  That sure makes my job easier!  

We kept up some of our work during the summer, mostly because I want to be less stressed out during the school year.  Between her rigorous therapy schedule and her difficulty doing big chunks of school time, I think it will work better to spread it out more.

She got some lovely presents from Chris' parents for her birthday and so we decided it would be nice to write her very first real letter/card today and send them a thank you note.  She was so excited that it was going to go in the MAIL!  For real!  And the mail truck would come get it!  :)

Here she is writing.   I wrote everything out in pencil and she traced in marker.  For awhile I was having her write everything and realized she's not ready for that yet.  She was getting so frustrated.  She can make all the letters but the size and spacing drive her nuts.  So for now I write and she traces.  She's gotten much better so I think I am going to start fading it soon.

All sealed up and addressed and ready to take to the mailbox!  We have to go across the street to send our mail, which means we got to take the exciting walk together.  She was full of smiles, and we talked about the letter going ALL the way to Nevada!!  In fact she was so excited that she didn't bring her headphones...wow.

After we put the mail in the box, I asked her to pose for a picture.  Too much time to think and her hands went right to her ears to block them.  But still smiling! :)

Hands down!!!

And walking back to the house, ears safe again.  She is so cute.