Liam Lessons

Hooray for new things to get excited about!

I just finished making an educational box, full of picture cards to help Liam grow in vocabulary and memory!  I like to think of it as his own personal photo library of the things he encounters every day.

The teacher inside me is so excited!  Tomorrow begins our first official formal lessons.  (And yes, I almost reached for a lesson plan sheet!)

The Liam Lesson Box is a follow-up to the Picture Dictionary we used when he was a few months old.  And because the 5" x 8" cards are not restricted to being in a binder, I can pull them out and place them around the house in whatever ways are needed.

So far I've made 38 colorful picture cards and have organized them into these categories:  Food, People, Routines, Faith, Animals, Colors, Numbers, and Shapes.  I'm excited for the other categories which will be added to the box as time goes on!

Each week, I will create and add new cards to the box.  My plan is to make the vocabulary lessons build upon one another over the next few years.  Specifically, I envision it going this way:

Phase 1: object identification (by pointing)

Phase 2: object naming (verbal) 

Phase 3: object association with word (printed on reverse of card)

Phase 4: word association with object (where child first sees the word only and must say the picture on the other side)

Phase 5: spelling of word (when only the picture is seen)

My plan is to formally teach while Liam is in his high chair, and I will begin the lesson either when he has just finished eating or is nearly done.  Food identification and food naming will be be our primary focus for convenience, but I'm obviously eager to sneak some math into the mix as well.

We'll just learn the numbers 1 and 2 for now.  When Liam tells me that he wants more peaches, for example, I'll ask if he wants 1 or 2 more peach slices -- and then I will give accordingly.  In time, hopefully he will begin to realize that 2 is greater than 1.

I decided to make all the even numbers red so that, when he's older, we'll have an easier time identifying even numbers and counting by two's.

Time for bed...we've got a big day tomorrow!  :)