building blocks

Last month we decided to take Marta out of her pre-school classes and start a quasi-pre-school here at home made up mostly of Marta and several friends.

I was a bit torn about Marta's schooling, but it was true that she disliked going to her previous school and for whatever reason she only went off and on from December through March.

Here at home though she is quite eager to see her friends everyday. There are about seven 'students' who learn, sing, paint, play -- basically do pre-school like things. Marta I think feels more comfortable in this environment.

I have also noticed that her ability to read has taken off. I have been working with her -- though not enough, never enough! -- and she has found some books that she likes. She also enjoys the esteem boost she gets by impressing us by pointing out letters or numbers.

When it comes to numbers though, I am afraid she has some bad genes. I was never one for math, and Epp routinely forgets what year it is. One time Epp made an Ofoto album dated 2003. I wondered where she found all those old photos from five years ago. Then I realized that she forgot it was 2008.

So sometimes I might try a very basic math idea, like addition or subtraction, and Marta just blurts out random numbers. "What's 1+1?" "3? 4? 5?" Eh, maybe I am just not a good math teacher.