Reading eggs

Since one of us is home with Sam for the moment, I decided to reduce Lara's daycare days from 3 to 2 days. Lara's going to school next year, I'd like her to have one more leisured mornings, I want to spend more time with her especially if I'm at home anyway. We will also save some money.

Lara first started showing interest in 'spelling' words a couple of months ago. I thought it was very clever when she said "p-ra-m, pram... pram starts with p and r" (not sure where she learned that from?). I let her try the reading eggs online program for 2 weeks and decided to subscribe at the end of the trial period. I don't care if Lara is able to read before school, I'm sure she'll learn that from school. I care more about her "attitude towards learning". Lara had shown enthusiam about the game so I thought it would be a good idea to monitor her attitude while she learns in the home environment. I am careful about how much time she stays on the computer. I let her do it once or twice a week, around 30 minutes each time.

Lara got frustrated earlier on with one of the 'stamping' game, not because she didn't know the answers but the letters came out too quickly and she couldn't click the mouse fast enough. She cried and exclaimed "I don't want to do computer games ever again!". I directed her away and told her she didn't have to do it if she didn't want to. After she calmed down, she wanted to have another go. After a few tries, she's now, in her own words, "very good at the stamping game".

She anticipats which picture contains the correct answer now and puts the mouse near that area and is pleased with herself if she gets it right. She also starts to try the wrong answers just to see what the animations do. Lara has the tendancy to rush through the lessons so she can advance to the next lesson. She didn't want to repeat any lesson when I suggested it. Lara learned to buy "stuff" with the eggs she collected after the lessons. She bought the first object she liked rather than looking at all her options. I observe her, but try to leave her alone and not tell her what to do, it's all playing to her at this stage.

There's uncertainty around work and daycare at the moment. We can only take one day at a time. In the meantime, I have more time to think about what I can do to help Lara and Sam enjoy their childhood and my parenthood more.