10 Little Ladybugs

Home schooling with Jonathan these past two months has been a blast! He is enthusiastic, loves the cuddle time (although it can turn into wrestling time when Elsie inserts herself into the middle of things), especially enjoys computer times and is learning much more quickly than I imagined he would. He's already memorized 4 Bible verses (including the Golden Rule), recognizes and writes several letters as well as producing their sounds, understands number concepts and recognizes the script forms of numbers 1-10...

This is one of our favorite books (although he's enjoying reading about rockets and space, too). The "3-D" ladybugs, the colorful paintings and all the other little critters the kids get to name - this book has so many wonderful characteristics. We read it forwards as a pure story book (which is a little scary for the little ones as they think something bad is happening to all of the ladybugs) and backwards (when first learning how to count) and then forwards again when learning to count backwards, from 10 - 1. I've used this book to teach counting ever since Rebekah Joy received it as a Christmas present when she was 2 or 3 years old (Ladybugs are the subject of a family joke with her... from the time she was about 6 months old, she'd chased them down and eat them... and while that behavior has extinguished itself now, she says she can actually remember doing this... YUCK!). I'm pretty sure I can "read" it without even looking at the book any more! Jonathan loves it, as does Elsie Mae - they almost come to blows each morning as we practice counting with it - each wanting the privilege of holding the book on "their" lap. As you can imagine, our copy is well-worn. The binding is held together by packing tape - which is held together by more tape - and I've had to restrict general access to the book, trying to baby it along until the kids and I get back to the States and can buy another copy - which is a priority in our list of "things to do" once we get over jet lag!

Have any of you ever read or used this book in home schooling or otherwise? Do you have a favorite book to read? Let us know! We are always looking for good ideas!

10 Little Ladybugs was written by Melanie Gerth, and illustrated by Laura Huliska-Beith.