Pre-school

It's time for me to start thinking about teaching Buddy pre-school this fall. You'd think that since I taught Nora just a couple of years ago I'd be good to go. Yeah, not so much. Buddy isn't Nora. She would sit at the table for 3-4 hours every day as we did worksheets, crafts and stories. It was no problem asking her to do the work with me. As long as we didn't stay on any one subject for longer than 30 minutes, we were good! She actually looked forward to sitting at the table with me every morning.

Buddy, however, isn't the sitting down type! He'll watch TV for about 15 minutes and then he's ready for something else. Same thing with any other activity. 15 minutes is about his max. I mean, he'll sit at the computer for over an hour but he's constantly switching games and websites. So I'm gonna have to get creative with this kid!

I think I need some sort of learning game system where he can switch to different reading, math and science games. Something portable since we'll have the baby and I might not be able to sit in front of the computer or TV with him while he plays. But those portable game systems? Not so cheap. Especially since I'd like one that I can load TV shows for him (for car trips and stuff).

So I've been googling, and looking, and googling. I'll think I've found something and then I'll read a few negative things and decide to keep looking. Unless I want to pay $200, there's no easy answer.

However, today I learned that the Leapfrog Leapster Explorer has video TV shows you can purchase and download! And it has e-books, word games, science games, math games... all with his favorite characters! AND it has a charger (some of them only have batteries and those will NOT last long if we're using it everyday).

So, if you've got any advice on teaching pre-school to a kid with a 15 minute attention span, I'd appreciate it! And if your kid has a Leapster Explorer-- does he/she like it? Is it worth the $60?