As I was reading through my previous post on our homeschool routine, I realized that I didn't share what Sarah does during my boys' two-hour school block.  I have to admit that she is *easy.*  It was much more challenging when my second son was her age and I was trying to school just my older son.  I got through it, though!  The difference was that Nathan needed activities changed OFTEN.  Sarah is more content to work on something for a longer time period.  I thought I'd just share a few things that have helped me when I am trying to attend to an older child during school and have a younger child not yet in school.

First of all, like I shared in my previous post, I "do school" with Sarah first.  Now, Nathan wasn't interested in any type of school when he was four (or five, for that matter!).  With Nathan, I just read books to him, did puzzles with him, played concentration game or other preschooler game with him.  Anything that was fun one-on-one time with him. 

With Sarah, she *wants* to do school.  I hadn't planned on doing anything formal with her until the start of our '06-07 school year; however, before her fourth birthday last year, she took Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons off the shelf and asked me to listen to her "read."  I thought, "Okay, I'll humor her."  She zoomed through the first ten lessons in one sitting!    That was my clue that she was more than ready for some one-on-one "school" time. 

So, during our time together, we do either one lesson or a half lesson in 100EZ Lessons book.  We are on Day 65 right now.  Some days she is eager to read and does an entire lesson just fine.  Other days, the story she is reading is just too long for her and I can tell she is getting frustrated and so I will say, "That's okay; you did great!  Let's read the story tomorrow."  Then, we will just finish that lesson the next day.  After our reading lesson, I will get out Sarah's "homework" from her weekly Kindermusik class.  She *loves* this class and loves to practice her homework.  She is about to start the Young Child 2 Class next week.  If she doesn't have any homework or we have already completed it, then I will do whatever she wants for the remaining time (within reason, of course).  One of her favorite things to do is to play games, so often times we will play a game together - UNO, Crazy Eights, Concentration.  Sometimes she just wants me to read to her.  I cherish this special time that we share together!

After our time together, the next two-hour block is when my boys' work on their math and language arts.  My boys are in 3rd and 1st grade.  I still need to be right next to my 1st grader most of the time, and my 3rd grader often needs assistance.  I have a few things that help to keep Sarah occupied during this time:

• I have a couple different Kindergarten workbooks - one from Abeka, and two store-bought ones.  She will often choose to work in one of these while her brothers do their school work.  Sometimes she only does one page; other days she will do three or more! 
• Lately, she's been wanting to do math when her brothers work on theirs.  I purchased the Primer book from Math-U-See since this is the curriculum that her brothers use.  She is loving this!  I just have her sit on the floor next to me (I'm on a low chair at the school table with the boys) and I'll give her some blocks, show her how to use them with the page she is on, and she will work away. 
• If she's not in the mood to "do school," then she has other options.  In my office closet, I have a box with about 25 Ziploc baggies.  In each baggie is a different activity that she can do and it contains everything she needs in that baggie to do that activity.  One of her favorites right now is "going fishing" which is a little pole with a magnet at the end of it, and the foam fish also have a magnet on them.  You can get ideas for making your own bags HERE.
• I have one box that has art/craft stuff in it, especially watercolor books.  She loves to paint and this is the least messy way, in my opinion. 
• Another box has counting bears, lacing beads, etc.
• We have a LeapPad that she chooses to use sometimes.
• Lastly, a box with wooden blocks, a box with Magnetix, and box with Lincoln Logs. 

All of those things listed above are put away in my office closet and she can only use them during the boys' school time.  Sometimes she wants to play on the computer.  I have a headset she can use so the noise won't distract her brothers.  She likes Starfall.com and she has a few "educational" CD-Rom games such as JumpStart and Blues Clues.  Sometimes she chooses to play in her room.  She has a box full of dress-up clothes, a box with dolls and doll clothing, a tea set and stuffed animals.  There have been days where she has happily kept herself occupied in her room.  That is not the norm, though.  She usually prefers to be where we are. 

I make sure to sprinkle in lots of hugs to her throughout my time with the boys and thank her for being such a big helper and playing nicely while Mommy helps her brothers with their school. 

It definitely is a challenge homeschooling when you have preschoolers or toddlers, but it can be done!!  I pray that some of these ideas will be helpful to you. 

Blessings,

~ LISA