Oct. 14, 2008 - Alphabet Books
This is a fun way to preserve school memories and review the alphabet! We learn one letter per week, make a cut out of that letter and decorate it. I take a photo of each of them holding their letter and put it in their ABC photo album. If I was creative, I would have them hold their letter in one hand and an object that started with that letter in the other when I took the picture (i.e. an apple etc.)-but I know there are some letters that I wouldn't be able to find objects for. Unfortunately, I don't have any Zebras or Xylophones lying around the house! :)
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Oct. 10, 2008 - What to do with those Toddlers???
It's been awhile since I did a "homeschool" post, and since this is primarily a homeschooling blogs website I thought I'd throw one out there. Our year is going suprisingly well. I was a bit overwhelmed during planning for this year because I wasn't quite sure how I was going to manage to teach second grade, keep two toddlers occupied without sitting them in front of the t.v. (which I HATE) and having a baby here twice a week. Plus, just to make things interesting we threw a once-a-week co-op into the mix. During planning, I set about researching blogs and websites for ideas on what to do with my toddlers. The best ideas I came across were: Have quality time w/ your littles BEFORE you start any school with older ones. This has worked out well for us-reading books and playing. The little ones are then "filled" up with mommy time and are a lot more happy to occupy themselves after that. During actual teaching time, I utilize "busy boxes"-an idea I read about in several sources. Our boxes are just shoe box size that I got at Wal-Mart for .97 each. I filled 4 of them with activities and we rotate them daily. We have a water box (I fill it with water, spread a towel out on the kitchen table and they go to town with measuring cups and turkey basters etc.), a play doh box, a stamp box (filled with super cheap stamps on clearance @ Michael's, paper and washable ink pads), a box with those painting books that you just use water to "paint" with. As you can probably guess, the messiest boxes are the most popular and the ones that keep them occupied the longest! :)
Two weeks ago, however, after requests from Benjamin to "do school" too, I decided to do a little more "school stuff" with my little ones. We will be going through the alphabet, one letter per week. So far we've done "A" and "B" and they both recognize and can tell me what sound those letters make. Here were our "lesson plans" for this week:
Monday: Introduce Letter B: I cut the letter B from poster board for each of them and gave them crayons, buttons and stickers to "decorate" their letters. We then took pictures of each of them holding up their letter and I will print those and put them into their "Alphabet Books"-mini photo albums that I got for .50 each at Joann Etc.
Tuesday: We read "Blueberries for Sal" and had a "blueberry hunt" with little tin pails and blue pom-poms. We then counted everyone's blueberries (math)-and I found out that my 3 y/o. can count to 10. (not sure who taught him that.)
Wednesday: Co-Op (usually on Fridays)
Thursday: My plan was to make letter B cut-out sugar cookies, but my house was such a disaster that everyone got the day off so I could find it again.
Friday: Again, my plan was to make a butterfly craft, but Daddy was home so we went to the Children's Museum instead!!!!
Next week: Letter C-Anyone have any ideas????
