Week 1 Tot School- I just never expected...

For months I have considered in bewilderment what to do with my very mischievous 2 year old while we embarked on our first "official" year of homeschooling. There is not a day that goes by that I don't find him into something. Whether it is pouring an entire new gallon bottle of laundry detergent (bought desperately in the first place because I had just run out of my homemade stuff) all over my tiny laundry room floor (even under the machines), emptying a bottle of shampoo into my bedroom carpet (took "shampooing the carpets" to a whole new level for me), taking apart a brand new toy, or covering his face in super glue (this one actually happened when I wasn't at home, so I can't take all the credit there), our dear Lion Cub just never takes a break from finding new (or old) things to get into.

Many days, it utterly exhausts me.

So, as you can imagine, the prospect of having him not be either into something or a constant distraction while I worked on school with Rhythm felt daunting. Whatever would I do with him?!

Well, our first day of school rolled around this week and I had a loose plan of what I would try with him- some montesorri-inspired Tot School activities from 1+1+1=1. Right after calendar time, which we included him in, and Bible, which he pretended to draw along with, I broke out some button and a painting tray from Michaels for him to sort colors into.

And he sat there.

And he did it.

For 10 whole minutes he sat happily sort colors, mostly correctly (also to my surprise). It was bizarre.

So, as he began to lose interest I quickly switched the buttons out for some colored craft puff balls, a different tray and a pair of kid chopsticks from PF Changs. Jackpot! He LOVED this! Another good 10-15 minutes of giggly fun as he transferred balls into the tray. To be honest, we all had a good laugh a few times because the balls just kept popping out of his grasp. A little distracting, but hey- he wasn't destroying anything so I could encourage Rhythm to ignore him.

After that, also to my amazement, he went in the living room and sat down in the recliner with Rhythm's Mobigo and played for the rest of school time. Now please realize how extraordinary this is- he doesn't even actually know how to use it. He has picked it up and messed with it many times before but never for more than five minutes! Craziness!

Day two we broke out my new iPad (actually, let me rephrase that- I don't think I ever want to use the words "broke" and "iPad" in the same sentence!) and he played some games and watched the free Toy Story interactive book with headphones on so as not to distract Rhythm with the sound. That kept him busy for a good bit of time, but once that was over he headed over to play with the duplos. Once again, these are not a typical toy for him. He has never really just sat down and started building with them. But, low and behold, he sat and built, and built and built- FOR OVER AN HOUR!!!

Excuse me while I pass out- I feel a bit like I have entered an alternate universe!

I just really cannot express to you the relief that has spilled over me in this area over the last few days! SO many people asked me whatever would I do with him in order to let Rhythm actually have a shot at learning this year, and although I could tell them what I planned and hoped, I was really thinking the same thing. But somehow, someway, God worked a miracle this week. I don't know if it is the sense of structure or maybe even the more active sense of my participation with them (even if my attention is mostly focused on Rhythm, I am there with them and not busied by housework or whatever else is going on in life, which I think he picks up on)- whatever it is, it's a miracle and I praise the Lord that He has made it so!

I know we will have rough days, but just knowing that he can stay busy in a nondestructive way and we can get through school without him being a total and complete distraction is an incredible encouragement!

How did your week go with your smallest learners?

Curriculum Choices for 2011-2012- K & Tot School!

 

 **UPDATE** I originally posted this about a month ago, but wanted to update to say that I have officially finished Rhythm's lesson plans for the year!  Wahoo!  I am now working on wrapping everything up for Lion Cub and co-op, along with working on our school room- which I am very excited about and can't wait to share with you all!  My posting has been sparse in recent months but I fully plan to dive back in and being documenting our year as soon as we start, the week of August 22, so subscribe and stick around!  I'd love to get to know you!***

I can't believe that Rhythm is actually heading into Kindergarten this fall!  How can this be possible?!  Needless to say, we are both very excited!  In fact, I have been considering curriculum for almost two years to figure out what we would be using this next year and began the official buying of books and working on ideas in February!  I have been slowly writing our lesson plans now for the last two months, but have been feeling the urgency lately to get things wrapped up since we plan on starting school August 22!  I am currently up to Christmas and plan to finish the rest when we get back from our little holiday.

Before I really get into the details, though, I feel the need to not really apologize, but I guess explain that my little plan for this year really doesn't seem to look like a lot of the other Kindergarten plans I have recently come across in blogland.  I come at things from a Charlotte Mason, Unit Study, slightly eclectic style because I believe in it and think it will work best for my children.  It is definitely a method that takes more planning, preparation and organization on my part, but I really believe that both of my boys are going to learn well from this approach and we are all going to enjoy the process more than we otherwise would.

Much of my inspiration for this style of learning has come from this wonderful lady- Susan Evans at Hands-on Learning!

I stumbled upon Susan at last year's local Homeschool Conference and was instantly enthralled with her energetic, immersive style!  You could just tell that her kids LOVE to learn!  She takes the hands-on, unit study style to a whole new level!  I was thrilled to be able to attend both of her workshops at this year's conference and learned so many awesome ideas for incorporating journals into all sort of study and art projects with history lessons.  You have just got to go check out her site!  Her blog also has some wonderful articles and her You Tube Channel beyond rocks!  I really hope to incorporate more and more of her approach over the next couple of years, and honestly wish we were friends and I could just go sit with her family while they do school for like a week to see how they do it all!  Although, her videos do offer an awesome glimpse.

Anyway! Alright, now that I have given that little disclaimer, here we go...

Rhythm- Kindergarten

Bible-
We will be using Grapevine Studies, Beginner Level as our main curriculum to really get in the word and learn the actual accounts.


With that said, Bible will be our main, over-riding daily focus and I am going to do my best to incorporate it into as many aspects throughout our day as I can.  We will start our morning by reading/reciting our memory verses (using the system from Simply Charlotte Mason) during breakfast and going over Bob Jones' Bible Truths for Christian Growth K5.  The boys will be having their own quiet times in the afternoon where they will listen to The Word of Promise Audio Bible or praise music while looking through picture Bibles and spending their own little time with Jesus.  During dinner we will read a short chapter from Leading Little Ones to God and go over our memory verses again.  Then before bed The Carpenter will read the boys a story from The Jesus Storybook Bible.

Math-
Horizons K- In all honesty I think Rhythm is going to fly through this curriculum fairly fast because he has a natural pension for math, but I plan to just meet him at his level and we will move on to 1st grade math as soon as he is ready.

Reading-
This is a harder one because Rhythm has a harder time focusing in this subject.  Our plan right now is to start over with Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons, use You Can Read for sight words, use Abeka's Blend Ladders for some drills and hopefully incorporate some word play ideas from 1+1+1=1 as well.  If All About Reading comes out with their level 1 curriculum this summer I may also consider using it if it seems like a good fit.

Spanish-
We will be listening to Spanish podcasts during lunch every day and using some spanish learning apps on my phone (and hopefully my iPad if I get one by fall), then we'll see where it goes from there.  I am also considering getting a subscription to Speekee, if money allows and it is also kind of dependent on that iPad thing since my computer is too slow to play video very well.

Piano-
I will be teaching Rhythm some very basic piano using Bastien's Young Beginner series. We were going to use these last year but he just wasn't ready.  I think he finally has enough of an attention span to start again though.

All the rest-
Ok- this is where I get all carazay! The rest of our subjects (yup- geography, history, science, art, writing composition, handwriting and whatever else you can think of) will be covered unit-study-style using a combination of Galloping the Globe and Expedition Earth.  We will be incorporating a lot of hands-on projects, copywork, lapbooks, narration and living books to accomplish this.  This is where I think the bulk of my blogging will come into play to document how we are taking this little journey into unit-study land.  This is also the part we are both most excited for and I hope to be able to tie Lion Cub into our studies as much as possible as well!

Co-op-
We will being attending a co-op this fall where Rhythm will be taking three classes- Music, Learning with Playdough and Lego Build.  He is beyond thrilled and we love that we get the best of both worlds- he get's the "school" experience with teachers, friends, backpacks, lunch boxes and all the rest, while also being homeschooled.  We are thrilled to have found this independent & Christian option so close to us.

In addition I will also be teaching two classes at the co-op, which I am totally pumped about!  I will be teaching Improv for junior highers, since I have extensive experience with both acting and junior highers, and A Becoming an Explorer class for 2-4th graders!  And yes, I will be posting all the fun details about this class right here on the blog so that hopefully some of you can utilize them in your homeschool or co-op as well!

Hip-Hop & Breakdancing-
Rhythm will be continuing his hip-hop and breakdancing classes at a local breaking studio which he totally loves!  He is really coming along and being introduced to more power moves this summer!  It is absolutely hilarious and, even better, Lion Cub is really catching on!

Lion Cub- Tot School (2 Years Old)

As I mentioned above, I really am going to try to include Lion Cub into most of what I am doing with Rhythm, but at his own level.  I do want to do a few things just for him though because I really think he will thrive on things geared just for him and absorb them quickly.  We tried out some of Carisa's Tot School printables last week and he ate them up, so we will likely be doing one letter a week.  As far as printables go I will also probably be mixing in some Tot books and packs, just to keep things fresh for him.

In addition, I plan on having a selection of tot trays for him each week and a monthly themed sensory bin.  I made a very basic one for him recently and he has adored playing with it.  My only hang up is finding a way for my house to not get covered in beans or rice or whatever happens to be in the tub while he and Rhythm play!!  These are the themes I have planned out for the year:

September: Asia/geography
October: Fall
November: Thanksgiving
December: Christmas
January: Winter
February: Valentine’s
March: St Patrick’s Day
April: Spring
May: Spring cont... Butterflies & bugs


So that's the break down!  It's all still a little subject to change as I nail things down (more so for Lion Cub than Rhythm), and I still have a TON of work to do to get ready, but we are really excited and looking forward to a great year!

What are you doing for school next year?  I'd love for you to leave a comment and a link!

Tot School- Living Life

 

We didn't have much structure to Tot School last week but that didn't stop Lion Cub from learning and trying new things!  His communication is really on the upswing lately and I can tell that he is understanding much more of what we are telling him.  He is also starting to "sing" which is just about the cutest thing ever!  He likes to dance at the same time and it is hilarious!  His favorite is to "sing" Rhythm to sleep at night!

He is getting better at feeding himself which is fun to see!  We still have to drop cloth the floor but I am beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel!

I also made a batch of cinnamon rolls again this week.  As soon as I turned on the beaters to make the frosting he heard them and came racing into the kitchen, whining and pointing at my Bosch mixer.  Apparently he remembered that I let him lick the beater the last time I made them and was adamant that I not deprive him of that privilege this time!

Lion Cub tends to be fussy a lot of the time.  He needs a LOT going on and gets bored and annoyed VERY quickly.  This last couple of weeks he has stepped up his attitude however and it has been rather exhausting.  He has also been having trouble sleeping, so there has been more than once that I ended up like this on the couch with him:

You can find some actual ideas of things to do with your tots over at 1+1+1=1's Tot School post.

Tot School for sickies!

Ugh- as I mentioned in our Preschool Corner post, the boys and I have had colds all week!  They have both been waking up throughout the night and on the whole our sleeping schedules have just been really messed up.  Bleh.  So, of course the sickness and sleepless crankiness took their tole and it was difficult to keep Lion Cub happy and occupied during school time.

He did happily do some coloring for a bit, but inevitably ate half the crayon, bringing the activity to an abrupt halt! 

He also worked with his stacking rings some, but mostly enjoyed throwing them on the floor!

The one gem I did discover this week that I actually employed during dinner preparations instead of school to keep Lion Cub from screaming and clinging to my legs, was Rhythm's old bean bin!  

Oh man- is this thing ever going to make its way into Tot School!  They both loved it, but Lion Cub especially could have sat there for hours (and he practically did)!  

Now I must admit- the mess was considerable!  At one point every. last. bean. was on the floor!  But he was happy and content, which is so rare that I didn't even care.  As soon as they began throwing the beans, however, I did have to wrap up this activity, but as soon as I can find a bigger bin (that Lion Cub can actually sit in) I can see this becoming a very regular option for him!

I'm hoping to set aside some time today to get a little bit more organized about our Tot School options for the week (along with school in general).  Now, if a certain little someone will just cease his screaming, whining and clinging...

Find more Tot School posts at 1+1+1=1!

Tot School- On the Fly!

I always planned to do Tot School with Lion Cub this year, and by "planned" I mean this is actually the only thing that I didn't plan but intended to do.  I figured it would be on a fairly small scale since he is still so young, but fun none the less and would help him feel included during school time.  After all, with Rhythm it was a fun thing to do but never something that ended up being terribly consistent (as much as I wanted it to be!).  It just wasn't my priority... until this last week!  I had no idea that Tot School wouldn't just be a fun thing to do- it would be necessary to my survival and the survival of my children (specifically Lion Cub)!!

You see, without something structured to do Lion Cub has a tendency to... well...

get into mischief (yes, that would be the kitchen sink, a lemon and a box grater!)...

or scream uncontrollably (or haven't you noticed?!).  

So, after Monday, when I literally thought I was going to loose my mind (see below), I got so far as to realizing that we needed to do the bulk of school at the kitchen table, hence enabling me to tie down my wild child kindly strap Lion Cub into his table seat.

Awww... what a difference!

Happy little yogurt face!

For a good part of school on Tuesday I was able to keep him busy with snacks, but when the interest faded there (which took a while- this kid eats more than I do half the time!) I realized that I was going to have to get creative, and fast!

Thank goodness for Dutch Bros kid's cups and toothpicks!  Once he got the hang of it, this silly little project kept him busy for nearly 20 minutes!  A total savior!  Throughout the rest of the week we broke out the stacking cups, his little recycling truck that you feed cards into while it counts, and some fun "tearing" time with the remnants of some of Rhythm's projects, but none were so popular as this cup and toothpicks!

Check out those monster paws of his!

So, needless to say I am feeling the urgency to get more on the ball with Tot School!  Hopefully within the next few days I will be scouring the Tot School section of Carisa's blog and perusing the link-ups to get inspired and more on the ball.  If not, I may soon be posting from Betty Ford- I'll let ya know!

Despite my lack of planning, Lion Cub did work in a little bit of Life school of his own this past week that was rather fun (and sometimes frightening- keep an eye out for Wednesday's post!) to watch!

Don't ya just love boxes?!

Maybe mama should look at the actual camera and not just her boys!

Sweet Smiles!

If you too are in need of some awesome ideas to keep your little one busy, then head over to Carisa's Tot School Link up on 1+1+1=1!

Tot School! Two weeks of fun!

These past two weeks of Tot-school have been a little haphazard but filled with lots of life-school if not much else! Hey- it's summer after all, so I can't feel too bad!

We did get in a few days of lessons though. We have specifically been working on our letters. We have been doing some of the projects off of the Totally Tots site for working through the alphabet. I usually introduce a new letter by using the Starfall site and then we do the project. R-Man had been pretty non-committal about most of the letters, but when we got to "C" he fell in love! He now points out Cs on EVERYTHING! It is so funny! And reassuring (phew... he is learning something)!

Here is the cat project we did for the letter C

Here are the dinosaur prints we did across the letter D

We spent a little bit of time at a local splash pad to try to escape the heat! R-Man never stopped running! Well, I shouldn't say that- he did stop running, but only to start dancing to the music that must just constantly be playing in his head! It was hysterical to watch!

(always on the go!)

R-Man also got to seem some relatives on daddy's side this past week- Auntie Barbara and Aunt Laurie (Grammy's Aunt and sister). They were both a total kick in the pants! Let's just say that wigs, do-rags (I am sure I am spelling that horribly wrong!), flipping backwards in reclining chairs, and chocolate candies called "Bear Poop" were involved, among other things that I dare not mention! Just see for yourself-

(do-rag!)

One of Auntie Barbara's new wigs- the whole family tried it on! Quite the site! Doesn't he look thrilled?!

Both boys in their new motorcycle shirts

Say cheese! I was tickling him, trying to get a real smile!

Getting tickled by Aunt Laurie!

Getting wrapped up like a burrito in his car mat by Aunt Laurie!

The final burrito!

Posing with Auntie Barbara

Auntie Barbara going for a ride in the recliner! The first thing she yelled was "Grab a camera!"

Holdin' Lion Cub! Does he look a little scared to you?!

And finally, some pics taken by R-Man himself!

Mama

Grammy & Lion Cub

We have found our curriculum for the year!

Lately I have been searching for and praying about the preschool curriculum that would be best to start with R-Man this fall. I have really felt that our whole tot-school/homeschool experience would be going much better if I had something a little bit more concrete to follow than a bunch of random projects.

Well, after considering a few different curriculums I finally found my answer today! I recently started following Teaching My Little BookWorm and today she posted her curriculum choices for fall- ABC Jesus Loves Me and Hubbards Cupboard. I checked both of them out and they are wonderful, Bible-based curriculums- exactly what I was looking for! I have decided to use the Hubbards Cupboard, Bible & Rhyme for 3-year-olds as our main curriculum (it features a 3-day-a-week schedule which is just what I want!). I will supplement that curriculum with ABC Jesus Loves Me and a book I picked up this week called the Pray & Play Bible For Young Children.

In addition we will be completing a Letter Book with many of the activities from Totally Tots and will be using themes throughout the year to correspond with the books we will be reading and additional learning projects (listed in this blog post by Teaching My Little BookWorm). We will also be intergrating Open-ended Art Projects into our learning time, so stay tuned for those upcoming posts!

To top it all off we will be trying to focus as a family on making family discipleship more of a staple in our everyday lives- we have done this off and on but haven't been as consistent as we would like to be. We plan to have regular family devotions during our dinner time that will incorporate family worship, scripture memory, devotions and prayer (from the Pray and Play Bible for Young Children), and The Catchism for Young Children.

Oh, wait! I almost forgot! We will also be putting R-Man into Awana in September so that he can get out and socialize more, and will be looking into putting him into a local soccer program too. We may be continuing in a co-op with some friends as well, if the mama who heads it up decides to keep going with it! I may think about creating a small co-op of other mamas using the same curriculum that would meet just one day a week to do group projects and field trips.

There is lots in store and we can't wait to get started! It should be a great year!

Tot School- Making Progress!

Well, this last week we were able to get at least a little bit of learning in almost every day- a major accomplishment for us! This coming week I hope to do even better (I bought a new book that we will be working from that I will share about next week!)!

We continued working on the letters A and B from the Totally Tots site, which R-Man really enjoyed! We also did some work out of his pre-school workbooks. He didn't always want to write in them (circle the answers) so we a lot of the work verbally on pages about size, opposites and things that do and don't belong.Scissor side-note: R-Man didn't do all the cutting by himself- he started and I finished. Although he is making progress with his cutting, he still needs help!

He also had a lot of fun following recipes with me and learning how to make blueberry muffins and banana bread from scratch! We also made breakfast for dinner one night and he had a ball kneading and rolling out the biscuits!


He made shapes out of stray pieces of dough- this one was purely by chance, I'm sure, but none-the-less adorable!

Despite the lack of pictures, it really was a pretty good week and I am anticipating this next week being even better!