Originally posted May 4th.
A great week! I started it out feeling that we weren't do anything but I think it was a good week for me to just watch the kids. I'll just post some pics and comments.
Free play with unifix cubes. Once the 3y3m boy has his fill of play with these then I'll show him how to match them up with the number cards to promote one-to-one correspondence. If I do it now he won't want to focus on the activity but will want to experience the unifix cubes.
Free play with the counting bears. 3y3m old is working on color recognition.
Dress-up bears.
22m boy playing with farm animals. I like to put these in a low-rimmed tub for play with cornmeal or other sensory material and look forward to doing that for him in the future.
Books at the table while waiting for lunch. 22m.old just wants to know if lunch is ready. ;-)
More book time. 4y9m sister reads to 2y4m brother.
They can't get enough of Potato Heads! A very multi-age activity.
A new activity this week. Lentils and plastic eggs to fill and shake and dump.
The 2y3m loves the computer now. I can trust him to stay on the chair for 5 minutes at a time and operate the mouse. This is one of the Dr Seuss CD-Roms that brings the pages of the book to life and makes the characters interact with a click of the mouse. Perfect for this age. Just getting the hang of moving that mouse and clicking and getting a reaction on the screen.
Remember Lincoln Logs? The block area of our classroom hasn't been getting much action so I brought this out. It wasn't really a hit. I have to figure out what to do since this area of the room is ignored. Maybe I will move the area. Moving things sometimes generates interest.
3y3m and a lacing activity. This was popular with him and the 4y9m child this week and it was nice to see her revisit this activity with improved abilities.
The 22m old loves the dress-up area and decided to put on quite a variety this day! One interesting note here. When we are elsewhere in the house and he gets near a pair of unoccupied shoes he puts them on and parades around. I have a pair of large shoes in the dress-up area and he hasn't touched them! I want to put a few more things in that area to occupy him. He also loves the play kitchen area and the shopping cart.
3y3m old continues to practice cutting and is improving each time. I have small cutting board that is slightly cupped and has a handle (Dollar Tree!) and he cuts over this cutting board. He can easily take the cut pieces to the trash can and dump when he is done. He also learned how to use the handbroom/dustpan to clean up extra pieces this week, too.
I borrowed a basketball hoop set from a friend. The 2y4m old enjoys this the most. He plays with it about a half hour every day with daddy. LOVES to jump and throw balls so this was perfect for him.
And some balloon bouncing and ballet dancing to some classical music. I put Classical Baby video on the TV and they dance around the room giggling. This was just a brother/sister time but I do with all 4 kids when I'm babysitting sometimes.
I did fewer teacher/mother-directed activities this week and allowed more free choice and opted to observe them and spend some time thinking about how I want to approach this homeschool process. I like having a "classroom" because I'm a teacher who believes in setting up the environment for play and learning. I feel blessed that I have the space and the extra kids and can provide this experience for all of them. I'm doing some thinking about how structured I want to make things, though.
But I did take some time to set up a better art & crafts center!
I also did some fun projects specifically for the 4y9m prekindergartener and I'll post about those here.
Next week: Musical wall, pics of the Melody Maker that we put together and nature painting.
Enjoy more posts by moms participating in Tot School here.
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