Tot School

- Adam is 42 months old -
- Abigail is 16 months old -

I haven’t done a Tot School post since Easter!  I’d be lying if I said we’d been doing Tot School, but not posting about it.  We just simply haven’t been doing it!  But, I went to the Utah Home Education Association’s annual convention last weekend and it inspired me to get my act in gear for my kids.  And myself.  I’m a better mom if I am organized and have a plan for our days that includes more than just the same toys and things.  I’ll be honest, it’s not easy.  But I feel like God is telling me that this is what I should be doing for my kids, and for myself.  I’m planning Adam’s Preschool year right now and I’m excited!  I just have to figure out how to handle both kids at the same time.  And where to do “school”.  And how to balance learning activities, free play, music, art, gross motor, fine motor, social skills, etc. without bogging us down unnecessarily.  It’s good that I have a couple months to figure it all out.  In the mean time, we’ll be doing the last Before Five in a Row unit, a summer/4th of July theme, and some Preschool Packs from 1+1+1=1 as well as having a lot of weeks with nothing planned other than playing.

This week wasn’t planned, but I did manage to get 3 days of Circle Time and “school” in.  And boy, was Adam excited about it!

Calendar

Morning Board

Abby checking the weather for us.

Adam’s favorite thing this week was his new Busy Bugs from Discovery Toys.  I bought the set at the homeschool convention from the same nice lady I bought several birthday/Christmas gifts from at a gift show last November.  I had my eye on this set back then, but chose other toys so when I saw the Discovery Toys booth at the convention, I already knew I wanted the bugs!

They are brightly colored rubbery bugs that have cards that will build on early math skills.  He really just wanted to play with the bugs, but I encouraged him to do a few cards first.  First he matched colors, then he matched one type of bug of each color.  Eventually, it’ll have him doing simple addition and patterns.

 

 

 

 

 

 

He lined them up and made up all kinds of games with them.  At one point, he had them all separated out around his room.  The spiders were in the closet where it was dark, the bees were in their beehive, the caterpillars were up on a tree (the window sill), etc.

Abby liked the bugs too….assuming her brother wasn’t snatching them away from her.

Adam actually asked if he could color one day!  I was busy doing something else, so he sat in his room and colored for a good 10 minutes on his own.  Yay!

He had fun putting the stickers he got on our vacation to San Diego on a piece of paper while Abby colored…mostly on the table.

He played with his Boggle Jr. game for a little bit but he got frustrated trying to find the letter he needed.  He kept turning the dice over and over without understanding that he needed to check other dice as well.  He did better when I gave him the correct dice and had him find the letter.  He’s starting to understand how to sound out words but has trouble making the sounds flow together in order to get the word.  I had once thought he was ready to read, but ended up feeling like I shouldn’t rush to teach him just because he knew all his sounds and letters.  I may try as we get into his Preschool year, but only if he really wants to learn.  He asks what words are a lot though.  Funny story….while in the doctor’s office for an appointment with Abby’s eye doctor, he saw a small TV on the wall with the Dell logo and said, “duh-eh-l-l.  What does that say?”  I said, “Dell”.  He responded with, “Yeah, Dell TVs and computers”.  I think he watches too much TV!   :)

I had the kids play together a lot this week.  Frankly, I can’t figure out how to have them doing separate things!  No matter what, they always want to be doing what the other one is doing!

Fisher Price Laugh & Learn Piggy Bank

Alex - Little Hands Button Art
This was the first time Abby played with this, and she loved it.  She was using her palm to push the buttons in the holes so they wound up sticking to her palm and coming back up.  I want to work on her pincher grip to put them in next time.

Story Time
I want to get in the habit of reading aloud every day (in addition to our regular before naps and bedtime routine) and that will generally mean that Abby needs to be occupied on the floor so she isn’t pulling on the pages and climbing all over us.  We were successful one day!  I just love how Adam’s little feet were crossed while sitting on my lap, with Abby playing happily on the floor as I read.  Of course as soon as she heard the camera, she stopped and wanted to get up with us!

She spent quite a while playing with her Melissa and Doug Stack and Sort Board

Making Banana Nut Bread

This is what Abby did while we mixed the bread batter.  She loves to watch Baby Signing Time!

And lastly, we finally had some good weather after a cold and rainy spring so we spent some time outside blowing bubbles, bouncing balls, and tossing rings, (until we learned that if they hit the cement, they break open and all the little marbles fall out).

Adam has gotten really good at riding his Strider Bike!  All of a sudden he is taking off and gliding and has so much confidence!  I need to buy him a helmet ASAP because he’s going so fast now!

What a hodge-podge week!

Check out Carisa’s awesome blog, 1+1+1=1 for other Tot Schoolers!