Preschool
- 3-5 Year Old, 6-8 Year Old, Interest Led Homeschool, Kids' Book Club, Preschool, Science, Social Activities, Teaching, the Give Way, Tot School
Tot School: Fall Party
At the end of our Fall Theme, we had a fall party! We invited a few friends and had a great time. This one cost a little more than the Bear Hunt Party, mainly because I bought pumpkins, apples, squashes, cider and some sensory bin items. But, using a lot of supplies I already had, I was still able to come in under $40. And I have pumpkins and scarecrows as decorations, left over sensory bin items for next year and some apples, squash and pumpkins to eat (which we still have…almost four weeks later 😉 ) This was also going to be a 2 1/2 hour party, so I…
- 3-5 Year Old, History/Social Science, Interest Led Homeschool, Preschool, Teaching, the Give Way, Tot School, Unit Study
Tot School: Family Unit
This was a simple unit that I spread out over the month, but probably would have taken a week or so if I’d done an activity each day. Goals: Start to know she has a past Know her middle names and where they came from Know that aunts are girls and uncles are boys Know the term “cousin” and who it applies to Introduce her to pictures and names of family members we don’t see often or who are deceased Activities 1. Looked through family picture albums together. When I pointed out her great-grandfather whom she never got the chance to meet, I told her his name was “Fa” (a…
- 3-5 Year Old, 6-8 Year Old, Book Focus, English, Interest Led Homeschool, Preschool, Science, Social Activities, Teaching, the Give Way, Theme, Tot School
Tot School: Book Focus – We’re Going on a Bear Hunt
As I looked for good books and activities for the cave theme I was planning, I came across a lot of fun things to do with the book, We’re Going on a Bear Hunt by Michael Rosen. So, I decided that the last week and a half of the cave theme we’d focus on this book. So we read the book each day (a few days she watched a video of it instead of me reading it to/with her). Sometimes I had her read it to me. One time I acted it out very dramatically. My dramatic “What a beeeeeeaaaauuuutifuuuuuul daaaaaay!” stuck with her, so that’s how she said it from then on.…
- 3-5 Year Old, Interest Led Homeschool, Preschool, Science, Teaching, the Give Way, Theme, Tot School, Unit Study
Tot School: Cave Theme
I’m not sure exactly when my daughter became interested in “caves”, but it happened. All she wants to do after her bath, was for her dad (or me) to join her in the towel cave. In the morning, it’s the sheet cave. “Come on, dad. Come on, mom. Get in the sheet cave!” I’m trying to think of themes that are interest led, so of course, we had to do caves. What I found astounding, since I know lots of kids love pretending to be in caves, is there are not a ton of cave activities online. Even on Pinterest! Lots of bear activities, hibernation activities, but no cave ones.…
- 3-5 Year Old, 6-8 Year Old, English, Interest Led Homeschool, Math, Preschool, Science, Teaching, the Give Way, Theme, Tot School
Tot School: Beach and Ocean Theme
The great thing about themes is that any academic subject fits into them. There’s no need for objectives at this age, because she has such a limited knowledge of most subjects, totally immersing ourselves in a theme results in her knowing a lot more than she did at the beginning. There are a ton of things out there to do for this theme, but I stuck to things that involve the least amount of prep and work on my part since 2 year old’s (and most kids) are notorious for not being interested in things we plan for them. 🙂 We did all this in about four weeks. Books (what…
- 3-5 Year Old, Interest Led Homeschool, Math, Preschool, Teaching, the Give Way, Tot School, Unit Study
Tot School: Intro to Shapes
Some find the idea of planning activities for two year olds crazy. But as a former teacher, I can rarely go a day without planning in my head. It used to be U.S. History that I saw everywhere (Pool noodles on sale? Those would make great bayonets for a Civil War battle! Controversial Dixie Chicks song? Perfect for our freedom of speech discussion!). Now that I’m a parent of a toddler, it’s a little different (Extra coffee beans? just the thing for the brown sensory bin! Worn out frying pan? Put it in the yard for the future mud kitchen!) It’s what we teachers do. I can’t not plan.…
- 3-5 Year Old, Curricula, English, Interest Led Homeschool, Math, Preschool, Science, Social Activities, Teaching, the Give Way, Theme, Tot School, Unit Study
Tot School
“Tot school” is a term someone coined for doing activities with a toddler. I’d never heard it before having a toddler, but it’s real. My favorite site — and inspiration for a lot of what I do — is 1+1+1=1. They have a fantastic amount of information about this kind of thing. Many parents will say that there’s no need for “tot school” since they never did it with their child. But really they did — they just never used the term. Every time a parent does something that helps their young child learn (talking to them, letting them help cook, etc.), that could be called “tot school.” The difference…
- 12-14 Year Old, 15-18 Year Old, 3-5 Year Old, 6-8 Year Old, 9-11 Year Old, Book Focus, Curricula, English, Historical Fiction Book Lists, History/Social Science, Interest Led Homeschool, Preschool, Teaching, the Give Way
Historical Fiction K-12 Book Lists
When I taught middle school History, one of my goals was to encourage a love of historical fiction. I offered lots of options each unit and read aloud as much as I was able. It’s been 20 years since I started my lists, and I’m still adding. My list grew and grew as I went spread out from teaching just US History. Now that I have a new platform here, I figured I’d share them. They are in no way complete, please let me know if you know of a book that I missed, but hopefully you’ll find some titles that work for you. Some of the books may be…
