Tot School
- 3-5 Year Old, 6-8 Year Old, History/Social Science, Interest Led Homeschool, Preschool, Teaching, the Give Way, Theme, Tot School
Tot School: Community Worker (Helper) Theme
Another post that fell to the wayside with my second pregnancy…so mainly pictures here. 🙂 But, hopefully you’ll get some ideas and be inspired for your own look into it. I put “helper” in the title to help for those searching for ideas, but I always said “worker”. I think it’s a misnomer to call people “helpers,” because their job involves helping people. Pretty much any job does, but nobody ever says a community helper is a cashier. Yes, firefighters help people, but they also get paid to do it. They’ve chosen it because they like the job, and they get paid to do what they like.  As is the…
- 3-5 Year Old, 6-8 Year Old, 9-11 Year Old, Book Clubs, Book Focus, English, Interest Led Homeschool, Kids' Book Club, Preschool, Social Activities, Teaching, the Give Way, Theme, Tot School
Kids’ Book Club: Oh, the Places We’ll Go with Dr. Seuss
Books for this month’s kids’ book club: Any by Dr. Seuss (I’ll link all of them at the end of the post. We almost got to them all!) I tried to do some Wacky Wednesday things. Balloon tree — wacky! Shoe tree – wacky! She dressed up as a wacky Daisy-Head Mayzie. That was a real flower! 🙂 Here’s the star machine from the Sneetches book (my favorite!) I put sticky stars out for the kids to put on (and take off). 🙂 Then they colored a picture I found of Hop on Pop on the Seussville website. I also set up flowers and pipe cleaners for them to make…
-
Tot School: Airplane Theme
It’s been over two years since I did this theme. I got pregnant that year and a lot of my tot school posts went to the wayside. So, I figured at least I could post the pictures I have. We were planning a trip on a plane. She was 2ish, and hated things of hers being taken away. So, I figured it might be helpful to talk a lot about the airport experience and prepare her for the loss of her stuff for a little while and during the security check. We did some dramatic play with her dolls going through the airport. Going through the metal detector. Sitting in…
- 3-5 Year Old, Interest Led Homeschool, Preschool, Science, Teaching, the Give Way, Theme, Tot School, Unit Study
Tot School: Fall Theme
It’s been over two years since I did this theme. I got pregnant that year and a lot of my tot school posts went to the wayside. So, I figured at least I could post the pictures I have. Fall Bath — I had my husband cut out leaves. I remember trying myself, and if you look closely you can probably tell which two I did. 😉 That’s shaving cream with orange dye. Playing in leaves. Collecting leaves for gluing onto a paper. Playing in the rain. We visited a pumpkin patch. We don’t do Halloween, so I’ve never really gone to these, but during the week, they’re pretty benign.…
- 3-5 Year Old, 6-8 Year Old, Interest Led Homeschool, Preschool, Science, Teaching, the Give Way, Theme, Tot School, Unit Study
Camping
There was a camping trip planned with our church, and I was five months pregnant and sick…every day!!! So, I decided to not go camping with my daughter and husband. And, although it was almost as much work planning and packing, it was definitely nice to have a little break while they were gone. The few days before they left, I did a short (very simple) camping theme, just to help prepare my daughter for what was to come. We did a few fun activities. By the time we were done, she was so ready to go and had a great time with everyone and bonding with her dad. We…
- 3-5 Year Old, History/Social Science, Interest Led Homeschool, Preschool, Social Activities, Teaching, the Give Way, Tot School
Tot School: Airplane Dramatic Play Party
This was such a fun activity!  In preparation for a flight we were planning on taking in a few weeks, I thought it might be good to show my daughter what it meant to go to the airport and fly on a plane beforehand.  So we did an airplane unit (coming soon), that culminated in a fun party with some friends. The activity the kids were to do first when everyone was arriving was squeezing lemons.  Great motor skill work and great fun for them. I knew it would’ve required a lot of time on my part to get all the water and sugar portions right for a large amount, but…
- 3-5 Year Old, Curricula, English, History/Social Science, Interest Led Homeschool, Math, Parenting, the Give Way, Preschool, Science, Teaching, the Give Way, Tot School
Learning: Ages 3-4
Cutting basil she picked for pasta  I’m still dipping my feet into this whole “homeschooling” thing.  I really don’t like the term “homeschooling,” since I don’t like what comes to mind when I think of “school.”  As a ten year veteran elementary and middle school teacher, I have seen lots of flaws and learned a lot about how we all naturally learn. I like the idea of “unschooling,” “delight-driven learning”, and “child-led learning.”  All fancy ways of just explaining how everyone from a baby to a senior citizen learns.  So, for the last couple years, I’ve been studying and trying to implement what I’ve learned.  Finding what my daughter is…
- 3-5 Year Old, 6-8 Year Old, English, History/Social Science, Interest Led Homeschool, Preschool, Science, Social Activities, Teaching, the Give Way, Tot School
Tot School: Community Worker Dramatic Play Party
At the end of our community worker theme, we had a little get together.  It was a great party.  It would have been a lot better if I’d had a few more older kids to show the little ones how to do things, but they did a great job on their own.  There was one area that they didn’t even attempt.  We moms could’ve helped more, but these are as much for us to enjoy talking with other adults as it is for the kids. 🙂  The kids had fun.  We had fun.  And this is part of my journey of letting go of my controlling tendencies…I will not force…
- 3-5 Year Old, 6-8 Year Old, English, Interest Led Homeschool, Preschool, Social Activities, Teaching, the Give Way, Tot School
Tot School: Nursery Rhyme Party
My daughter loves nursery rhymes.  Once she learned them, she would say them  non-stop.  So, of course, since I’m working on interest led/child directed activities, we had to do a theme for nursery rhymes.  In searching for activities, I came across a ton of really fun activities that she and her friends would enjoy, so we had to a have a party. 🙂 I typed up nursery rhymes for each station — the goal being to say them as we did them.  I left that up to the parents, since none of the kids can read.  I also put directions for the stations, so the parents could do whatever the…
- Curricula, English, History/Social Science, Interest Led Homeschool, Math, Parenting, the Give Way, Preschool, Science, Teaching, the Give Way, Tot School
Plans and Goals for My Two Year Old
I like to plan. But, I also like to lay in bed.  I figured if I tried to have at least a simple list of things I need to keep in mind each day, then I would not spend all day finding ways to keep my 2 year old busy at home, just so I don’t have to go anywhere or do anything. 🙂 I started doing this when she was an early toddler with the hopes that each year I’d reevaluate, but always have something to focus on.  Each Day Go somewhere (unless we’ve been doing too much, then stay home and relax 🙂 ) Read for 30 minutes…
- 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…