Homeschool: Take Two...a learning experience (for me)

We started off today's lesson with music. I found recorders at the dollar store and let the little ones  try to make different sounds.

Then we read the first part of chapter two out of Leggtowne Chronicles by Beth Cantrell.  Today's story was about rabbit who has a big secret...he can spin a web.

Narration: The kids drew pictures of the different things that took place in the story. (I helped a little bit).

Science: I made them rabbit ears out of pipe-cleaners and we talked about the difference between rabbits's ears and ours, we watched a video on how ears works, and decided that rabbits can hear very well because they have such big ears.

Numbers: (Here is where my learning for the day came in). I wrote out three numbers and had the children trace them with their fingers.  I gave the kids silly-string and had them shoot thier 'webs' at the number...so if the number was 5, they shot the silly-string 5 times.  Here's what I learned...silly string is messy and NOT good for indoors...Oops...but, the kids loved it!

Fine motor skills/free-play: The children's attention span was waning so I pulled out the play-dough and let them create whatever they desired.

We had a good time of learning...I'm not giving-up yet!!

Homeschool Activity: Take One

The idea of homeschooling has really intimidated me but, I decided to read the book "For the Children's Sake" by Susan Schaeffer Macaulay.  I've only read 50 pages but I've already started implementing some of the concepts. Below was our first lesson...

I read my children the first chapter out of Leggtowne Chronicles by Beth Cantrell:

Http://www.tatepublishing.com

Harold and Maudine: A Love Story

In this story Harold, the spider realizes that he needs a helper.  He sets out to look for a wife and finds Maudine...his 'not so likely' long-legged' suitable helper.

Craft:

I cut out the main body part and 8 legs for each spider. My children choose the colors and finger painted the body of each spider.

Numbers:

We counted to 8 see real times to make sure we had the right number of legs and made sure Harold had the short ones and Maudine had the long-legs.

Letters:

We traced and colored the letters H and M for Harold and Maudine to go on their backs.

Science:

We watched a brief video of a spider building a web on YouTube.

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=4Y9K1H6Yn6o

Then we built our own web using white yarn.

Narration:

We made a video re-telling the story.

Play:

Then my, almost 4 year olds, played for an hour by themselves with Harold and Maudine after our lesson was over.

Later they asked me if we could do it again...which of course made my heart glad.  In the past I have tried to teach them colors, letters and numbers and it has ended up with all of us being frustrated at each other. This morning it was different...it was fun...and I could see them excited about learning...yay!!! That's my goal...if they are excited about learning then they can learn anything and the possibilities in the future for them are endless!

Yell & Tell

Today I took my two little ones to chick-fil-a for lunch.  I love going to Chick-fil-a because of the friendly atmosphere and they are always so helpful.  The play place is also the perfect size for my two year olds.  Something happened today that I would like to share with other mothers and help encourage you as you watch-over your little ones.

My kids were playing like they always do up in the play area.  There were several other children there a few of them were a older, I would guess around the age of 8 or so.   I could not see my little ones at the time and I heard the words "diaper change".  Honestly I do not know if it was one of the older or younger kids, boy or girl, but my immediate response was to say loudly so everyone could hear me "NO DIAPER CHANGES".   One of the older girls then slide down the slide and her mom asked her who was going to give a diaper change, she said it was the older boy and that he was going to give a diaper change to my daughter.  The mother, sternly questioned the older boy (who was taking care the boy at the time) and took him out of the play area.  I know that nothing happened to my little girl, but it makes me want to be all the more careful, even when I feel like we are in a safe place.  I have thought a little bit about the fast food play areas and some do not seem safe to me, the more tunnels the are the more apprehensive I am.  I have heard terrible stories about children as young as 7 touching, looking, or doing other inappropriate things to younger children.  Please be careful and keep close watch.

There are great children's books for boys and girls by Debi Pearl called "Yell & Tell" that I plan on reading to my little ones when they are a little bit older.  A good friend of mine, who is a licensed counselor, shared with me that parents need to talk to there children about sexuality and inappropriate behaviors around the age of 3.  She told me that by the age of 4 most children are exposed to some form of sexuality.  The statistics are shocking, 1 out of every 4 girls and 1 out of every 6 boys are sexually abused by the age of 18.  We need to teach our children early!

Family Fun - Imagine It! Atlanta Children's Museum

Activity: Children's Museum
Age: 18 months or older

Over the Christmas holiday my husband and I took our twins to Imagine It! Atlanta Children's Museum.  Everyone had a great time!  I would describe the museum as a huge play and learning experience.  A great way to spend a day watching your children explore and discover new things.  I would highly recommend going or finding a children's museum in your area. 

 Making sculptures at the sand table.

 "Cho cho-ing" around the large train table.

 Learning how to use a crane...that's my girl!

 Extra large building block.

We had a blast!  I would for anyone to comment about your experiences at a children's museum or any other ideas for family fun.

Rolling Artwork - staying away from 'the screen'

I asked myself, is artwork really beatifically for my 1 1/2 year olds?  I think we all know that art is beneficial once our children enter the school age years...but what about now?  I read part of an article published by The Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development that explained the importance of art education.  The article states that art promotes brain activity, helps aid in the development of self-esteem, self-discipline, cooperation, and self-motivation....I'm not sure how much art actually helps in these areas for a 1 1/2 year old, but maybe a little.

The main reason I like to do art projects with my children is that I enjoy them!  I enjoy planning something new for us to do, setting it up, and watching them enjoy the activity.  I also enjoy anything that keeps them away from the screen (TV, videos, anything that has a screen).  I hate the screen and love it all at the same time.  It's great to have something that keeps the twin's attention for a few minutes but I hate what it could possibly do to them developmentally.  Below is a quote from the American Academy of Pediatrics publication on Media Education.

"Pediatricians should urge parents to avoid television viewing for children under the age of 2 years. Although certain television programs may be promoted to this age group, research on early brain development shows that babies and toddlers have a critical need for direct interactions with parents and other significant caregivers (eg, child care providers) for healthy brain growth and the development of appropriate social, emotional, and cognitive skills. Therefore, exposing such young children to television programs should be discouraged."

So with this reasoning, my answer is YES! Doing artwork is beneficial for all of us.


Rolling Artwork

Project Type: Art Activity
Age Range: 18 months or older

Supplies: Baking pan, white paper, golf balls, paint, plastic wrap and tape.

 

 After gathering together my supplies, I placed the white sheet of paper into the pan, squeezed a couple paint blobs, put the golf balls in the pan, and covered it with plastic wrap.  I tightly taped the edges of the plastic wrap to the pan.  The last thing I wanted was for our artwork to escape and roll all over the house.

 

My two enjoyed watching the balls roll around in the pan and the noise the balls made on the metal pan.  You could also try using other objects to roll around.  Here are the results...

Teaching Stop and Go

Project Type: Learning Activity
Age Range: 18 months or older

I decided that it would be a good thing to teach Bro-Bro and Ya-Ya the meaning of stop and go.  My parents house has stairs that are not easily baby proofed.  I needed to teach them not to go up the stairs unless they were told by an adult that they could do so.  It is not easy to teach a 1 1/2 year old that they are allowed to so something sometimes but not at other times.  I knew I needed to use some creativity!

First I made a stop sign out of a cereal box, construction paper and some tape.  On the opposite side I made a go sign.

At breakfast I demonstrated to Bro-Bro and Ya-Ya the meaning of stop and go.  I said "GO" while holding up the sign and walked around the table in front of them and dance, then I said "STOP" turning the sign so it said stop and stood still.  I did this several times, they seemed rather amused by my spectacular demonstration.  One thing I love about being a mom...I am the coolest person on the planet to my children.  The goofier I am, the more they love it!

Freeze Dance!
Then we played a game I call "Freeze Dance!"  I played some fun toddler music and said "GO" holding up the go sign and encouraged Bro-Bro and Ya-Ya to dance while I danced around the room with them.  Then I paused the music and yelled "STOP" and then froze.  Bro-Bro and Ya-Ya starred at me...most of the time they stopped moving too.  We did this several times until it seemed like they were not interested any more.

Then I hung the stop sign on the stairs and showed them.  I told them that they were not allowed to go up the stairs when they see the stop sign hanging.  

Later on, when I allowed them to go up the stairs, I changed the sign to "go" and moved it over to the side. 

Now, instead of Bro-Bro and Ya-Ya always attempting to go up the stairs and having to say "NO.  Then, seeing their confused looks because sometimes they are allowed to crawl up, but other times they are not, now they have a constant reminder that lets them know.

Coloring Activity
That afternoon we did a coloring activity of a red stop sign (download by clicking here ).  We are continuing to work on learning our colors.  I have realized that it is much harder for my two to learn colors than it has been for words, body parts, and animal sounds.  The main thing I try to do is talk in colors, for instance I might say...look at the red ball, you are wearing a blue shirt today, or here is a green leaf.

Stroller Ride
The next day on our stroller ride I pointed out all the stop signs.  I explained the purpose of stop signs and how we need to stop and look both ways before we cross the street.  I played stop and go with them through out the walk, I gave the command "STOP" at different points and stopped the stroller, then I would say "GO" and we would continue on our walk.

I plan on continuing to play "Freeze Dance!" and play games to reinforce the meanings of stop and go.  It's been fun and I hope sharing these ideas can help you too!

No Mess Painting Activity

Project Type: Art Activity
Age Range: 14 months or older

While visiting my parents I knew I needed some fun activities for Bro-Bro and Ya-Ya.  I always enjoy trying something new with the twins...I think they enjoy it too!  This art activity worked great because there was no mess and no clean-up.  I did not have to worry about paint getting all over everyone and everything.

Supplies: Paint, paper, sponge, scissors,  tape, gallon-size plastic bag and a paper plate

Set up:  I placed a piece of white paper inside the plastic plastic bag and put a few paint blobs on a paper plate.  Cut the sponge into small squares and dipped them into the paint and put them in the bags.  After Bro-Bro and Ya-Ya started playing with the plastic bags I quickly realized that I need to have them sealed better with tape.  Tape is a must or might have a mess!

 

They had a good time playing with the sponges, swishing, trying to make them move around and shaking the bags.  Afterward, I pulled out the papers and showed them their masterpieces and threw the plastic bags and paper plates away.  No mess, no clean-up, Yay!  I placed the pictures on a paper towel to let them dry.  Now they are hanging on my parent's refrigerator!