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Showing posts with label Toddlers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Toddlers. Show all posts
I received so many good questions about our homeschooling journey on Instagram recently that I decided to turn it into a little series! I'm going to answer one question once or twice a week until we are done. If you have any to add, please comment below!
How do you balance teaching one kid and managing other kids that are too young for school?
I get asked this question quite a bit. I was honestly a little nervous myself about how to balance older kids and babies before we started homeschooling, but I've found it to be not as big of a deal as I thought it would be. I touched on this question when I wrote about our routine in my mid-year homeschool update, but these are some things that have been helping us quite a bit.
1) I include the younger kids where possible. For things like our daily Morning Time, Bible, and History, we do those subjects all together. The little kids love to sing and memorize just as much as the big kids. Our history curriculum is made of picture books, and the little ones enjoy hearing the stories as well (I only make the big kids narrate back to me). And Bible time is something I always want to do all together.
2) We do all-together subjects during mealtimes. The little kids are alot quieter when they have food to keep them occupied. I've also considered implementing play-dough mats, coloring books, bead-stringing, and other hand-busying activities for the little ones while I read, but I actually haven't had to resort to that yet because mealtimes have worked so well.
3) We do one-on-one instruction during the little kids' nap/quiet time. I've tried doing reading lessons and math while the little ones play in a different room - while possible, I've found it's a little more distracting to my big kids when I do that. They wonder what fun they are missing out on. I've mostly done individual instruction while the little ones are napping in the afternoon. It extends our school day longer than if we did all our work in the morning, but having a quiet house and a more focused child is a worthy trade-off to me. I imagine this will shift as the kids all get bigger.
4) I know we don't need a four-hour chunk of time to do school. I think I might have a little bit of an advantage here as a homeschool graduate myself, because I knew ahead of time that one of the perks of homeschooling is that you can get the work done whenever it works best for you. This isn't public/private school. You aren't running a school at your home - school is just incorporated into your life. We do history lessons during mealtimes, math lessons on the couch, reading lessons in the car. We break subjects up into bite-size chunks, take lots of breaks in between for playing and cleaning up messes, and put subjects off to the next day if everything gets too crazy and falls apart. You are allowed to do that! I wrote a while back about why I do not make daily plans - I make weekly plans, and that takes a ton of pressure off. Instead of only having this one day to finish this one thing, I know I have the whole week. That helps alot when you are trying to homeschool with little ones underfoot.
(All five of my babies, listening to Wyatt read in the playroom. My heart just melts.)
Homeschool moms with babies - what do YOU do about the little ones while homeschooling?
A couple weeks ago, we hit our 100th day of school for the year. I have seen alot of celebrations for the 100th day in public schools, in which parents are supposed to dress their children up like 100-year-olds. It's adorable and funny and completely... something that I have no desire to do! As an un-crafty mom, one of the perks of homeschooling to me is that I don't have to come up with themed costumes and seasonal crafts unless I want to, ha! So I'll just do a mid-year recap to mark our 100th day instead. Here is how it's going:
Curriculum and My Plan
I am actually very happy with all the curriculum I picked for this year, and I have no complaints! You can read in-depth about my second grade and kindergarten plan in this post, but here is a quick summary:
Reading: All About Reading/ All About Spelling
Writing: Institute For Excellence In Writing
Math: Rightstart
History: Beautiful Feet Books for ourselves, and Story Of The World for co-op.
Science: ? A mix, but mainly Building Foundations Of Scientific Understanding
Geography/Social Studies: My Story (Master Books)
I'm going to be really honest and say we have been doing fantastic at staying on schedule with the first four subjects listed there, but Science and Geography? Not so much.
A week before Christmas we had "Science Week" and knocked out several science lessons (lessons I had hoped to do once a week - oops). Science Week actually worked really well for us, so I think we will be doing something similar toward the end of the year. We are on track to finish our reading curriculum early, and I'm thinking that before I pick up the next level, we may incorporate a couple weeks where we do some science lessons in leu of formal reading instruction. I'd also like to point out that I have a very science-y second grader, and he reads almost exclusively about science-related topics during his free time. I totally count that.
As far as our Geography/Social Studies book, I think I'm just going to call that a casualty of the year and move on. The kids are getting different social studies and geography lessons naturally as we discuss our history lessons, so I am okay with not making it through the book I had picked out for Wyatt this year.
Our Routine
It was difficult for us to get into a routine during the first part of this year because we had several weeks when we were packing/moving/unpacking/major remodeling, so we had to squeeze schoolwork in wherever we could. It got done, but there was no routine. Now that we are (mostly) settled in and there is no major remodeling going on, I have been pleasantly surprised by how we have found our rhythm.
This is how our ideal homeschool day looks. Keep in mind this is an ideal. Usually we end up not doing at least one of these things each day, but over the course of a week it all evens out.
-Morning Time during breakfast. This time would include our hymn singing time, Bible reading, Bible memorization, catechism, and other memory work.
-Play time. I let the kids get all their energy out, and they play most of the morning while I read, bake, clean, or write.
-History over lunch. Our history curriculum uses picture books to teach American history, and my kids love it. We read it, I have the two big kids narrate what they remember back to me, and we discuss the chapter.
-Individual instruction in the afternoon. The little ones go down for nap/quiet time after lunch. While I'm getting them settled, I usually have the big kids work on copywork, writing projects, or math practice. Then I spend nap time doing bookwork with the big kids. On a good day we knock out math for both kids, reading for both kids, and writing and spelling for Wyatt (Gwen doesn't do these subjects yet).
-Fun stuff after nap. If I have a good amount of energy, then after the little kids wake up we might do an extra "fun" subject, like a drawing tutorial or a nature walk.
I know this is kind of unusual for a homeschool schedule - most homeschoolers like to finish school in the morning and have free time in the afternoon. However, with the little ones, it really works better for us right now to do schoolwork during their nap time. I thought I would really miss having nap time to myself, but I don't. My kids keep each other so occupied with play, that most mornings I still have time for things I want to accomplish, and often time to relax and read too. I think I actually get more "me time" with this schedule than if I reversed it, because my big kids don't nap anymore anyway and they get bored during nap time if we don't have schoolwork to do.
My Developing Philosophy
As a homeschool mom, I've grown and changed alot this year. I'll probably write a full post at the end of the year with lessons I've learned about homeschooling and some of the philosophies I'm developing for our family, but as a quick preview/recap, these are some things that teaching each subject has taught me this year.
Reading: It's amazing how much your child can improve in reading skills when you quit giving them reading lessons over break. It seems counter-intuitive, but I'm amazed every time.
Writing/Spelling: I have never worried about adding in writing (as in composition/creative writing) and spelling until my child has some solid reading skills under their belt, and it's worked really well for us thus far. Formal writing and spelling has been no big deal with Wyatt so far this year (aside from complaining about copywork, but I'm pretty sure that's normal).
History: The biggest struggle with history has been helping the kids remember what we read, which is why I have them narrate back to me (read more about narration here). We were getting a little sloppy about narration until I gave Wyatt and Gwen a talk and told them I'm serious about it and there would be consequences for them if they did not pay attention and have a reasonable narration to give me after our readings (I have no idea what the consequence would be, I just said that, ha!). It's amazing how many details they have been remembering since then. Note To My Future Self: Do not slack off on narration! It's worth it to do it right.
Science: You do not have to do science every day, or even every week. You can cram it all into two weeks at the end of the year if you want. It makes no difference in the end.
Math: I purposely planned for Gwen to only make it through one half of our math curriculum in her kindergarten year, and it was absolutely a good decision. This year I've really been ironing out my math philosophy for my particular kids, and if I had to sum it up I'd say it's "slow and steady wins the race". If a kid is specially gifted at math and can get ahead of grade level easily, that's great! But at this elementary stage, my main goal is that they progress, they like it (as much as can be reasonably expected), and they feel like they are fairly good at it. Sometimes maintaining those three things means choosing to take it slow instead of pushing ahead. I think sometimes the difference between a high schooler who is good at math and one who isn't is a matter of their attitude toward math. I'd like to build a foundation of a good attitude toward math now.
Geography/Social Studies: I sort of understand why these are separate subjects, but sort of not. Aren't these things incorporated into history lessons? That's how we are approaching it anyway.
As I was preparing to write this post, I asked some of my Instagram buddies (follow me here) if there were any topics they'd like me to cover in this mid-year post. I got so many good questions! I touched on some of those topics in this post, but I decided to actually turn some of those questions into their own posts. So stay tuned!
(My munchkins, minus Georgie.)
How is the school year going for all of you? (Homeschool or private/public schoolers, feel free to comment!)
I think it's natural to moms of more than one child to worry about how their older child will handle the new addition. I am really blessed in the so far, my kids have ha a fairly easy transition!
However, I wouldn't be honest if I didn't admit that I'm still worried about how Clarice will handle this new baby. I've been worried each time, so this is nothing unusual, but I'm particularly concerned for my youngest darling this time because she seems to be currently thriving in her role as the youngest. She thinks my lap is her spot, and gets upset if even one of the older kids sits in my lap. She likes to be carried as often as she can get away with it. She is a ham and loves being the center of attention.
(Affiliate link below.)
These are my strategies for making the transition on Clarice as easy as it can be, but I'd love to hear more ideas if anyone has some!
1. Talk to her about the baby as much as possible.
This is always easier when my belly gets bigger, but I will point to my stomach and say "Baby in there!" It was surprising with my other kids how much this helped it sink in.
This is always easier when my belly gets bigger, but I will point to my stomach and say "Baby in there!" It was surprising with my other kids how much this helped it sink in.
2. Read books about new babies.
Tommy Nelson just came out with a book called God Bless Our Baby and as soon as I saw it, I snagged it! It's super-cute, and details all the fun and sweet things that come with a having a new baby - like making them laugh, helping with bathtime, and having a new friend. It also has pages that talk about things like mama's growing belly, feeling kicks, and staying quiet while baby sleeps to help little kids know what to expect. I also LOVE that they have one page that includes adopted families. I think this will be a fun book to get my younger kids excited about having a new baby around!
Tommy Nelson just came out with a book called God Bless Our Baby and as soon as I saw it, I snagged it! It's super-cute, and details all the fun and sweet things that come with a having a new baby - like making them laugh, helping with bathtime, and having a new friend. It also has pages that talk about things like mama's growing belly, feeling kicks, and staying quiet while baby sleeps to help little kids know what to expect. I also LOVE that they have one page that includes adopted families. I think this will be a fun book to get my younger kids excited about having a new baby around!
3. Work on being "gentle".
Lots of practice with baby dolls, stuffed animals, and people, and excessive praise when she succeeds.
Lots of practice with baby dolls, stuffed animals, and people, and excessive praise when she succeeds.
4. Put the baby down sometimes for lots of snuggles after baby arrives.
I always try to be aware that all my older kiddos need some extra attention and love after the new baby comes home, especially the child that was just ousted from the youngest position. I will get as much snuggles in with my new munchkin as I can, but I also want to make sure to intentionally put the baby down so I can hold or play with my other kids. They need to know they are still just as important to me, even though babies take more time in the beginning.
I always try to be aware that all my older kiddos need some extra attention and love after the new baby comes home, especially the child that was just ousted from the youngest position. I will get as much snuggles in with my new munchkin as I can, but I also want to make sure to intentionally put the baby down so I can hold or play with my other kids. They need to know they are still just as important to me, even though babies take more time in the beginning.
5. Ask the big kids for help.
My kids feel so useful and proud of themselves when they are able to help me - and a little praise goes a long way in making them feel loved and needed! For Clarice, I'll ask her to bring me a diaper or wipes so that she can feel a part of taking care of the new baby.
My kids feel so useful and proud of themselves when they are able to help me - and a little praise goes a long way in making them feel loved and needed! For Clarice, I'll ask her to bring me a diaper or wipes so that she can feel a part of taking care of the new baby.
What am I missing? Were any of you worried about one of your kiddos with a new baby on the way? How did it play out?
Note: I received a copy of "God Bless Our Baby" from the Tommy Mommy program in exchange for the review in this post. This is my honest opinion! Also don't miss my giveaway of this book on Instagram! Double entries if you enter on both my accounts! @CallieNicole7 and @ThroughCloudedGlass
Note: I received a copy of "God Bless Our Baby" from the Tommy Mommy program in exchange for the review in this post. This is my honest opinion! Also don't miss my giveaway of this book on Instagram! Double entries if you enter on both my accounts! @CallieNicole7 and @ThroughCloudedGlass
We got Wyatt the Usborne Children's Encyclopedia for Christmas, and he poured over it for two days. He asked me questions about all the pictures, and I told him what the words on the page said, and he was just fascinated. It was so fun to watch him learning just for the joy of it. While I think we will follow some sort of curriculum, I want to make sure we have plenty of interesting books around that fit in with what we are learning, to make the whole year more fun.
I've been making book lists galore, but today I wanted to focus on Usborne books! A friend of mine, Brittney, asked me if I would host an Usborne Facebook party, and it sounded like a lot of fun - so I've been going through their thousands of books and making a list of the ones I'd like to get for school next year. I'll share the ones I'm thinking about getting, but first, let's talk quickly about the ones I have, shall we?
Usborne Books We Already Have
The Children's Encyclopedia - Like I said above, this one has been a hit. I think it's the full-page gorgeous illustrations that have really sucked Wyatt in. I'm not going to lie, there were a few pages I felt the required more explanation (like the world religions or aliens pages), but they are easy enough to skip if you don't agree with or your child isn't ready for some of it.
How Things Work - This book is just so cool. It's a flap book, and under each flap it gives pictures and descriptions about how the different things in this book work.
Horses & Ponies and Weather - I bunch these together because they are the same type of book. These books have fun illustrations and less text because they are meant for younger readers - but I love it because the few words are used really well, and these books get a lot deeper into the topics than you would expect them to. They have a bunch of these on different topics, and I'm hoping to get more!
Birds Pocket Book - Have I mentioned that our family is really into birds? We don't know a lot about distinguishing birds, but we would like to learn more. All of my kids love flipping through the Audubon bird app on my phone, and this is like the book form!
Starting Chess (not pictured) - I forgot I had this one until I sat down to start typing! Derek is very good at chess, and I picked this up as a supplement for when Wyatt is ready to start learning (which probably is sooner than I think).
So those are the books I have, now on to the books I want.
Usborne Books On My Homeschool To-Buy List
These are the books that I would love to have as we introduce different subjects over the next few years, in addition to the ones I already have.
Science And Nature
The Outdoor Book - I think we would love this for ideas of activities to do outside and nature study!
Human Body Reference Book and Shine-A-Light Human Body Book - This is my area of interest (biology), so I think this looks fun. And the shine-a-light book adds an interesting element!
Poisonous Animals (etc.) - This is one of those great books for young readers!
How Things Grow - I think I need this book to help my black thumb.
Astronomy And Space Reference Book - I don't know if I even need to explain this. Yay for space!
100 Science Experiments - Someone told me I need this, and I think I do!
History
Big Picture Atlas - I think this will be good for context with different historical events.
Living Long Ago - I'm still not sure my kids grasp how different life was 200 years ago, so this looks great!
Christopher Columbus - One of the few American history books. Usborne, I know you are British, but more on the American History front please!
See Inside Exploration And Discovery and The Story Of Inventions - These looked really interesting to me.
Reading and Writing
Illustrated Grammar And Punctuation - We are a way off from needing this yet, but my grammar nerd is coming out! I love this idea!
Illustrated Dictionary and Illustrated Thesaurus - Same as above!
Illustrated Classics: Huckleberry Finn And Other Stories - This is one of a few classics collections that are condensed and rewritten for young readers, and I am really curious about them.
Miscellaneous (aka. Just For Fun)
Over 50 Secret Codes - I would have loved this as a kid.
Fingerprint Activities: Animals - This just looks adorable, and would be so fun for everyone, including the little two!
First Book About The Orchestra - The kids love Maestro Classics (#affiliate), and I think this book would be a great visual to understand the different instruments.
Big Keyboard Book - We are still hoping to teach our kids how to play the piano, and this looks useful!
I could go on, but you get the idea! There are just a lot of really fun books. Clearly it's probably going to take me longer than the next year to collect all these! Maybe I should retitle this post "Usborne Books For Early Elementary", because I think all of these will last well beyond first grade!
Now for a little plug - the Facebook party is tomorrow night at 8 PM EST, and Brittney has a bunch of fun things planned - including a drawing for a book prize! So if you want to check Usborne out, this is a good chance! If you comment below saying you want to join, I'll send you an email to add you to the party! Or if you have your eye on something and want to buy without attending the party...can you purchase through any of these links and select my eShow on the left before checkout? Because then I can earn discounts on books! (Shameless plug, I know.) Party is open until next Monday!
Do any of you have some Usborne books? What would you recommend to me for the elementary school years?
I'd love to hear!
P.S. Brittany also made me this handy graphic for Usborne books that go with different curricula! Pin this!
(Some affiliate links in this post.)
Last week I shared our crayon-melt valentine gifts, and some Minted Valentine's cards to go with them. Well, after much deliberation, I made up my mind and chose some cards for the kids to hand out to their friends! Minted had some great coloring/melted themed cards, but in the end, these are the designs that were calling my name for the kids, and I just decided to go with it.
I was not disappointed! The cards came and they are so cute! The quality is also excellent, and I'm almost sorry to waste them on preschoolers (but their moms will appreciate them).
Clyde is so into anything transportation-related, and I thought this message was adorable for all his little two-year-old classmates!
I did let Wyatt have a choice between a couple different invitations, and this is the one he picked! He liked the airplane on it, and I thought this was the perfect card for a six-year-old boy to hand out to his friends!
And then Gwen's. I just knew it had to be pink! My favorite part of this card is the gold pressed foil lettering on the front. It's so fancy! For Gwen's card I also decided to try out the tic-tac-toe backer, and now I'm kind of regretting that I didn't choose it for the boys too - it's so fun!
So there you go, those are the cards my kids will be handing out to their friends! If you are ever in the market for classroom valentine cards, keep Minted in mind! Their quality can't be beat, and these designs were just a few of the dozens of adorable options!
Where do you buy valentines for your kids? Are you going with a theme, or just whatever strikes your fancy (like me)?
Note: I received the above valentines for free from Minted in exchange for a review. This is my honest opinion.
I never really considered myself a "people pleaser". I fancy myself one of those people who wouldn't change my own opinions or convictions just to please someone else, and I always thought I had pretty good boundaries.
But I realized last year that no, I am kind of a people pleaser. The way it manifests itself for me is a difficulty in saying "no". This really became a problem this last fall. All of a sudden I had several writing commitments and other commitments at church, and barely time to breathe!
Unfortunately because of this busyness, I decided I needed to let some things go, and one of those things was co-hosting the With Grit & Grace Linkup. However, I don't see any reason why I can't still share what I want to work on each month! As far as goal-setting goes, you all already know that I'm not a resolution-making, goal-setting kind of girl. When I pick a goal for the month, it's one thing, and usually a bit vague at that. Another blogger wrote recently about how she accomplishes more when her goals are vague - and even though all goal-setting experts say that vagueness is a no-no, I find the same thing is true of me.
So here is my one, not-super-specific goal for February.
I want to give Valentines!
To whom? I don't fully know yet. However, this goal fits in with my larger focus for the year, and it's also something I just want to do. I have a hard time with the love languages concept, because I feel like I could claim all of them as a personal love language, but I do enjoy giving gifts, even small gifts. I like to make my own gifts occasionally too, especially when they are simple. It makes my non-crafty self feel like I'm not a complete failure in the DIY area!
(Affiliate links below.)
Especially every year around Valentine's Day, I get the urge to make something, which is convenient because Valentine's Day is a great creative outlet! This is one of the things I came up with for the kids to give their friends this year. Did anyone have some of these crayon melts growing up? I wrote a whole post once about my first-grade crayon melt wishes. We have a bunch of broken crayons around, so I bought a heart mold, melted the crayons in the oven, and let them cool completely before I removed them!
They turned out pretty well, and I am planning on making enough for all the kids' little friends. I'm still looking for the perfect valentines to include with the crayon melts though! I've had the opportunity to work with Minted in the past, and this year they gave me a chance to pick out some classroom valentines. Oh my goodness. The choices are endless because every single one is so cute!
To help you out in your valentine-giving efforts, I put together a few ideas for little gifts to include with some of Minted's classroom valentines. But do yourself a favor and check out the entire collection, because there were so many cute ones I didn't have room to share here! (Also, I'll take feedback on which one you think goes best with the crayon melts. As I type this, I'm still not sure which ones to pick.)
Firefly Love Valentine - This is a great Valentine for glow sticks, or glow-in-the-dark anything, really.
Banner Takeoff Valentine - I have given airplane gliders as valentine gifts in the past, and this one is the perfect valentine for that!
The bottom line is that you could choose almost any valentine treat or theme, and Minted probably has a classroom valentine choice that will go with it! I seriously had a horrible time narrowing down which valentines to show you in this post - it's going to be even harder to pick the ones I want for my kids to hand out. I'm still debating on whether I'll stick with the "melted" theme, or not!
To help you out in your valentine-giving efforts, I put together a few ideas for little gifts to include with some of Minted's classroom valentines. But do yourself a favor and check out the entire collection, because there were so many cute ones I didn't have room to share here! (Also, I'll take feedback on which one you think goes best with the crayon melts. As I type this, I'm still not sure which ones to pick.)
Firefly Love Valentine - This is a great Valentine for glow sticks, or glow-in-the-dark anything, really.
Banner Takeoff Valentine - I have given airplane gliders as valentine gifts in the past, and this one is the perfect valentine for that!
Sharp Student Valentine - Cool pencils would go with this one. You could even include a sharpener if you wanted to add something extra.
Bee My Valentine - Minted has a few adorable bee-themed valentines, and if it were me, I'd include a honey stick!
Precious Gems Valentine - So many possibilities with this one. Ring pops, gem-shaped erasers, plastic jewelry.
Sweet Bubbly Valentine - A bubble gum valentine! Tuck a stick of gum in with it, and there you go!
You Rule Valentine - Colorful plastic rulers, obviously.
School Of Fish Valentine - You could go with gold fish (the crackers), or any sort of fish toy with this one.
Color In My World Valentine - Crayons, and the valentine recipient can finish coloring this one themselves! Minted has a few valentines that are also activities, like this one. This one might be a contender for our crayon melts.
Bugs And Kisses Valentine - I would go with inexpensive plastic bug toys or magnifying glasses with this one. This is also a great example of one of the activity valentines!
Smart Cookie Valentine - Bake some cookies!
The bottom line is that you could choose almost any valentine treat or theme, and Minted probably has a classroom valentine choice that will go with it! I seriously had a horrible time narrowing down which valentines to show you in this post - it's going to be even harder to pick the ones I want for my kids to hand out. I'm still debating on whether I'll stick with the "melted" theme, or not!
Do you hand out Valentine's (for your child's class maybe?).
Am I having a little too much fun with this? I have this sneaky feeling that putting together Valentine's gifts for other people's kids is supposed to be burdensome, but I think it's so fun!
(And just as a little bonus - check out these Valentine-inspired prints! Perfect for a gallery wall or as a Valentine's gift for a grown up.)
(And just as a little bonus - check out these Valentine-inspired prints! Perfect for a gallery wall or as a Valentine's gift for a grown up.)
(I love a beautiful vow print - I have one on our wall!)
(You can customize this print with your own photo.)
Stay tuned and I'll update in a week or two on which valentines I picked to go along with the crayon melts!
Note: I will be receiving Valentine classroom cards to review in exchange for this post. This is my honest opinion.
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