Embrace the Toddler In Your Midst

She is a pure delight - our resident toddler.  But our greatest distraction from school work.  As we progress through a new school year, I've been finding a few things that work to keep her distracted. 

1. When using math manipulatives:  share.  Nothing makes Vayla happier than snapping together her own colorful unifix cubes and filling plastic cups with colorful counting bears.
2. During handwriting lessons I have found that she is easily entertained with a few washable, dry-erase markers.  They come easily off of her white, plastic high chair tray, so we dump a few onto her tray and let her create beautiful art work.  Before lunch, the colorful scribbles disappear with the wipe of a damp cloth.
3. During a painting project this week, she so wanted to join in the fun.  I gave her a piece of red construction paper, cup of water, and paint brush.  She loved brushing the water onto the paper, her face, and clothes.  And even more, she loved it when the older kids finished up there projects and came over to "help" with her watery art project.
4. Baby Phy. Ed.:  while working one-on-one with one older child, I'll set the other one to do a phy. ed. class with the toddler.  They dance, push her up and down the driveway in her stroller, climb on the plastic climber in the front yard, or roll balls back and forth. The older kids feel important when I tell them they are the coach for the day and she loves the activities with and older sibling.
5. Pull out a bin.  I keep a couple of lidded containers ready to bring out in an emergency.  They containg plastic animals or blocks or board books, etc.

And the toddlers nap is over, which means my blogging time is over.  I'd love to hear some of your ideas that work well!

10 Things I've Learned During the First Week of School





Looking forward to another
great school year with these two!

After our month-long summer break, the first week back at homeschooling has reminded me of several things:

1. Always begin with family devotions.   Praying for big and small concerns allows the kids to voice concerns that may distract them and for them to know the peace that comes with entrusting the Almighty with things they can do nothing about.  Discussions around the Biblical topic of the day also often speak directly to situations that arise later in the day and the Holy Spirit is already at work in little hearts, gently prompting them in the right direction.
2. Be flexible; what works for me probably won't work for them.  Just because I think my very organized schedule and goal sheet will save the school year, doesn't mean it will work for my free-spirited, independent daughter.  Logan would much prefer to sit in my lap all day and have me help him through his school work, while Sierra would be happier with a big stack of worksheets and learning games to do on her own.  Alpha Phonics did amazing things for Logan, but Sierra hates it.  The beauty of homeschooling is that we can accommodate many of these differences in personality and learning styles. 



Ejnoy the toddler in your midst

3. Enjoy the toddler in your midst.  Math can be done during nap time, but there are so few years of my little bundle of energy running through or math manipulatives screaming, "Huggy Bru-Bru"  (That would be "Hug, Brother" in baby language.) .
4. Don't sign them up for kindergarten just because of a few bad days.  And we had a BAD day this week!  And I really thought, "Oh, thank God school hasn't started yet.  I can still get her into the all-day program down the street."  But I was able to step back, change a few things, and the next day was amazingly productive and happy.  I'm pretty sure she learned more in one day than I ever taught a classroom full of squirmy five year olds in a week during my kindergarten teaching days.

5. In the midst of chaos, take time to hear that still, small voice. My five-year-old has taken to throwing daily temper tantrums, often 2 or 3 times a day.  Time-outs, spankings, and extra chores haven't seemed to effect any change. During the third all-out temper tantrum of the week, I sent her to the car to calm down.  In desperation, I shut myself in the bathroom and said a rather panicked prayer:  "God, I don't know how to stop these fits!  And I can't live with them day after day!"  And in the moment of silence that followed, I remembered hearing Dr. Ray Guarendi talk about "black outs", where the offending child basically looses privileges until the desired changes are made.  Now THIS is speaking my child's language.  I put a movie, her favorite CD, and a little paper with the words "computer time" written on it inside a Ziploc bag.  I took it out to the car where she was still sobbing and refusing to look at me and explained that she would not be allowed to watch movies, listen to her favorite CD, or use the computer until she earned back the privilege.  For every day that she went without throwing a fit, she could choose one thing out of the bag.  And every time the fit throwing reared its ugly head, one more thing would be put in the bag.  I mentioned things she loves like going to children's church (she would have to sit through the service with me), playing with her cousin, and Barbies.  To my surprise, she looked up with clear eyes and a big smile.  "So if I'm really good today I can get out my CD and then tomorrow I'll get my movie and stuff like that until I get it all out of the bag."  I nodded in surprise.  Then she said, "You know, Mom, that's a really good idea.  I think that will really help me!" Three days later and she's earning back her privileges and hasn't lost it even once!



Why read about American History
when you can DO American History?

6. Field trips are worth a stack of books.



Petting horses at the living history museum.

7. A good read-aloud is worth a day of lectures.
8. Manipulatives and messes generally mean learning is going on and should not be viewed as a bother.
9. Real life counts as "school time".  Make brownies instead of doing the measuring worksheet.  We recently invited an elderly lady from our church over for dinner.  Her stories about the post-great-depression era America were far more informative and memorable than any 6 week unit study on the subject.  Be willing to listen and answer questions.  Include children in grown-up conversations when appropriate.  Read the newspaper and other grown-up things aloud.  I'm convinced that a days worth of conversations, especially in the younger years, is worth far more than a mornings worth of worksheets.
10. And last of all I have been reminded of how glad I am that I won't have to put my kids on the bus next Tuesday morning.  I am so blessed to have the means and opportunity to spend my days watching them learn and grow.  What a wonderful, exciting adventure we have embarked on!!!