Keeping the little one busy

There is usually one day a week when I have my 3 year old home at the same time as my kindergartener, and we do school together.  I look forward to this day, but I also struggle to keep the boy entertained and get the girl's school work done...sound familiar?

Confused by why my son isn't here all the time? 

Long story short: 

Very small house (that we are very thankful for) + work at home dad + 3 year old rambunctious boy + homeschooling mom + kindergartner = 3 year old that goes to daycare three days a week!  But I digress...

So today since we had a successful morning, I thought I'd list what Joshua did this morning while Abigail completed Reading and Bible.

1. Blue's Clues 123 Time Activities CD/ROM computer game that I got for a $1 at a curriculum sale (insert big smile) - this one lasts him a while, about 20 minutes
2. Alphabet builders from Confessions of a Homeschooler - we did this together and he had a great time!  His first time through, I so had to help him figure out how to form the letters.  I can see him improving the more we practice. 10 minutes
3. LeapPad Learning System - I got this older leap pad off of Craig's List about a year ago.  Little boy is using it here.  He likes it, but this only lasts about 5 minutes.
4. LeapFrog Text and Learn - he loves this game, 10-15 minutes.
5. Starfall.com "ABC's"- Joshua really enjoyed playing here today.  I discovered that he could navigate and enjoyed the games here the other day after he saw his sister playing in the reading area and asked to play.  15 minutes.  Side note:  Joshua is 3 years 8 months, it was only about 3 weeks ago that he figured out how to use the mouse fully, he can now click on a specific object and drag-and-drop.

 

Yep, that's about an hour - and we did 5 different things - but I think that's fairly normal for his age.  How long are you able to keep your little one focused on one activity?

After this we packed it up and headed to the park to play and have lunch. 

Then it was nap time so little girl and I were able to finish up the rest of her schoolwork.

How do you keep your little ones busy while your older ones work? 

I linked up:

{The Homeschool Mother's Journal 2}

 

In my life this week...

Getting back in to our normal routines after spring break, we had a fairly light week.  It has been crazy weather here in Florida the last two days, so we have mostly been "hunkered down" and spending time indoors (that is a Florida phrase that got way overused during the last big hurricane season, I chuckle inside every time I say it).

In our homeschool this week...

• In Math we started counting by two's this week, and are continuing to concentrate on telling time on the hour, half hour, and starting with 15 minute increments.
• In English, Science & History we are learning about weather, the Summer season, Peruvian and Japanese cultures.
• Art and computer time to mix things up!

Places we're going and people we're seeing...

This Friday morning is the first meeting of a new homeschool mother's group that my friend and I have formed at our church.  I am super excited to meet these new friends and talk about our homeschooling experiences and goals! 

My favorite thing this week was...

It may sound strange, but the night this week when the power was out was one of the most fun we have had in a while!  We played hide and seek with flashlights, made shadow puppets on the wall, lit up all the candles and had really good snuggle time.  It reminds me that we need to un-plug more often.

What's working/not working for us...

I worked today on changing our workbox system, which we had mostly abandoned.  I loved what Jolanthe created at Homeschool Creations.  I'm excited about using her ideas over the next few weeks to keep us on track, and keep the are-we-done-yets at bay!

Homeschool questions/thoughts I have...

I would really like to start incorporating more read-aloud time with the kids.  So far we have done short storybooks and readers, but I'd like to start with a longer story (like Little House on the Prairie, etc.).  My children are 5 and 3, are there any stories that you would recommend?  Or is it too early to really hold their attention?

A photo, video, link, or quote to share...

We had so much fun earlier this week (before the storms) playing with kites in the backyard.  I had bought these Disney kites for a dollar each last year, and the kids are always begging to play with them.  They had a great time running back and forth across the yard, I kept the strings really short so the kites would "fly" even without much wind - a big winner.

Have a great weekend!

Allison

Workbox Wonders

  Welcome to Workbox Wonders Wednesday!

We loosely follow the workbox system, I'm working on changing how we use them, and plan to share soon.  Want to know what curriculum we use for kindergarten? It's right here.  Want more ideas?  Confessions of a Homeschooler shared workbox ideas for Second grade. 

Bible

• Memory Verse copy-work: Hebrews 4:14
• Illustrated memory verse - and divided the 12 disciples into two groups of 6 - so cute, this was little girl's idea!

• Listened to John 20 at www.youversion.com
• Illustrated bible reading

Science - Weather/Temperature

• We are taking the temperature three times each day this week and tracking changes in temperature.
• Abeka God's World page 34 - Summer/Sun.
• And it was raining - so a little playing outside was part of the fun!

• Played thermometer math game

Social Studies

• Abeka Social Studies K page 73
• We are studying the country of Peru, and continuing the study of Japan (Red Clogs - FIAR).

Math

• Practiced counting by two's. 

• Abeka Math K - page 103

English

• BJU Kindergarten Beginnings Lesson 117 "ine, ire"
• Handwriting - writing words "nine, pine, line, mine, vine, fine, shine//tire, fire, wire"
• I made up some memory cards using our words for the day - this was a fun way to review our silent e/long vowel words.  I put some CVC words in there too, like pin, so that she would have to think if it matched with pine, which she did need help with.

   

Now off to start another day!

Allison

Workbox Wonders Wednesday

It's Wednesday!  I thought I'd share what's in the box for Kindergarten today.  We are linking up with Confessions of a Homeschooler, who shared some great Pre-K boxes today.

 

Box 1 Bible - today we continue reading in the book of Matthew, chapter 24.  We will also practice writing our memory verse for the week.

Box 2 Reading - today we will be reading "Are you my mother?" by P. D. Eastman.  This is going to be the book we use for our first "book report".  Next week we will be putting together a Plot Mountain and will illustrate three parts of our story, the beginning, middle and end.

Box 3 Abeka Number Skills K - today is day 37 of our count to 100 days of school.  We will count our popsickle sticks, practice our grouping of 10+10+10 = 30 and 30 + 7 = 37.  We will practice writing numbers 35, 36, and 37.  We will work in our workbook on page 29 (coloring by number and practice writing the number 7).

Box 4 Magnets - today English we will be talking about "Bookshelf Friends" - Science books.  So we will be playing with magnets!  After we talk about and play with the magnets, we will practice writing the sentence "A ____ stuck to the magnet." and draw a picture about our experiment.

Box 5 English - After completing our magnet activity, we will work in our WorkText & Phonics Practice books.  We are continuing our letter P activities.  We will also review our sight words, including this weeks new words:  love, orange, up, help, big, his.  She also practiced writing her letter P's in her A Reason for Handwriting K book.

Box 6 Abeka God's World (Science) - went outside and talked about the weather.  Wrote sentences "It is 74 degrees.  There are no clouds in the sky." (Love Florida, it's just starting to feel like fall!)

And for fun we went out to lunch together!  I love homeschooling!

For more information on the curriculum we use, see this post.

Workbox Wonders Wednesday

This week in our BJU English we are studying firefighters, and the letters t and i.

In addition, we are focusing on the Dolch reading words: I, a, it.

Bible (Foundations 2 – Week 2)

I created these printables for our memory verse this week (modified for kindergarten) – thanks to http://www.mama-jenn.blogspot.com for the awesome idea!  She has many printables available for those using My Father’s World bible curriculum.

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English – BJU Lesson 6 (Work text/BJU Phonics Practice), Handwriting K – Lesson 19 (T-Turtle)

I also created a power point to use for practicing this weeks letters/reading words.  I think this was Abby’s favorite thing (she asked to do it again a couple of times).  I hope to add to this as we go, it will be a great tool for reviewing what we have learned.  There are some excellent power point lessons at 1+1+1=1/Raising Rock Stars, a great resource for preschoolers.

I got the idea for “What’s in the Box?” Wednesday from another favorite:

Definitely hop on over and check it out!