How to Preschool at Home....(start in the laundry room)

Preschool.  It's a big step for both kids and parents.  We've chosen to keep our kids at home for preschool.  It kind of makes sense considering we homeschool.  Lot's of reasons might have you thinking about preschool at home.  Distance, cost, impressionable minds, time.  Whatever your reason for keeping your kiddos home for preschool, rest assured, you can provide an excellent repertoire of preschool skills.  And I believe it can all begin in the laundry room.

Yes, you read that right.  Preschool in the laundry room.  Let me explain.

Moms spend a lot of time in the laundry room.  Instead of pushing the youngsters away to play so the work can be done quickly and efficiently (sounds nice, doesn't it?), why not include them.  Laundry becomes a time of teaching and learning, rather than just another mom chore.  The laundry folding may take longer, but for good reason.

What can be learned in the laundry room?

--matching socks

As I pull clothes from the dryer to fold, I let all the socks fall to the floor.  Maria lines them up waiting for its match.  Then she pushes one sock inside the other and hands them to me.  I always ask, "Who wears these?"  Then I place them on the right pile. (skill learned = matching)

--naming items 

For young beginners this is a great way to start incorporating preschool into the task of laundry.  Maria loves to reach into the dryer, grab something and then tell me what it is.  She'll say things like, this is a sock, this is a underwear, this is a hoodie, this is a pants.  It's so cute, especially as she starts using the correct subject/verb agreement (skill learned = vocabulary)

--identify owner of laundry

This is a favorite of Maria's.  We call it the "Who wears this?" game.  As I fold and she looks on, I say "Who wears this?"  She looks at each item and then yells out the rightful owner.  It's amazing how observant a two year old can be.  She knows everyone's socks and underwear and shirts and pants.  Sometimes she even catches me as I place socks on the wrong pile.  "No, mom, those are Joseph's." (skill learned = observation/memory)

--name colors

Another obvious preschool skill is learning colors.  This can be as complicated or simple as you want to make it.  Socks can be grouped by colors:  white, black, multi.  Clothes come in so many shades of colors, so it's very easy to expand on the simple sort.  Try lining up all the blue clothes from light to dark.  Or how about naming the colors of the clothes like a box of crayons.  light pink=carnation pink, dark blue=midnight blue, bright green=leprechaun green.  Older preschool age children love this and can get very creative in their color naming. (skill learned = colors, adjectives)

--practice math concepts
I like to incorporate math into folding towels and washcloths.  The simplest is to count the towels and washcloths, separately.  Which is more?  Or spread out a bath towel, hand towel and washcloth.  Let your child put them order from big to small.  How about geometry?  How many hand towels does it take to fully cover a bath towel?  Separate into squares and rectangles.  Joe, Peter, and Maria all love to fold washcloths.  Kitchen washcloths are folded in half.  Bathroom washcloths are folded in fourths.  Fractions don't have to be scary. (skill learned = counting, size relationships, fractions)

--caring for your home
A favorite job is always cleaning out the lint catcher.  I like to remind my kids that a job worth doing is a job worth doing well.  And doing it well means completing the task including the cleanup.

Preschool can be done at home without any extra materials, extra cost, or extra driving.  I've found that including my kids into my daily tasks I can provide them with opportunities to learn all the necessary preschool skills.  Laundry takes longer this way, but that's ok because soon enough they'll be on a plane to Ecuador and I'll be left to do laundry alone.  That last sentence doesn't make sense to you?  Emily is in Ecuador (that's 3,155 miles from here) and I'm feeling a bit like:

Where did the time go?

Wasn't she just 3 years old and folding washcloths and matching socks along side me?

Hold those little ones tight

And teach them skills so one day they can take flight.

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Kumon Workbooks Are The Bomb

Years ago when I was a much younger mom, I would draw straight, zigzag, and curvy lines on paper -- hand my youngsters a pair of scissors and have them cut on the lines.  It took a few minutes to prepare, but it was an inexpensive way to have them practice fine motor skills.  I'm older, have more kids, and have more grab and go curriculum items.  Kumon workbooks are awesome!  Each workbook focuses on one skill.  In this case, it's cutting.  The book is progressive in nature, starting with straight lines and working up to more complicated curves and start/stop/turn cutting pages.  The variety of pages is great for my age range of kids.  I tear out an appropriate page and let them begin cutting.  The paper is a nice weight -- thick, yet pliable.

Peter is using 5" Fiskars scissors.

One thing to keep in mind is choosing appropriate scissors for each child.  The scissors Maria's using are spring loaded.  The action of squeezing results in a return action of opening.  They work OK for toddlers, however, I originally bought them for Joseph.  He already had experience of me trying to teach him to use regular scissors, so he struggled with the use of these.

Joseph is using a medium sized scissors.  They have an easy action; he does well with these.

We've also used My First Book of Tracing and My Book of Pasting.

Take a trip back to 2011 and see Joseph working on the My Book of Pasting.

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Linking up with Raising Homemakers and #homeschoollinkup

Homemade Musical Instruments.....(on the cheap)

I've been using the Mother Goose Time pre-school curriculum for two years now.  It's really a fun program; sometime mid-month FedEx delivers a school bus box filled with 20 days worth of pre-school materials.  Each day is bagged and ready for use.  Specific items not always found in the junk/art closet are included in the package.  Other supplies like:  markers, scissors, glue.....the basics need to be provided by you.  Detailed lesson plans with objectives are provided; however, I follow the teacher plans very loosely.  I've found that some of the activities are best done with larger groups of children.  Anyway, December's theme is Sights and Sounds of Winter and today's bag contained cardboard pieces and yarn to make a paper violin, which was a real hit around here seeing that three of us play violin.  Then I played A Classical Kids Christmas cd and Peter and Maria took turns (and if taking turns means screaming at one another and grabbing at the paper violin, then that's what they did) playing the violin to the beat of the music.

Playing along to O Come Little Children.

 I had to think fast because Maria WAS NOT happy one bit that Peter had this cool violin and she had nothing.  Looking around I saw a pile of X-large rubberbands and knew that would do the trick.  I grabbed a small box from the basement and stretched the rubberbands around the box.  Voila!  A second instrument for her.  And this one actually makes music when strummed.  It was a hit!  So easy, so cheap and fun to play with.

Once she started strumming away, Peter was more than happy to trade off the paper violin.  This activity kept them busy for quite some time, which gave me an opportunity to read with Joseph.

After the rubberband box did its time as an instrument, I found these two using it as a zoo cage for their small stuffed animals.  What do you get two kids for Christmas whose favorite "toys" are plastic bags, rubberbands, and boxes?

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Bringing the Cute Factor to Cranberry Harvest

Cranberry growing is a lot of hard work.  Cranberry harvest is like adding steroids to the mix.  It's hard both physically and mentally.  Little kids just live in every moment.  They don't care if the cleaner is broke down or the crop isn't what was hoped for or the weather is bad.  To them it's just cranberry harvest.  Everything about it is intriguing and my littles want to spend as much time as possible out on the marsh during harvest.  Sometimes they (we) get in the way, but I think the smiles and energy they bring to the crew is uplifting.

The harvest gets underway again, tomorrow.  Stay tuned for Everything Cranberry.

Gluing 101 for Toddlers

So Amber was asking me a while back why I wasn't teaching Joseph.  The other kids and I all looked at her wondering just what she meant.  So we asked, "What do you mean?"  She replied with a long list of things I should be doing with Joseph.  Things such as:  teaching him his colors, numbers, letters, and how to read and do math.  All this, she claimed, should be done with flashcards.  I tried to explain to her that when I dress him in the morning I say things like:  Let's put on your blue jeans or Would you like to wear your green sweatshirt or red turtleneck?  That's how toddlers learn their colors.  As for numbers I say thing like:  Would you like one or two crackers? or You have three books, should we read them all?  She did not think this was fair at all.  She claimed he was getting off easy.  Granted he's only 3, but to appease her I bought an I Can Paste workbook for toddlers to show her that I was not a slacker mom.  For his birthday we bought him a Mother Goose Fairy Tales sticker book.  The thought was to read a fairy tale each day and then let him place the stickers on the page.  He hated the stickers.  They stuck to his fingers and he tried shaking them off all while hollering "au, au" (translation off, off). 

Michael's had a number of toddler workbooks, all meant to develop fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination.  Gluing seemed the best option for Joseph at this time, but I wondered if it would be similar to the sticker incident.  I bought the book anyway and today was the day to start in on it since we had the glue and scissors out for Spanish.  The first page instructs the parent to cut out the pieces and have the child place glue on the page and place the pictures on the glue spots.  Joseph is no where ready to squeeze the glue bottle, suck on it yes, but squeeze it no way.  I cut out the clouds and then showed him the rainbow in the sky.  I even pointed to the colors of the rainbow, saying each color.  I made sure Amber was watching.  I squeezed three dots of glue on the page and then showed Joseph how to press the cloud onto the glue.  He dove right in, first smearing the glue a bit with his finger and then smacking the cloud onto the glue spot.  He'd remove it and place it on the other glue spot; this continued until most of the glue was used up.  Then he left the clouds to dry.  We'll do another page tomorrow where he'll glue fish (I'll count them with him) onto an underwater scene.  Joseph just had his first official day of preschool.

Last Night...I'm Glad it's Over

So last night started out on the right track.  Warren hooked up our new TV antenna; we get Fox 55 which means 9:00pm news and Packer games come fall.  Anyway, we watched news at 9:00, stayed awake for the entire program and then headed to bed.  So far, so good.  At 11:30 Joseph woke; Warren went in by him and I lay awake in bed until 2am when Warren finally came back to bed.  Still I couldn't fall asleep.  Is it pregnancy insomnia?  Sinus stuffiness?  I don't know.  I don't care.  I just don't want to experience it again.  At 2:30 Joseph woke again.  I went in this time.  I crawled into the single bed and left him in the crib hoping he'd fall back asleep just knowing I was in the room with him.  We both lay their another 15 minutes when I finally decide to lullaby him.  And what song popped into my head first?  99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall.  So I started singing and he stopped whining.  At about bottle #94 my conscience kicked in and said BEER?  really?  for a 2 year old?  I had a fleeting thought that I should change it up to Rootbeer on the Wall, but that extra syllable at 2:30 in the morning was more than I was up to.  And I rationalized it with the thought that Warren and I both like beer and we're decent enough people and the song is working to keep him quiet and that really is the ultimate goal.  I kept singing and at 70 Bottles of Beer on the Wall he fell asleep.  It wasn't long after and I fell asleep too.  Morning came awfully early at 6:12 when Joseph woke up whining again.  I put him in bed with Warren and I went for a run.  Running was better than the alternative.

Who's Been Here?

Who's Been Here?  Have you seen these books?  We have the winter book and enjoy reading it every year when I bring out our winter books.  The premise is that the author/illustrator shows an outdoor scene and the reader guesses what animal made the track, droppings, etc. Once you turn the page the animal is revealed.  Well this plays out many times a day in our household.  I come across a mystery scene and using the clues have to guess which kid did "it" so I can enlist them to help with the clean-up.

But when I see this....


Or this...

I know it can only be this little monster.

Little J has turned into a real 2 year old if you know what I mean.  He knows what he wants and is determined to get it.  He's developed quite a stubborn streak which makes my friends happy.  He had such a gentle and quiet attitude for so long that some friends thought I was getting off easy.  Well easy no more.  He wants to walk when I want him to ride.  He wants to crawl up wet library steps when I want him to play at the train table.  He wants Emily to read him a book when she wants to cat nap on the couch.  He wants his milk cup on the floor when I want it set nicely on the table.  He wants to kick the newspaper when dad wants to read it.  He wants to sit under the table when Emily needs to vacuum under it.  He wants to ......well you get the idea.  He's 2 need I say more.

So Big

HOW BIG IS JOSEPH?

SO BIG!!

Last week he learned "So Big". We were ecstatic. For months we've been saying in a high pitched sing songy way, "How big is Joseph?" He would wait for us to say, "so big" while flinging our arms high above our heads. He'd smile, but would refuse to lift his arms. Then last week I queried the famous question and he responded with a smile and arms lifted high above his head. We couldn't get enough of it last week and still this week it's the cutest thing around.

Tot School - Pond Edition

As our real pond comes to life this spring, we've been doing a little indoor pond study ourselves. Mostly with Sam, but the other kids join in, too. It always amazes me how the big kids love listening to the little stories, too. Basically, we started by painting a piece of tag board blue. Then cut out the shape of a pond. Gradually, we read stories and then added animals to our pond. We've painted a lot, which isn't that messy if there's a real purpose behind the painting. With the tag board we used two shades of blue and one paintbrush. I squeezed a dollop of each color right onto the tag board and instructed Sam to spread it around all the way to the edges. Easy peasy and virtually no mess. I've also taught him how to really rinse out a paintbrush. The old way: turn on faucet full blast, stick paint covered paintbrush directly in water stream about 2 inches below faucet head, watch and laugh as colored water sprays all over kitchen window, counters, sink, faucet, self. The cleanup can be messier than the actual painting. I just got a little smarter and decided to teach them how to rinse out the brushes. First, place the paint covered paintbrush in the kitchen sink with the bristles touching the bottom of the sink well, turn on water half way, dab and swirl the brush in the water at the bottom of the sink until the water runs clear. Dab the paintbrush on a paper towel or even the closest washcloth to see if any color is still left. Repeat entire process if needed. Whew! That was a lot of words for a simple procedure.

Back to tot school. Really my tot is not a tot, he's 4 3/4. We read Life in a Pond while the paint dried. Then every couple of days read another pond book and added the appropriate animal.

In the Small Small Pond - 16 colored (with crayons) fish

Scoot! - egg carton turtle

Frog Counts to Ten - paper plate frog

The Noisy Egg - footprint duckling

At the Totally Tots site you will find downloads for the fish and turtle templates and directions for the other animals as well. I used the Totally Tots site as a guide, but did not follow it to a tee. Check out the whole site; they have great ideas for learning the ABCs, bible study, books and online games for tots. Very useful indeed!

A Few Observations

Hawaiian shirts. DH and I went out for dinner and music last Friday and counted more than 10 men, over age 45 in bright, flowery, palm leafy, sail boaty Hawaiian shirts. We both chuckled, thinking about the future and wondering if we'll still be with it or if we'll, I mean if he'll be wearing a Hawaiian shirt. Well, fast forward to the next night at my cousin's outdoor wedding. I couldn't help myself, I started counting Hawaiian shirts and then began to fret because a very with it 12 year old was wearing a very cool Hawaiian shirt, as was my 36 year old cousin (only 2 years away for my honey), as was my big city, stylish 50 something uncle. My theory was blown in less than 24 hours. Hawaiian must be making a come back; now where did I put those pineapple burmudas from junior high?
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Midweek hotel stays are great. Better prices and fewer people. I did however find a few people begging to be watched. Like for example, this young couple with one toddler. They came waltzing into the waterpark with enough gear for a 3 day campout. They set up camp at a nearby table where mom started giving orders to dad about where the child could swim, what waterslides he could use and that he was not supposed to go underwater or drink the water. Well, mom plopped down with a magazine and dad hopped in the kiddie wading pool with his boy. They made a beeline for the teeter totter, which squirted water as you went up and down. Mom gave a look and they were off to something new, the cloth swings, which admittedly didn't look very sanitary. Dad pushed the little guy, he laughed, mom gave a disapproving look. The waterslide came next; the boy went underwater, probably swallowed a little by the way he was coughing. Mom had had enough. She called them in and they packed up all the gear. Mom passed the huge (Texas huge) beach style bag- the orange mesh kind with splashes of pink and yellow tropical flowers- to dad and she carried the boy out. I doesn't seem right to pass judgement on this situation, but I will say they would've had a lot more fun if mom and dad were both playing with little junior in the water, maybe even splashing a little.
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Next up, my three year old. His favorite part at the waterpark is the hot baff, which in adult language would be the hut tub. What harm could a cute little boy who likes to soak in the hot baff bring anyone? Well, the lifeguard seemed to think a lot! I stopped counting at 24 whistle blows, but 6 of those whistle blows were at my son. He walked up the waterslide; used the sprayer to spray all the little girls in the face at point blank, stood on the teeter totter, lugged the tubes from the tube corral to the kiddie pool and sat in the lock and dam play area, twice. The lifeguard was busy. And so was I.

Life With a Three Year Old

Lee: Can you say something besides eeww, yucky?

Ray: Yesh, eeww, yummy!
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He's the only one in the family with lavender sparkle finger nail polish on his lips. Good Thing!
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Ray: Where are my floppy plops? (flip flops)
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When I tell him, no he cannot use a steak knife, he responds

Mommeeeeeee, me biggy guy.

When I tell him he needs to go pee on the potty and not in his diaper, he responds

No, me you teeny baby, Mama.

Would he just make up his mind already?
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Favorite question to whisper in my ear at church: Where my stinky butt? Where my stinky butt?

Tattling

And it's only 7:22 a.m.

Mom, Ray let out all the chickens.

Mom, Ray threw the feed scoop at me.

Mom, Ray stuck out his tongue at me.

Mom, now he threw his toothbrush on the sandpile.

Mom, Ray's trampling the new grass.

Well, now he's off the grass, but he's drowning the flowers.

How old is Ray? 2 years, 10 1/2 months, enough said.