Homeschooling - the story so far....

WARNING!!!!  This post contains lots of links.  It also contains lots of educational type stuff!
But I hope you find it interesting.....


Ok, so you know the story....

After Seb got turned down by the Montessori school Isaac attends on the basis he was not ready, we decided to do something about it.

We began quite well, particularly when Oliver was still off school.  We are now about 2 months down the line, so thought I would post up a progress report.

It's hard!!!! We gave up quite quickly on the days, date, month etc.  Seb isn't bothered.  If he had his way, he would watch Tv all morning.  What I am trying to do is an hour of activities, an hour of TV, then some time out somewhere. I have made and purchased a whole load of items to assist.  This is just an example of some of them.  I am trying to keep to the Montessori method of child led learning as much as possible, but as i said, if Seb led the way we would be Nickelodeon led....

I have had varying degrees of success with the above items.  

The laminated sheets were done for both Seb and Isaac.  They both did them once, practicing tracing their names etc.  These have since fallen well out of favor.  I also scanned and laminated one of Isaacs first reading books in the hope that him tracing the words as we read them together would get him more interested in reading.  It didn't, and I am a little worried about his apparent lack of interest in reading, though he seems to know lots of words by sight, but that is for a different post. 

It is difficult to see things in detail in this photo.  The tree I made, with magnetic tape on the back, the leaves were purchased from the Dollar Tree.  Again, no interest shown.  Same with the pumpkins.  

Funnily enough, anything with number is quite popular.  Seb likes the foam blocks, again Dollar Tree, and the Duplo towers, in which he can built towers up to five, all of the same colours.  Money is also popular, as are animals.  

He likes the Brown Bear matching halves cards, but not the size sequencing cards.  

We also have flash cards with words that begin with the same letter, I got this idea here ( a blog I follow).  These are good, and would make great talking points, if he talked.  But he doesn't.  

And that is what I am finding the hardest.  I know that when it all starts coming out, he will get so much from these activities.  

I tend to get a lot of my inspiration from Pinterest, and more recently Facebook.  I have started 'liking' a few preschool/toddler/Montessori pages on there, and this has lead on to more blogs being found.  These are written by people like me, attempting to either educate their preschooler before school, or going the whole hog, and homeschooling all their kids. I take my hats off to these people, I could not do half the things they do, and find the time to blog about it!

Now I have yabbered, I will show some photos of what we all get up to during our activity time.  Below is Oliver and Isaac, before they went back to school. They are doing an experiment with milk, food dye and washing up liquid.  Basically, a plate of mile with food dye dropped in it.  You touch a bit of washing up liquid on a cotton bud/Q-tip, and the colour separates out.  Bot sure of the science (see why I am no good at chemistry), but I got it from Steve Spangler Science.  This site is awesome, and I have since subscribed to their emails.  Lots of good ideas

This is more recent.  The boys decorated their pumpkins for fall/Halloween.  They had great fun.  once the pumpkins were done, they moved on to Lego printing as they had loads of paint left.

Isaac loves doing activities after school.  Here he is using the play doh we made to create areas for the animal to live.  Isaac is also very easily distracted by the Tv.  For about the first month after all the boys were back at school, in the afternoons while Seb slept we did not have it on.  He tends to prefer playing with the Lego though, particularly as it is kept in the Learning room.

Below is another activity he loves, baking soda and coloured vinegar.  In fact, we did this again this afternoon.  He can normally do it for a good half hour. 

Below is a picture of the book shelf Paul made for the reading corner.  Pretty cool.  Trying to get the younger kids interested in taking care of their belongs and learning about the world has certainly brought out a more creative side to Paul and myself.

                                     

Now, on to what Seb does all day.

Here we are with his favourite things, the cars.  I am trying to get him to line up the correct amount of cars for the number.  He kinda got it..... Needs work.

Posting letters into the coffee tin.  He has gone off this a bit, think he is a bit below him.  I possibly need to get him to try and sort them into colour piles first.  Every time I do this at the moment, he insists on messing up the piles, then loses interest. 

This is him with the laminated sheets I mentioned earlier, and some colouring sheets concerning the letter 'm'.  He liked these, I think because he likes the animals.

Below are the foam blocks I mentioned earlier.  These were $1 for 50.  I wrote the number on them.  Although Seb is not interested in the numbers (yet, don't think he has noticed them to be honest), it will come.  It occurred to me after I made these that the only kind of blocks we have had in the house since leaving the UK are the kind that stick together, i.e., Lego/Duplo.  We had loads of wooden blocks before we lived here, but they were always removed quite quickly after being got out, due to them being thrown by the older 2. So Seb had very little knowledge of anything like this (bad mummy alert).  Seb likes stacking these.

Notice the pancakes in the background, this was done before school time, before 7.15am

I purchased some alphabet stamps, mainly for the older 2.  Seb gets them out occasionally, but he is not overly keen on stamping.

Before it started getting too cool in the mornings, we would often go outside to do something.  I think Seb benefits a lot from sensory type play.  One morning I filled up a bowl with shaving foam, then stuck some of his cars in it.  I then stuck loads of construction paper together hoping the shaving foam would leave tracks.  It didn't.  All it did was make a big mess (some of which is still on my patio....)

 I also froze some of the plastic insects we had in a bowl.  Seb tried using different salts and liquids to get the insects out.  In the end time did the trick.  Didn't stop Seb from tipping all the salt and liquid all over them first though.  This was a little beyond him, but will be perfect for Isaac soon

Seb seems to have two favourite areas: scooping and messy/water play.  one of the first things I set up was this bean tray.  Again all from Dollar Tree.  It probably cost $7 to make, we already had all the utensils, and he loves it.  It gets played with at least once a day.  He scoops, tongs, fills up cups, plates, bowls.  He can be known to sit for half hour completely undisturbed, and you always know where he is due to the sound.  I think he finds it therapeutic. 

 I recently introduced rice into a different container, with an ice cream scoop.  He seemed to love this just as much.  We have since had cross contamination with the beans, as there just wasn't enough rice.  I want to make coloured rice, with Seb's help, eventually.

Below is Seb painting with cars.  He did enjoy this.  In fact he does like painting, but can lose interest quickly.  I am never sure how much he wants me to be involved....

 Seb's favourite thing by far is water play.  After watching him the other morning tip his juice into Isaacs cup, and back again a few times, I though we needed to do something.  I didn't really want to stick him in the bath, so set up the washing up bowl with towels on the kitchen floor.  I gave him a few cups and some pool toys.  He only played with the cups.  So I gave him a measuring jug.  He was away.  He played for 30 minutes completely undisturbed.  Ok, I had to put an extra towel down, and there was hardly any water left in the bowl, but he loved it.  Completely in his element.

So thats it, so far.  I am trying to keep him interested, but the biggest issue I have is the lack of communication.  I know in time this will come. But I am very impatient.

I may try and do one of these types of posts more often.  Let me know what you think

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Seeing other peoples homeschool blogs on Pinterest and google+, I know how important linking back is to the original contributors.  Most of what I have done can be found on my Pinterest boards.

Here is the link to things I deem suitable for Seb (age 2)

Here is the link for things suitable for Isaac (age 4)

If you find this blog and find things you have originally done, please let me know so I can give you proper credit. (email: claregosling55@gmail.com, or comment below)

I mentioned earlier, pages I have recently liked on Facebook.  Interesting stories now appear in my news feed, and I urge you to take a look.  I have included the links to their actual websites. 

I find this a particularly good source of info about kids taking things at their own pace, and how to deal with it 

This is good Montessori education for all ages 

These guys are awesome, I have seen some of my friends who are early years providers in the UK linking this source to Facebook 

This lady lives in Oz, and has been recently talking about toy rotation.  Something I am thinking of doing myself after having a good sort through recently 

I first found Toddler Approved on Pinterest, and have followed them ever since 

The Imagination Tree is great on arts and crafts.  not always things my boys would like, but good for inspiration. 

As I stated above, please let me know if I owe you any credit.  I find the blogosphere a wonderful source of information these days!  

Also please find my page on Facebook, and give it a like , and if you have got this far, you may as well find me on twitter @HGmTravel

Long week

What a week.... To start with, paul was away Monday to Friday.  That made things hard.  Oliver's baseball season began this week.  He had 3 practices, all of them at 7.15pm, for an hour.  So I had to take all 3 chimps to Heritage Park.  This obviously resulted in 3 very late nights for all the boys, and mummy.  His team seems good, they are a mix of second and third graders.  As with last season, there are a couple of kids who are really good, but some don't have a very good attitude.....

Oliver also went back to school this week.  He had half days on Monday and Tuesday, when Isaac was in lunch and learn.  Then back to full days for the rest of the week, when Isaac was on half days.  It has been nice to have Isaac to myself in the afternoon while Seb sleeps (normally....)

Both Oliver and Isaac have had their well child check ups at the doctors in the last 10 days. They need a South Carolina immunization record so they can go to school. These involved full physicals with their new doctor.  i must say, she is awesome.  only problem with going to the doctors is it takes about an hour each time.   They both needed some jabs, 2 for Oliver, 1 for Isaac.  They both cried, it's difficult to say who cried the most...  Other than that, they are both fine.  Oliver is light, Isaac is more average.  Isaac's height has jumped about 3 percentiles in the last year.  I think he will be the biggest in both height and weight out of all the boys.  Seb has got his on Friday, should be interesting.....

Seb had his first session at Gymboree on Monday.  He cried for about a quarter of the time.  He eventually got used to the equipment, and was quite keen, but did not like it when they started doing singing and circle time.  He did however join in some of the 'kitchen helper' pretend play activities the ladies did.  I have signed him up for a month.  He will get used to it, it will do him good to listen to other adults, and I think he will come round to the singing and activities.  I have been getting him to sing along to songs on the radio in the car to help his vocalization. His favorites are 'blurred lines' (it's so cute, I sing the words, them he tries to copy, it is awesome.....) and 'heaven'.  He is best with songs that have sounds rather than words.  After we dropped Isaac at school on Monday, having already taken Oliver, Seb was so chatty.  He is getting there, I know it is just a matter of time before we can't shut him up either.  

As Paul had been away, we have been keeping busy.  We went to the pool after school on Monday and Tuesday.  

Out for dinner with Liene and her chimps on Tuesday night.  Gotta love Carolina Ale Houses kids eat for 99 cents.  It was an interesting dinner, all the kids ate, and were well behaved.  Think it is something we will be doing again.  Wednesday morning we had to go and get Oliver a helmet for baseball.  Oh the joys of being a second grader, they now need helmets.  I thought it would break   the bank, but it wasn't too bad.  We had some time to kill, so stopped in at Barnes and Noble to look at the books, and Seb played with the Thomas trains.  

I will mention now, Liene is in a poll for best Southern Mom blog on Circle of Moms.  She is an awesome writer, and has won many accolades already.  Please take the time to read her blog and vote.  I know she will appreciate it.  You can currently find it under the pending tab.

This is the link http://www.circleofmoms.com/top25/Top-25-Southern-Moms-2013 

As for our home activities this week..... Seb has played with playdoh and lego at the same time, painted with cars, 

finger painted, brown bear matching game.  He helped me make cakes.  This was rather humorous.  I gave him some choc chips to eat while I did the tricky bits.  He proceeded in putting  these into the cake cases, instead of eating them.  So they are chocolate heavy cakes.  No complaints so far.  We met up with some friends at the park, and at the zoo.  He was very good on both occasions.  I have rarely used his bat wing reins.  Such an improvement.   He has also done the toothpick games on numerous occasions.  When we were tidying up the paints, he got the magnetic letters out, and started putting them into the roll of kitchen paper. 

 I ran with this (and another idea I saw on Pinterest), and cut a hole in the plastic lid of a coffee tin.  Seb then put all the magnetic letters into this instead.  This is a favorite activity.  He seems to love putting things into slots.  I have tried to get him to help sort the letters into colors first, but every time I do it, he messes it up!!!  Never mind, these things will come.  

Isaac has done painting with lego and cars this week.  He loved it.  This then led on to him cleaning everything after.  Then he decided he wanted to clean all his hero factory bits.  

This took a good chunk of time.  I have been offering Isaac computer time in the afternoon before Oliver comes home, and he has refused most of the time.  Both him and Oliver are having such a good time playing together with the Hero Factory, or watching Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (I so remember this from being a kid....,).  They have such a beautiful relationship.  They are a right team.  But such hard work.  They answer to each other before answering to mummy or daddy.  Isaac wanted to get the Playmobil out on Friday  afternoon.  

I agreed, but thought we would go the whole hog and get it all out.  Needless to say, he played with it for about an hour before he started asking when Oliver was coming home.  It was packed away before bedtime (but at least I got the opportunity to sort it all out, and store it better, so sad......) 

Paul has finished the cat box.  It is cool, heavy, but cool.  Plus the cat uses it.  Makes the litter tray very inconspicuous, even if it does look like Snoopys home.  

His next task: a small bookcase for the reading corner.

As I say a busy week.  Hoping next week won't be so chaotic, but I doubt it........

Kool-Aid Play Dough, Multiplication and Lunch and Learn

Was not expecting to post again so soon, but thats just how it seems to go.  We had a fairly quiet one over the weekend, a McD's was had, and a visit to Walmart.  Plus a couple of trips to the pool in between the thunderstorms.

Isaac had his first session of Lunch and Learn at school today.  I got a phone call from his teacher at 12.05 (20 minutes after it had begun) to say he was in a state and refusing to go into the classroom.  He had been so looking forward to it, he had even sat in on a session last year to see what it was like.  His teacher and I talked about how he needed to make the transition to this scheme, to help him with the long days associated with kindergarden next year.  He was asking for me, and not wanting to go in.  It is held in the toddler classroom (or Sebbies classroom, as Isaac calls it).  She agreed to call me back once they could see if they could coax him in.  She called back at 12.40.  Apparently it was Lego that got him into the room.  He had sat down and eaten his lunch too.  I was so pleased.  When I picked him up he told me he had had a good time.  I asked him if he wanted to go back, he said yes.  At bedtime he starts saying he doesn't want to.  I tried to explain that it is practice for Kindergarden for next year. Now he doesn't want to go to kindergarden.....  I foresee a bit of a torrid time coming up, possibly like we had when he first started.  I really hope he settles, but know it is going to take time, I just hope the school can see it like that too

Meanwhile.....

Today was the first day I implemented a kinda timetable for activities at home with Oliver and Seb.  Oliver loved the structure, Seb doesn't understand it yet, though I made a point of telling him what day, date and month it is, and our color, letter and number.  He was just coming and going with what Oliver and I are doing.  So first we made Kool-Aid play dough.  I got the recipe here, and Oliver helped with most of the steps, other than the water.  This is the most awesome homemade play dough I have seen.  It even smells nice.  Oliver had great fun playing with it this morning, then Seb and I played with it this afternoon.

After that, Oliver did some cutting and I did some sticking to make a book of opposites (our theme).  We then progressed on to numbers, today was 6, Oliver did some adding and subtracting, which he found very easy.  So I decided to mix it up a bit, and started him on his 6 times tables.  By six times three, he had got the gist of it, and was able to answer the rest of the 6 times table up to 12 x 6.

After this was physical time, so we went to the pool.  We came back just before lunch.  While Seb was naked, I noticed him doing a little wee dance, so I took him to the toilet, he sat on it, then the potty, and he managed his first wee out of nappies.  Admittedly, this is probably because he drinks half the pool, but he did it all the same.

Once we had collected Isaac we came home, the boys played Lego, then had computer time.  Seb decided (with my assistance) to do some selfies.  He loved it, think he likes the noise my phone makes....

Over the weekend, Paul began the construction of the cat box.  Look out for more details in a future post.  It is nothing as fancy as I originally wanted, but at least it has cost very little as it uses the off cuts from the desk.

I have an appointment at the Life Centre at Greenville Hospital tomorrow for a trial of a continuous glucose monitor to help me manage by diabetes, it is a weeks trial, so again, watch this space.

Hoping Isaac is ok tomorrow......  I hate situations like this.....


Below are just a few of Seb's selfies