Since my last post in November, my family and I have welcomed a new addition to our Sweet family: Lincoln Connor! And although he's a pretty mellow baby, it can be crazy taking care of all three kiddos! So, as you can imagine, attempting anything that might resemble a home preschool agenda has been pretty tricky.
Lincoln is now 3-months-old and I have just been getting back into the swing of things!
Aislin is still part of the co-op preschool, which is another reason I've been pretty lax on my homeschooling efforts. (Before Linc was born, I had already started slacking because I was very tired and pregnant...or tired of being pregnant. Probably both.) However, after realizing that some of the skills she had learned before joining the co-op were starting to slip from her grasp, I told myself I'd resume my home preschool efforts--at least part-time and with a more casual schedule--as soon as I was able. I didn't want to burn either of us out, and I knew it would be futile anyway to maintain a more structured schedule while taking care of a newborn!
Also, Desmond is almost 3-years-old and wants so much to learn alongside his sister. If she's practicing her handwriting on a sheet protector, he'll come up to me with a dry-erase marker and say, "Des work, too, Mom!" And he's been showing that he has the maturity to learn how to take turns--something he did not understand a year ago when I had first started this blog and home (pre)schooling both kids. So now I do it for Des as much as for Aislin :)
While Aislin is in preschool, I work with Des. We do the calendar/weather/season bit, sing songs, work on something, like alphabet recognition, number recognition, counting, etc., and then do an activity or play a game, like Memory, or something else that was easy to make up. We played a letter game where I'd place a few cards with uppercase letters into a paper bag and their lowercase letters on the table. Des would then shake the bag and pull a letter out, and then match it with its partner. Simple! And he managed to do the entire alphabet 4-6 letters at a time!
And I love working with Des. He's eager to learn and enjoys learning. I can tell that he also appreciates the attention and being taught the same things that he's seen me teach his sister :)
With Aislin, I have her work on her handwriting (writing letters and numbers without having to see them, and therefore copy them, first) on some days, math skills on other days, followed by an activity or game. She pushes through the more tedious things just fine because she knows they'll be brief, and enjoys the activities.
Aislin and I played BINGO together using pictures, letters and sight words. We played it several times--she can be pretty competitive lol!
Another preschool tool that I love to use: my Kindle :) It has an app specifically for kids that allows me to create an account for both Aislin and Des (for under $10/month). Using their age and sex, as well as entertainment preferences, this app compiles a ton of movies, games, books, TV shows that are just for Des or just for Aislin. It not only teaches them how to master a touchscreen, but also how to utilize "quiet time" :)
Des doing an animal puzzle :)
Just to clarify...our schedule doesn't look like the above every single week. I don't work with Des every Monday and Wednesday morning, and I don't always get to use everything I have planned for either kid. Instead, we do what we can when we can. And trying our best all the while :)
No comments:
Post a Comment