The Homeschool Question

Over the past few months Jim and I have been discussing our plans for Noah's education.  We acknowledge that he is just two and does't need to begin formal education THIS SECOND or else he has fallen behind.  However, we want to make an informed decision of what we want to do.  And for us, the choice has come down to finding an afforable Christian School and me homeschooling Noah. 

We are still trying to decide what it would look like to have the added financial burden of sending Noah to an expensive private school vs. what would it look like to have me taking on the added burden of planning and executing lessons for Noah here at home.

So, as we are looking at this I have been talking with friends who homeschool, reading a ton about the developmental and social implications of it, legal issues as well as beginning to research Christian Schools in our area that would be alternatives. 

As I have begun researching things I have come across a wellspring of wonderful toddler oriented lesson plans and activites to stimulate little minds.  I am already doing extremely casual monthly themes with Noah, but this reseach has confirmed for me that I want to step things up a bit.  So, beginning in the fall I am going to be conducting more of a formal sit down time with Noah approximately three times a week. 

I promise I'll share here more regularly what we find and do and make, and as we try to work out this whole homeschool/Christian School decision.  Also in the works is a list of the great sites I've found for working with my toddler!

Eastman Nature Center Closing Sale

This weekend one of our favorite Nature Centers-- The Eastman Nature Center in the Elm Creek Park Reserve is having a moving sale and getting rid of shelves, furniture and even displays.  I mean- how cool would it be to have this bird wingspan display in your child's bedroom or playroom??

In fact, why am I telling you about this? Someone might see this and grab something that I want before we could get out there this Saturday and pick it up in this first come, first served sale. 

Okay-- the details are: The sale is this Saturday, May 7th at the Eastman Nature Center in Dayton, MN ( a part of the Three Rivers Parks District)  from 10 -4 pm.  They are opening a new center, which will have new displays and furniture.  Kind of sad that all this neat stuff won't be around anymore, but what a cool opportunity for families, schools, or homeschooling families to pick up things like this bird identification board. 

And in case you were wondering-- yes, they have taxidermy geese.  :)

Monthly Theme for April

This month is by far the easiest and one of the most fun of the monthly themes I have done with Noah-- "Transportation: Planes, Trains and Trucks," was a natural choice with a long car ride looming for us heading back to Michigan for Noah's 2nd Birthday party, which is going to be held at the transportation themed Kalamazoo Air Zoo.

I have been busy with planning for his party long distance, and I am excited at planning one that the cousins and many aunts and uncles and grandparents can attend, and may have gone just a bit overboard with planning. But how can I not plan a fun airplane themed party with a venue like that?

We have been keeping activities pretty low key because of the party planning and the big trip coming.  Howver, we have been doing  a ton of drawing with different transportation vehicles, practicing writing, and some other fun craft projects I'll be showing later.  We have also been taking full benefit of the unseasonably warm weather and enjoying bike rides and watching the everchanging parade of Richard Scarry-esge vehicles ride up and down the path next to our house.

The big event of this month, other than the obvious one of his birthday?  Our upcoming trip on the Nothstar Commuter rail- which for a boy who is obsessed with trains is going to be epic.  I don't know how I will ever manage to live up to this in following months.  ;)

{Learning} A Box of Buckets, Balls and Blocks

Activity: Shape Sorting of Different "B" items into buckets.

Goal: To learn more about the letter "B" as well as to differentiate between different shapes and items. 

Cost: Plastic Bin- $1 from Target, Balls- $2.72 from Target, but you can use any balls you happen to have on hand, Blocks-$1.00 Once Upon a Child.  Total: $4.72 

Creating Your Own:

So simple- I just selected small, yet baby safe items from around the house and a few newly purchased.  March's letter of the month is "B" so I chose buckets, balls, blocks, a box (the ring box from my engagement ring)  and we have also had a boat and a few other things in it during the month. 

Playing with Your Little One:

I purposely chose to include small tin buckets that I had previously bought from the Target dollar spot near the door so that Noah can practice sorting like objects into the buckets.  Typically I begin playing with him by putting  a ball in one bucket and a block in the other and asking him, "Where are all the balls?" 

Tell your little one the name of each item, making sure to pronounce the first letter of the word, usually I say something like, "B-bu-bu, ball.  B-bu-bu, block.  They both start with the letter "B." 

Noah will also play independantly by filling the buckets and practice his fine motor skills with pouring the balls from one bucket to another or bouncing the balls, as well as stacking the blocks.

Adaptions for Different Ages:

Under One Year: What child doesn't love playing with a ball at any age?  At this point,  you can still be introducing letters and tell your children the names of objects in their box, but obviously, not much else will be done aside from gnawing on the toys, which is just what should be happening.

One to Three Years: My current goal for Noah is to increase his awareness of letters and not necessarily to learn to read.  I don't subscribe to the whole, "Your Baby Can Read" system, although they do get a few things right, like the intentional play and the making learning a part of life.  That is why I am taking a whole month on one letter, and discussing letters in general, teaching him spelling of his name (which he is currently one letter away from doing!)

Older Kids: Obviously, older kids will be able to handle increasingly complicated sorting of objects, and providing them with manipulatives that can be categorized in more than one way is a great idea.  They can sort objects by color and by shape-- such as providing blue and yellow blocks and balls.  Then they can decide which attribute to categorize the objects under.