Special Activities from A to Z

With 4 kids six years of age and younger, school doesn't take all day.

J is doing Kindergarten/First grade this year, T is doing Preschool/Kindergarten, E is doing very early letter, number, and color recognition stuff, and j is tearing our house apart all morning :)

Really, we take a couple of hours in the morning to do seatwork-type stuff, then the big boys and I do our big read-aloud and tougher Arithmetic once the little boys are down for naps.

The afternoon, though? Well, we often find ourselves bored...believe it or not. (And maybe the kids aren't bored, maybe it's me feeling like we need the structure of our afternoons to at least be similar to the structure of our mornings.) Anyway, since I don't want to be a slave to a school-like daily schedule (one of my reasons for homeschooling!), I decided to come up with a list of ideas. We can use it, or not!! It's not a schedule or routine I will feel guilty about if we are all just having fun being outside all afternoon...but if everyone is fighting, children are misbehaving, and we need an organized activity, this list will come to the rescue :)

If you have any ideas of ANYTHING at all, I will be happy to steal it and use it in my home. Please do share!!

Special Activities from A to Z

*All can be done in the comfort of our own home!!

A: Art project

B: Bake something, bubbles, balloons, balls

C: Car wash (real or with toy cars), Cook dinner with Mom, "Create" box (a box full of random craft supplies, where imaginations can run wild)

D: Dance party!

E: Egg hunt (no matter what time of year)

F: Frisbee, Fruit Kabobs, Fence letter shooting,

G: Game Day, Gak/Goop

H: Horses (we have some down the street we like to pet and feed), Hide and Seek

I: Ice cream sundaes, Ice painting

J: Jump Rope

K: Kickball

L: Lemonade stand

M: Music, Motion (exercise), Mud pies

N: Nature walk (draw what we see/hear, make a treasure basket of our collections, or decorate a nature table from our findings)

O: Outside games/races, Obstacle course

P: Puzzles, painting, play dough, puddy, plastic cup pyramids, pillow pile, picnic (inside or outside)

Q: Q-tip painting with shaving cream and paint/food coloring

R: Read books on Mom and Dad's bed, Redbox movie, Relay races

S: Salt dough, shaving cream, special snack, sprinkler, swim, Skype with relative(s), Sidewalk chalk

T: Take a treat to neighbors

U: Undercover letter/number/color hunt

V: Make a volcano

W: Water fight, Wooden blocks, Water bottle bowling

X:

Y: Yoga balls (our kids love playing with the couple we have. Throw a yoga ball at a boy and knock him smack down to the floor, and you have apparently made his day.)

Z: Ziploc painting

*PHEW!!*

It has been a whirlwind of days over the last couple weeks or so. With 2 visits to 2 different zoos, baseball on the weekends, and even a field trip on a Saturday morning (not to mention Bible study, MOPS, book club, baseball practices, library trips, etc.), I feel like I need to get us back to the basics again in school. Monday holds yet another interruption for us to our regular homeschool day, but then it's back to business...hopefully!

I also have 2 new curriculum paths we're going to try out, so we'll see how we like them.

Kindergarten

Well, we are in the swing of things here at Frye Academy :)

We have quite the schedule/routine down, and while I know it could (and will) change eventually, the boys and I are thriving in it for the time being!! We work on the following subjects and curricula throughout the morning and into the afternoon, during the little boys' naps if things get too rowdy. Every day is a little different, because the middle littles are in Mother's Day Out 2 (E) and 3 (T) days a week. We save some things to do WITH T, and we have certain things we only do when E is out of the house...or when S (the baby) is sleeping ever so peacefully (or at least playing and not screaming his head off) in his bed :)

Handwriting

Science (Creation Unit: The World God Made, Creation Crafts...and after that, I plan on starting a book of really fun experiments called The Backyard Scientist)

Language Arts/Phonics (Explode the Code, Vocabulary cards from RRSP)

Art (We are learning how to draw...and by we, I mean WE; I also just bought a book called How to Teach Art to Children and am hoping it is as fabulous as its reviews claim!)

Reading (Read Aloud: Pinocchio (the original classic) and next, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory; Scott Foresman and McGraw-Hill curricula; Bob Books; Animal Antics books)

Math (Math U See, Scott Foresman, Addition/Subtraction, 1-100)

Bible (Memory Verses that go along with our Science curriculum...all about creation: Col. 1:16, Gen. 1:1, John 1:3; Jesus Storybook Bible along with Read and Share Devotional, Hero Tales, Vol IV, always going back to the Village Church's 5 foundational truths)

Speech

History/Geography (Maps, America/Texas, and thematic units...We are about to start one on Pilgrims and Indians in preparation for Thanksgiving)

My main focus for both of the older boys is Handwriting, Reading, and Math (you know...reading, writing, and arithmetic, right?!) All of the other subjects are basically ways to incorporate those 3 foundations in new and exciting ways and fun excuses to keep their brains working hard! We also still love using our school drawers, but things are more organized by subject at this point in the game :)

Are you ready to rumble?????????

I'm not, but I'm pretty sure my kids are!! It's as if they know the school year is beginning, even though they've never been. Their hands are eager to dig into the worksheets I've been sorting through, they have been pulling out manipulative after manipulative from our school storage, and they seem to be desiring more of a routine in the day.

The middle 2 boys will be in mother's day out this year...T, 3 days a week and E, 2 days a week. Since J is officially in Kindergarten this year (and by officially, I mean that's what we're declaring), I am really trying to work out a way to fit all kinds of "real" schoolwork into those 2 days when we are minus 2 boys for the morning.

The main "subjects" I am focusing on are:

Reading

Writing

Math

Speech (J needs this probably more than the 3 above!!)

I love that since it IS Kindergarten, I can throw in all kinds of fun stuff. Even reading, writing, math, and speech can be so much fun...

I hope to sprinkle in a little of the following in between, with, and in the form of(!!) our main subjects:

Art

Games (board games, card games, matching games, etc.)

Computer time

Journal writing

ABC Binder (which we never finished last year)

Vocabulary Binder (from Raising Rock Stars preschool, but I can't find a post that mentions the Vocab cards specifically!)

Science experiments

Field Trips

Cooking/Baking

(and of course, the usual worksheets, manipulatives, and time outside!)

I am still using a lot of the "Letter of the Week" type activities and ideas, but last year proved to me that it did not go well with my obsessive personality. It's like I couldn't wrap my head around any ideas that didn't match up with the letter of that week. Crazy, I know, but at least I recognize my sickness. I am planning themed weeks here and there throughout the year (Rainbow, Airplanes, Ocean, etc.) Hopefully, I can let us enjoy the themes and not get too crazy!!

We "officially" ;) start next week!!!

Hope your school year goes well, wherever your children are learning :)

All in a Day's Work

I love reading homeschool blogs for inspiration, ideas, and encouragement. However, when those blogs muddy up my own ideas and teaching style, I need to separate myself from them and figure out what is best for me and the children God has placed in my life to teach. I was starting to feel so overwhelmed lately by all the (WONDERFUL) ideas I read on blogs that I seriously couldn't even hear myself think about my own ideas. The biggest joy of homeschooling, in my opinion, is that I get to decide what to do, when to do it, where to do it, and how to do whatever it is we are doing!!

Why did I concern myself so much with what everyone else was doing with their kids? Well, I don't really know. Our system is working quite well (for the moment anyway :) ), I have a LOT less stress, and my boys are having a great time! Here's a glimpse into our morning...

Good morning, Monkey!! :)

Some baseball in the playroom

Washing play dishes...just for the fun of it!

Hide and seek!

Fighting soldiers

Doing chores from our job jar

Time for school






Made some brownies


(ate lunch)

Had "recess" ;)



And finally, at 2:00, we had quiet time!!!!!!!!!!!!

This week: No school

No, it wasn't planned that way. I don't do much planning to speak of lately! ("Fail to plan, fail to plan," right? True here, I know that!) Anyway, this post is not about feeling bad about not doing school this week. It's actually the opposite. While we didn't DO school this week, we had plenty of learning experiences, teaching opportunities, and fun with friends.

My kids are counting to 100...just because they think it's fun. They do it all the time, without any prompting from me. I have to help them through many of the transitions (from 29 to 30, from 39 to 40, etc.), but they love counting to 100!! 100 is actually J's favorite number, I think. He told me today that when j (lower case j=Josiah; capital J=Justus), is 10 and he (J) is 105(!!!!), he would finally have someone to wrestle with. Ummmm, there are SO many routes I could have gone with that statement (you currently have 2 little brothers that you wrestle with very often, you will NOT be 105 when j is 10, you will probably not live to BE 105, you most CERTAINLY will not be wrestling if you do in fact live to be that old, etc., etc.) However, I just laughed and camped on the excitement that he was starting to talk about numbers above 100 ;)

Anyway, sorry for the rabbit trail...

What other learning went on this week? We sang songs, we read books, the coloring frenzy is still on in FULL force, the boys helped a lot around the house (without me asking...JOY!!), J is practicing writing letters and numbers totally on his own, and J is also trying to read things without my initiating it.

E's vocabulary and conversational skills are accelerating at HILARIOUS speeds. He is so fun to talk to, listen to, and especially to observe in conversation with his brothers. He wants to be just like them, and that therefore includes talking like them! It is amazing how much faster each of our kids has learned how to talk.

ALLLLL of that to say, learning was fun this week. (for everyone involved, I think) I think I gain more insight into everyone's different learning styles when I just sit back and watch them learn on their own. When they come to ME with questions, games, and activity ideas, I can simply join into their little lessons, asking questions to deepen the involvement and learning. (Wow! What color is that, E? T, which one of those animals is the fastest? J, what do you think is going to happen next?)

I love it.
A dear friend reminded me the other day that my kids really are still so young. Even at the age of five, J doesn't necessarily need to be sitting down for planned "lessons" every day of the week...and I shouldn't feel guilty when that hasn't happened. Well, I'm taking her advice a step farther. I am going to ENJOY the spontaneous lessons and bask in the unplanned-every-day opportunities that present themselves at JUST the right time.

"Live each season as it passes; breathe the air, drink the drink, taste the fruit, and resign yourself to the influences of each."

Henry David Thoreau

i

...would like to try to convince my husband to keep some of this "mess"

in the backyard for outside play time.
we'll see if i succeed...

collecting ideas

...activity ideas for day-by-day learning...
motion
outside play
music
make-believe
art (paint, rubbings, paint with mud, paint with spray bottle)
baking (bread, muffins)
nature
cooking
games
colors
seashells
water/fire/air/earth
reading
puzzles
building
planting/growing/gardening
balls
create (clay; pictures with rocks, beans, rice, corn, seeds, sand; play dough)
animals
bubbles
sorting
puppets/storytelling
body awareness and responsibility

...different items to paint with...
asparagus tips
feathers
pine branches
cotton balls
sponges

*all ideas are gleaned from other homeschooling/unschooling moms, the imagination of my boys, and yet many come about by chance discoveries...