Kent was 39 months old. Colt was 15 months old.
Dolphin puzzles from Memorizing the Moments.
Tracing a page from a free Make Way for Ducklings page. We read the story; it’s on our Sonlight P 3/4 reading list…
Category: Tot School
Catching Up… February 2014
How did you fair this winter? I am DONE with winter, DONE I say! It was rough.
Continue readingBible Curriculum for 2 Year Olds
I know a couple of you have been waiting to see what we chose for a curriculum. The study guide we chose is put out by Joy of Living Bible Studies. I was hoping to get a promo code for you but, alas, there are no promotions available at this time. However, if you decide to purchase the curriculum for yourself you can feel good about where your money is going. From the Joy of Living site: “Joy of Living Bible Studies is an evangelical, interdenominational, nonprofit organization, dedicated to increasing the study and teaching of God’s Word. All money not used for printing and office costs is used to develop new Bible study courses and to provide materials free of charge to prisoners and others unable to pay for them.” The particular study I chose for Kent is Bible Basics for Little Ones. Joy of Living offers other preschool studies but the Bible Basics is specifically designed to be simple enough for 2 year olds. It includes 33 lessons. The lesson plans are brief and geared towards Sunday School or nursery school classes that meet once a week. However, I am finding it very easy to adapt the plans
Continue readingFirst Day of 2 Year Old Tot School!
Kent was 26 months old. Yay! Finally, time to kick things off with our new plan. Inspired by 1+1+1=1, I made this cute sign for Kent to hold. This is how he wanted to take the picture… …but I kind of wanted one that didn’t cut off his head so I tried again while tickling his toes… …and still just got a look of “really, Mom?” instead of a true smile. sigh I didn’t think we would be able to start Tot School on schedule but the guys were able to help me rearrange the house at the last minute last night. They took our play kitchen up to the attic for storage, brought in our new shelf, and took a couple things out of our office so there is more room for storing materials. I want to give you a whole tour in a separate post but for now here is a sneak peek of the shelf. I moved our old tot trays shelf over by the recliner so it can house part of our book collection. We didn’t get to start school right away in the morning but Kent was very excited to have so many books at
Continue readingReassessing Tot School: No More Tot Trays
I’m a nerd. The displays of pencils and binders at Wal-mart make me giddy. The abundance of recent back-to-school blog posts has left me starry eyed. This time of year is more exciting than the actual New Year. Oh, the possibilities: the things to be learned, the fun to be had! I am so happy to finally start planning for this next year. While everyone else has been planning I’ve been busy canning. I still have loads of food piled in my entryway but I can’t wait any longer to get Kent’s stuff together. Kent is only two. I get that! I’m not busting out a stack of workbooks for him or anything like that. However, he’s definitely old enough to get something out of our planned “school” time. I want to make the most of it. We’ll be using a first real curriculum to study the Bible, and we’ll be focusing on practical life and sensory activities using Montessori principles. I have the big stuff figured out but I am reassessing what we’ll actually do on a day-to-day basis and how we’ll set it all up. Looking back on our last year there are some things that Kent really
Continue readingSummer of Shapes: Oval & Rectangle
Kent was 25 months old. Since we fell so far behind I started covering two shapes every week. We learned the ASL signs for oval, rectangle, and purple. I don’t have many pictures related to our theme. We used our “A Rectangle Can Be…” cards, the Lauri toys rectangle and stacking pegs, and a beginning pattern block puzzle with rectangles and ovals. I added rectangle and oval buttons to his playdough bin. I didn’t get to it but thought of adding a deodorant dispenser top to the bin for pressing oval shapes in to the dough. He decorated printouts for our shape display. I couldn’t find shapes with the names printed inside of them so I made my own. That way we can cut them out and still have them labeled. If you want my templates let me know and I’ll e-mail them to you. I gave him this sheet from Memorizing the Moments in a page protector so he could erase and redo it. The week was mostly filled with random activities of his choice. We’ve been visiting the library all along but I guess I’ve been forgetting to photograph our favorites.
Continue readingSummer of Shapes: Star
We learned the ASL signs for star, moon, and yellow. We did “circle time” for the first time and he LOVED it! More on that later. I hung a couple more hooks in the kitchen within his reach so he has a place to put his bib if it’s clean enough to use again. This post is linked to: Tot School Gathering Place
Continue readingShape Milk Caps
Kent was 24 months old. We did some Triangle activities the week of June 9-15 but somehow I can’t find any pictures! After that I was consumed with the thought that baby could come any time and Kent was spending a lot of time with his Dad. So, we didn’t do much Tot School for awhile. We eased back in to it the week of July 21. This was something I came up with in a rush on my first day home alone as a mama of two. I wanted to have plenty to keep Kent busy so I had this ready and waiting when he woke up. He played with it for most of an hour off and on. He matched up a few but had more fun stacking them and trying to stack them while they floated. The marker came off the pan with a brillo pad and I saved the caps for another day.
Continue readingSummer of Shapes: Square
Kent was 22 months old. I’d rather get these posts up without links than not at all. If you want more information on any of the toys or printables you see just comment and I’ll try to get back to you. Do you remember learning about shapes as a child? This post is linked to: Tot School Gathering Place Montessori Monday Preschool & Kindergarten Community
Continue readingSummer of Shapes: Circle
Kent was 22 months old. After doing our colors and some fun miscellaneous themes last year we were ready for something else to carry us through the summer months. Why not shapes!? I was a bit skeptical that Kent would actually pick up on the shapes and learn to identify them. However, the same thing that happened with our color themes has been happening with the shape themes. He seems oblivious to what I’m trying to show him, and then weeks later he pipes up with “Triangle!” and I realize that he did get it. Our learning time together is supposed to be a fun, intentional way to expose him to new concepts. That’s it: exposure without expectations. That’s what works. We started with the circle shape. Here are our tot trays: Nesting cups from Green Sprouts. He had a lot of fun with these so we moved them to his toy kitchen where he can always access them. “A Shape Can Be…” circle printable from Making Learning Fun. I laminated them and added velcro dots. This one was a big hit! Here are some action shots for you: This post is linked to: Tot School Gathering Place
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