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TradCathMom
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| Posted: March 10 2005 at 2:05pm | IP Logged
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So, what do you do with the Tots while you are homeschooling? I find myself very busy with the oldest 3 or 4 (grades 3, 2, 1 and k/pre-k. I'd like some suggestions for the other 3 besides running around making a mess in the entire rest of the house.
Do you help them change activities, have a schedule? I thought about having a timer and every 15 minutes change their activites. Homeschooling would be much easier if I knew how to contain the littles so they have fun things to do and don't get bored, etc..
I'd love as many ideas as humanly possible!
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Julie
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gwendyt
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| Posted: March 10 2005 at 9:14pm | IP Logged
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Julie - I was just at www.mothersruleoflife.com (Holly Pierlot's site) and she has some excellent ideas for this...on home page click on November 2004 archives, then scroll down and find post "finding activities for little ones" and click on it. She also has further ideas in "holly's notebook" - scroll down that page for "activity ideas - little ones" Good stuff!
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Wendy
Married to DH Joe 18 yrs., 8 beautiful children - 2 girls, 6 boys (14,12,9,7,5,3,1,newbie born 3/1/2010)
A Little of This, A Little of That
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Meredith
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| Posted: March 11 2005 at 9:09am | IP Logged
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Julie, my current littlest is a very bright and busy almost 3 yo. He is already interested in *doing* school, so I gave him his own notebook and everything he does artwise, sticker pics, prayers he makes up, poems and stories I pop into the notebook. He's VERY proud of it and loves to show it to anybody who'll want to see it. We also do alot of block towers (math) peg boards, stacking cups, puzzles, play doh, cutting and pasting, and of course free play, as long as he doesn't distract the older ones too much. He'll usually always sit with us too for read-alouds and likes to give his version of narration.
Now, all that said, there are many days when he would rather monopoloize mom from the other kids and things don't always go smoothly. On those kinds of days, I will assign one of the older children to do an activity with him, or just free play and then we swap so I have time to work with each child individually.
There are some great discussions going on in the Real Learning forum about setting up your school environment, definately worth a look see, so many great ideas that might be helpful too.
HTH a little bit. Keep loving those little ones, they will only be little for such a short time. *JMJ*
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Meredith
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Elizabeth
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Here are some more thoughts, from a talk I did with Kathy Weber at NACHE a few years ago. We called it "Maria Montessori meets Charlotte Mason."2005-03-11_092124_NACHE_2003_M&M.doc
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Elizabeth Foss is no longer a member of this forum. Discussions now reflect the current management & are not necessarily expressions of her book, *Real Learning*, her current work, or her philosophy. (posted by E. Foss, Jan 2011)
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TradCathMom
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| Posted: March 11 2005 at 10:35am | IP Logged
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Thanks for all the ideas. I have been very frustrated in this department and I'm happy to see some ideas. We are in the process of building a house (still trying to get through red tape) but we did set it up so that we will have a large loft where we will house our school, office, library, sewing, etc... We have a schoolroom now but it is very tight and things just pile up all over, etc... (I am not sure it would qualify as "a creative mess"  )
Wendy thanks for the link to Holly's site, that was one long list of ideas! Though I had to chuckle about the idea of letting them play in the sink! I can only imagine a couple towels would not do it here!!
Elizabeth, I just received your book the other day and sat down to peruse it last night and I love it. I had a hard time putting it down but it was going on 1 am! I will read the article you suggested. How do you stay so humble with all your great ideas?! 
I think I need to organize this area of my life (that is school with the littles). Thanks also for directing me to the other forum. I am sure I miss alot of posts as my computer time is limited!
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Julie
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TradCathMom
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Oh Meredith, I meant to add that 2 of the littles do seem interested in school but I find it hard to find the time to work with them. However, I *think* it is getting better as the older ones can do more and more all the time on their own.
I love your idea of giving them their own notebooks I will have to do that.
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Julie
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Elizabeth
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TradCathMom wrote:
Elizabeth, I just received your book the other day and sat down to peruse it last night and I love it. I had a hard time putting it down but it was going on 1 am! I will read the article you suggested. How do you stay so humble with all your great ideas?!
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It is very humbling to be up late at night with great ideas only to find in the morning that there is no way to carry them out under my own strength. When I fall flat on my face (as I often do), I am reminded again and again that his power is perfect in my weakness and that, while I can do all things in Him, I can do nothing under my own strength. The hard thing for me is remembering that if I can't do it, after begging for help, it isn't meant to be.And there you go, we're back to the whole control issue being discussed in the prayer forum under "Job Interview."
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Elizabeth Foss is no longer a member of this forum. Discussions now reflect the current management & are not necessarily expressions of her book, *Real Learning*, her current work, or her philosophy. (posted by E. Foss, Jan 2011)
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TradCathMom
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Oh, Meredith, again, what do you use for a notebook? A 3 ring binder?
Thanks
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Julie
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TradCathMom
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Quote:
It is very humbling to be up late at night with great ideas only to find in the morning that there is no way to carry them out under my own strength. When I fall flat on my face (as I often do), I am reminded again and again that his power is perfect in my weakness and that, while I can do all things in Him, I can do nothing under my own strength. The hard thing for me is remembering that if I can't do it, after begging for help, it isn't meant to be.And there you go, we're back to the whole control issue being discussed in the prayer forum under "Job Interview." |
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This is where I found myself this lent. I went off-lists because I felt I needed something but I didn't know what. I'm a very prideful and selfish person and that just isn't what I wanted to be. And these forums have been the most humbling thing for me. Well, I digress.... I will go check out the control issue...
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Julie
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Meredith
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Hey Julie, we just use those plain old white 3-ring binders you can buy in a pack at Costco. They are like presentation binders so the kids can personalize the front and back and spine with cover art and what the notebook contains. Try a 1/2 inch one for the littles and if your olders need them the 1 inch, 1 1/2 inch and 2 inch work great for unit studies and longer projects. Then all you have to do is add the page dividers and page protectors, voila your set and you have records of what they are learning to boot! (Not my original idea mind you  )
HTH, *JMJ*
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Meredith
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cathhomeschool
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happyheartsmom wrote:
| Hey Julie, we just use those plain old white 3-ring binders you can buy in a pack at Costco. |
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FYI for those (like us) who don't have a Costco -- Sam's carries the same binders.
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Janette (4 boys - 22, 21, 15, 14)
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Meredith
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Hey Janette, thanks for posting this info as being in a Western state I forget how far Costco goes.
Another thing I remebered too, a friend of mine sent me a list of pre-school activities on a list where-by you put each activity (for a 2 week period or so) into a box or a zip-top bag and only bring this toy or activity out during school. She of course suggests rotating so the toys and activities are always fresh and little bit of a surprise.
Letting them have their own shelf or cubby or box with their things in seems to be helpful also.
I'll try and scan the list I have to a word doc and maybe Janette you can let me know how to send it and to which archive or file.
HTH.
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Meredith
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Karen T
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happyheartsmom wrote:
Another thing I remebered too, a friend of mine sent me a list of pre-school activities on a list where-by you put each activity (for a 2 week period or so) into a box or a zip-top bag and only bring this toy or activity out during school. She of course suggests rotating so the toys and activities are always fresh and little bit of a surprise.
HTH. |
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This page has a lot of links
http://www.redshift.com/~bonajo/
If you click on Preschoolers: What can they do during school time?, and then on Dolly's ziploc bag activities, this might be the same or similar list. There are quite a few other links on there as well for preschooler ideas.
hth,
Karen T
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Meredith
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OOOH, I hadn't heard of Dolly's list, thanks for the link Karen, it looks great!
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Meredith
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TradCathMom
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That does look like a great list! I think this will really help. They are good for a while but then they straggle off and well, they never get bored but they get a bit too creative
Karen T, may I ask what your avatar is a picture of? I'm sure it is probably obvious but I've been trying to figure it out!!
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Julie
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cathhomeschool
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happyheartsmom wrote:
| I'll try and scan the list I have to a word doc and maybe Janette you can let me know how to send it and to which archive or file. |
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Meredith, life has been hectic for the last few days, so I hadn't had much time on the computer. Sorry for taking so long to get back to you! If you'll scan the list, you can email it to me either as a Word file, text file, or just pasted into an email. I'll upload it to the server and post the link here. Anyone else who wants to upload files can send them to me too!
And thanks for the "rotating activities" reminder. I was at a friend's house the other day and she had reminded me about this too. I told myself I would start doing this, and then promptly forgot! My little ones could benefit from the variety, I think.
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Janette (4 boys - 22, 21, 15, 14)
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Meredith
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HI Janette, we've been busy the last two days as well and I forgot to try my scan  Let me work on which method seems to work best and I'll try and get it to you by the weekend or so.
We thrive on the *rotating* concept, it's a gem
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Meredith
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4Real Forums : Mothering and Family Life
Topic: Tots
