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JennGM
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| Posted: Sept 14 2013 at 1:16pm | IP Logged
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This is my first year actually teaching both boys...while it's always a learning environment, I really need to buckle down for my younger son.
I need some art and learning activities that aren't too much mom-prep. This son is very creative and artsy. He loves coloring, painting, cutting and pasting, drawing, dough. It doesn't take much for him to be drawn into this. He loves puzzles, and is on the verge of reading -- he only needs a few pieces of the puzzle to realize he already is doing basic reading. He has been forming his own letters for a while, but needs help in that area. I'm planning on introducing cursive for him this year.
And of course he loves books, but he's not reading fluently yet.
My problem is the oldest son, 10, is easily distracted. He needs some Mommy time alone, but without younger son around too much.
I've got tons of resources, and used to have great ideas, but I'm tired, worried about my heart issues, and just have little time and energy to research and prepare.
So, some quick ideas and refreshers? I know I'll need to set him up, and help him periodically. I don't mean to just abandon him, but when he's involved, he's very focused.
I do have Liturgical Calendar coloring pages set up for every day. That's where I am. I need to get some more play clay that will be safe.
Some friend was suggesting multicolored beans for scooping and sorting. I've got movable alphabet that he can use at times.
And then? I know there are fabulous ideas here, I'm just needing some hand holding.
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Jennifer G. Miller
Wife to  & ds1  '03 & ds2  '07
Family in Feast and Feria
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JodieLyn
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Since he loves art and craft things.. what I would do is pre-select some items for a week or so.. so set out certain types of paper and colors of paint or only cylindrical shapes one week.. and then do only cube shapes and different colors another week.. the idea is that by limiting the options they explore how those will work together rather than going for their favorite every time.
Plus you get a nice "change" when you set out a whole new set of items.
And art is so wonderful because it's great to be open ended which mean you just need to provide the materials and let the child determine what to do with them.
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Jodie, wife to Dave
G-18, B-17, G-15, G-14, B-13, B-11, G-9, B-7, B-5, B-4
All men who have turned out worth anything have had the chief hand in their own education.
-Sir Walter Scott
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CrunchyMom
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Off the top of my head, I think that kids are inspired by different media. In one of the preschool art books I read, she spoke of setting up the easel with different shaped papers. So, maybe cut the construction paper into a circle or heart, etc.. And offer it with a particular set of markers or chalk or oil pastels.
Model Magic is fun and comes in pouches. You can buy a box of white and offer it with markers
The art class we attend offers scratch paper often, and the kids really like it.
Maybe a set of different shaped scissors?
Paper plates can be a lot of fun to cut and color?
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Lindsay
Five Boys(6/04) (6/06) (9/08)(3/11),(7/13), and 1 girl (5/16)
My Symphony
[URL=http://mysymphonygarden.blogspot.com/]Lost in the Cosmos[/UR
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guitarnan
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You can make a lot of things from paper lunch bags, too - color one blue, stuff it and tie it off, insta-whale. Draw a face on the bottom, insta-puppet. Cut out holes, you have a luminaria. There are lots of paper bag crafts on Pinterest, and you can tie many into lessons you're already working on (puppets for narrations, whales for science, luminaria for Las Posadas.
When my children were younger, I ordered newsprint from Dick Blick by the ream. Great for doodling, paper airplanes, hangman in the restaurant while waiting for food to arrive...
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Nancy in MD. Mom of ds (24) & dd (18); 31-year Navy wife, move coordinator and keeper of home fires. Writer and dance mom.
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Mackfam
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| Posted: Sept 14 2013 at 2:56pm | IP Logged
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I'm juggling several ages, too, and have one child your youngest son's age. She's in almost the exact same place in terms of reading and wants some one-on-one time each day because she is excited to read! She's also my very motivated child and she wants productive work to do!
I work really hard to manage my time so that when I'm working with one child, the others have something productive to do at that time. I keep choices limited to around 4 - 6, and keep things set up attractively on a little shelf just for her. I rotate items every 2 - 3 weeks. I have ALWAYS loved setting out a few seasonal items - picture books, crafts, music - when I rotate and freshen my little people choices.
Here are favorite choices for choice time (ht: Angela for that term which we use all the time around here!):
** Scissor time using old magazines. Bonus **glue time** to paste pictures on paper after cutting out.
** Geography puzzle - continent work
** Rotate art supplies - color pencils one week, chalks next, markers, crayons, watercolors, acrylics.
** My kids LOVE acrylic paints in Chinet-heavy paper plates. This makes a great activity for talking about colors - complementary, contrasting, etc. Also color mixing.
** You've already got the clay/beeswax/playdough angle covered.
** Chalk and brown paper bag for chalk work.
** A really nice set of dominoes for counting/math work. Our favorites is a TJ Whitney's hardwood set.
** Magnifying glass for outdoor time.
** I love spending time with my littles and really concentrating through the year on a fun study of seasons, so we do a simple study of seasons collage, either on a big heavy sheet of watercolor paper or cardstock and we put seasonal drawings, photos, leaves, seeds, pressed flowers, etc. It's sort of a visual, seasonal board of firsts.
** Mosaic art projects are fun with tissue paper and modge podge.
** Tweezers and then check your pantry for something or use small felt balls - move back and forth between bowls.
** Simple dropper and transfer of colored water.
** Tracing - shapes, pictures, puzzle pieces.
** Sorting rocks after a nature walk to collect them.
** This fall: sorting leaves and pressing them.
** Play cash register is ALWAYS popular here!
** Also, I try to pick 1 - 2 science picture books a term that we'll do *something* with. I usually use my Glenn Blough living science books for this because it's just SO easy to read a little each day and then easily see what might fit as a way to extend the lesson or get your hands in the lesson. I can usually find something from our reading to set out for exploration as part of choice time.
** Rubber stamps can be fun...but only if you can set some hard and fast rules about WHERE to stamp and how to clean. Otherwise, it can also be a mess. I have a nice alphabet set that my littles enjoy using.
** And then, I usually try to set out one educational DVD for choice time. Something like Leap Frog or Schoolhouse Rock or Liberty's Kids. I usually limit this a little, so they don't get to watch a program every single day, but sometimes, it's helpful...so I keep it there.
** Music is often pretty unschooly here - right now, I set out one Wee Sing around a theme (holiday, seasonal, history) and they have one for so many themes. I sometimes set out a Catholic children's CD, sometimes Wee Sing, sometimes a Latin Hymn I'm trying to get them to learn. It's just there on her choice time shelves and my dd goes to her music pretty often actually. Sometimes these spark an idea for me - like if she's listening to Wee Sing Mother Goose, I can easily find Mother Goose coloring sheets for her to work on while she listens.
** On that note, audio CDs by Jim Weiss have always been a huge hit here (I know different folks either love him or hate him), but an audio CD is also a great thing to set out for choice time. Again, it's often easy to find a coloring page online that I can print that coordinates.
** Don't forget to check out Enchanted Learning for fun, seasonal coloring sheets and dot-to-dots and things like that. I try to check them out once every week or two and print for the upcoming weeks. These can be spiral bound much like your liturgical year coloring book.
That's all I've got from looking around here and I need to run now...hope this adds to the great start on this thread already! 
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Jen Mackintosh
Wife to Rob, mom to dd 19 , ds 16, ds 11, dd 8, and dd 3
Wildflowers and Marbles
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lapazfarm
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Wedgits
Starfall.com
pattern blocks (fun by themselves, but also with a set of pattern cards to go along.)
a set of various magnets such as magnet marbles, horseshoe magnets, ring and button magnets and some metallic/non metallic objects to test and sort into categories (magnetic/not magnetic)or just free exploration.
Sink/float-simple. A jar or bowl of water and some stuff to put in it. A towel for drying them afterwards.
A set of objects (we use river rocks) and a scale to weigh them and place in order heaviest to lightest. Of course open-ended play with a scale or balance is always a big hit. Similar to a magnifying glass--just let him have at it.
Teach him how to use a simple field microscope and set him loose with it. Or buy a set of cheap prepared slides to look at.
Let him set up a terrarium or a bean sprouting activity.(put beans in clear jar near outside so he can watch them sprout.) Let him make a chart to track growth.
Get him a set of pH papers (or simple litmus papers) and let him test every liquid he can find.
Oobleck.(corn starch and water) Hours of entertainment for all ages.
Add plastic animals or cheap cars for added fun.
Lego, of course.
Set up a weather chart so he can record the weather each day. Use symbols for pre-readers/writers or let him copy from a simple set of words.
Make snowflakes.
Can he use a low-temp glue gun? Hours of entertainment with a glue gun and wood scraps (or toothpicks and Popsicle sticks)Or just use wood glue, but it takes longer.
Build architectural marvels with [plastic drinking straws and paper clips.(use clips for connectors by halfway unbending them for straight connections, or for corners use 2 clips clipped together)
Gumdrops and toothpicks
Let him make music by experimenting with filling glasses/jars with different amounts of water.
Geoboard and rubber bands--free play or give him a set of index cards with different shapes drawn on to copy.
Build with ice cubes and a dropper of water to make them stick together.Add a sprinkler of salt and let him do simple melt/freeze explorations.
Freeze some small plastic toys in a block of ice and let him hammer them out (outside activity!) or put them in a block of plaster of paris and let him scratch them out.
Any open-ended art, of course, but that age really takes to tempera paints and a BIG piece of paper.
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Theresa
us-schooling in beautiful Fairbanks, Alaska.
LaPaz Home Learning
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JennGM
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| Posted: Sept 16 2013 at 7:47pm | IP Logged
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Wonderful, easy to implement ideas! Thanks, ladies!
I also wanted to do a rotating picture book basket. Has anyone created a kind of list with yearly rotation of themes? I don't want to reinvent the wheel.
This is one thing I can do easily, request books from the library and have someone else pick them up if need be.
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Jennifer G. Miller
Wife to & ds1 '03 & ds2 '07
Family in Feast and Feria
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stellamaris
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Jenn, here's a few more thoughts:
Use store flyers to make "shopping lists" or "menus" by having them cutting out food they like and gluing on paper. Then, figure out the costs of different combinations of food. What would they "order" for dinner? If they had $X to spend, how much would be left over if they bought items X, Y, and Z? That kind of thing. Similar to this is making a paper plate with food pictures on it and figuring out the cost of that meal. Or, just hand them the flyers, the glue, and the scissors and see what they come up with! My boys loved this--they planned parties, designed meals, sorted food into categories, etc.
Rubbing leaves is fun in the fall. After rubbing, they can cut them out, glue on paper, and make cards with them.
We have played "store" in the past here. Just tape up a few empty food boxes, label with prices, and have them go shopping. Food is always popular with the boys
Dawn over at By Sun and Candlelight seems to have a nice list of seasonal picture books.
If you just want something to occupy them, colored pipe cleaners are fun to play with, not really messy, quiet, and light-weight. You can use them to make people or animals to act out stories you have read. Good for the doctor's office.
I second the Glenn Blough books recommendation from Jen--they are really good beginning science stories full of information. I'd be happy to drop off my copies (I think I have 3 or 4 of them) for you to use next time I head out past you (mid-October).
One other idea that has been popular here is making and illustrating a booklet on whatever is of interest to the boys. They can draw, copy information from other books, make lists, whatever. They could pick a topic (wild animals) or one subject to learn more about (Hawaii). Then, staple the pages together, cover with cardstock or construction paper and let them write the title and illustrate the cover. A fun way to get boys reading and writing, and it could be worked on over a period of several days or even a week or two. It doesn't need to be fancy at all--just whatever they can do on their own.
Or, you could do what I did with Sarah when she was six and I was on bed rest for three months--watch the Sound of Music every. single. day.  No wonder she loves to sing!!
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Caroline
Wife to dh 30+ yrs,ds's 83,85,89,dd's 91,95,ds's 01,01,02,grammy to 4
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stellamaris
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One more thing that was very successful for us was reading aloud the books that Michele Quigley has over at Mater Amabilis for Level 1A Geography (we enjoyed the fictional books about Europe--scroll down). Add a simple map to color from the National Geographic Mapmaker site, color a flag for the country, and you've got a whole year's worth of interesting geography.
P.S. I'd be happy to loan any of those books to you as well.
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Caroline
Wife to dh 30+ yrs,ds's 83,85,89,dd's 91,95,ds's 01,01,02,grammy to 4
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JennGM
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Great ideas, thanks! I found an idea in a book on my shelf. I was thinking of adding weather to keep track (we have a weather station and we get two newspapers a day). One book I have on my shelf is "Adventures in Weather" and it had a cut out newspaper weather page from the 80s, with highs and lows circled in the nation.
I thought that might be a good thing and since we get two newspapers, both boys could keep track and do at their own level of reading and comparison.
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Jennifer G. Miller
Wife to & ds1 '03 & ds2 '07
Family in Feast and Feria
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stellamaris
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That sounds like it would be simple and really easy to expand into a lot of learning activities for both math and geography.
This post shows some of the things you could easily do for math:Using the daily weather forecast for sneaky math I love that there is no prep required!
Your older ds could do more difficult problems, including graphs and averages, maybe? But that would take a bit more planning or instruction on your part. Younger ds could do basic addition, counting, comparing. Learning the names and lengths of the months, the order of the seasons, and how the climate changes throughout the year across the country could all be a natural part of looking at those weather maps for a few minutes a day.
Also, what a great way to learn to identify the states! Those maps are not usually labeled, so they will need to gradually learn the shapes and locations of the states.
You've got math, science, and geography right there! Just add Bible/Catechism and Reading and you are set 
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In Christ,
Caroline
Wife to dh 30+ yrs,ds's 83,85,89,dd's 91,95,ds's 01,01,02,grammy to 4
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CrunchyMom
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You might keep some of the DK Sticker Books on hand to rotate through as well. My ds3 just turned 5 over the weekend, and he got one of the books about animals, and it is a huge hit! They'd sort of fallen off my radar. Definitely something simple to keep a focused 6 year old absorbed
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Lindsay
Five Boys(6/04) (6/06) (9/08)(3/11),(7/13), and 1 girl (5/16)
My Symphony
[URL=http://mysymphonygarden.blogspot.com/]Lost in the Cosmos[/UR
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Betsy
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Jenn,
Re Seasonal Picture books I use A Picture Perfect Childhood by our own Cay Gibson!
I need to get back on reserving books at the library!
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When handcrafting my work, I always pray that it will raise your heart to all that is true, modest, just, holy, lovely and good fame!
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JennGM
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Betsy wrote:
Jenn,
Re Seasonal Picture books I use A Picture Perfect Childhood by our own Cay Gibson!
I need to get back on reserving books at the library! |
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Oh, thanks for the memory jog.
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Jennifer G. Miller
Wife to & ds1 '03 & ds2 '07
Family in Feast and Feria
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JennGM
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CrunchyMom wrote:
| You might keep some of the DK Sticker Books on hand to rotate through as well. My ds3 just turned 5 over the weekend, and he got one of the books about animals, and it is a huge hit! They'd sort of fallen off my radar. Definitely something simple to keep a focused 6 year old absorbed |
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Oh, we love those sticker books!!! Good idea!
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Jennifer G. Miller
Wife to & ds1 '03 & ds2 '07
Family in Feast and Feria
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4Real Forums : Nurturing the Years of Wonder
Topic: Need Help Setting Up Activities
