Chasing Babies... Growing in Grace

Sunday, June 6, 2010

Tot School

~Sweet Pea is 26 months, 3 weeks (for real this time... oops)~

Here is a little glimpse into our Tot School for this week. I think we did more than what's here... it's just that it's the only day I had the camera going. :)

The kids love doing "Pom Poms" and ask for it all the time! I made a point of including them in this weeks plans. Sometimes Sweet Pea needs to be reminded to hold the tongs closer to the opening!

It's a great use for our Pampered Chef tongs! (I keep them washed though, because Daddy actually likes to use them in the kitchen.) :)

It was a big hit!

Then I added a canning jar to the fun and she filled it up...

And filled it up some more!

Then we tried dumping them out. After a while I got smart and kept the little pom poms for the jar... they were easier to get out again. :)

We did some puzzles too.

I try to point out what colors they are as she's doing them.

While Tornado was doing his work, I let Sweet Pea try cutting too. It isn't the first time she's tried... but we don't do it very often. She was getting frustrated because it wasn't cutting well, but I think it was a good attempt.

We also included Sweet Pea in a lot of our preschool activities this last week.

One of the biggest things I introduced this week is memorizing her own verses. She's only recently started putting sentences together and is starting to sing whole phrases of songs on her own (I just noticed this in the last week or so), so I hadn't really tried any yet. One day this week while we were sitting together on the couch looking at books, I started saying Genesis 1:1 over and over again and she started joining me some. This was the first verse I worked on with Tornado and he learned it rather quickly! I'll be integrating this verse into our times together more and more as we go along.

Visit Tot School for more tot learning fun!

Labels: Homeschooling my 2 Year Old, Tot School

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

Tot School

~ Sweet Pea is 26 months, 3 weeks ~

Though I have not gone so far as to make official "plans" for Sweet Pea's "Tot School" just yet, I have made plans to be more intentional. This has turned into some very fun times around our home during the day!

Sweet Pea wanted to play with the train tracks (Tornado wasn't going to argue!), so we all played train tracks. Tornado had a track on my left, and Sweet Pea and I worked with her track on my right. Sweet Pea likes making her trains go up and down the hill, so we spent some time doing that, saying "up"...

... and down. And up and down...

...and sometimes "off". She thought it was very fun! We did this for a long while.

Then she wanted to read and picked this tractor book with flaps.

She wanted to do puzzles next, so I brought them all out and she worked her way through them. (Yes, she is wearing her brother's cowboy boot slippers!)

We made towers with blocks too. Part of this lesson is teaching the kids not to knock down each others' towers without asking.

I generally *hate* play-doh. I avoid it when I can... but everything fell into place to play with it last week, so I went for it. And you know what? It wasn't as bad as I was expecting. Sweet Pea wanted a bridge, so I made her one. She put her hand under again and again and I would say "under" each time. She would laugh and pull it out and do it again.

After a bit I showed her how to do "over" and she walked her fingers "over" the bridge (that was hard to catch on camera... she's so fast!)

After putting her hand under the bridge one time, I grabbed both sides of it and wrapped it around her wrist, saying "around". She thought this was very funny and wanted me to do it over and over again!

We did a number of other things throughout the week (this was the only day I got "blog-able" pictures.) We went on a "nature walk" to the end of the street where the kids are aloud to run around in a field. We read tons of books and played around! We've even started spending more "table time". She'll color for a while, then she enjoys "organizing" the crayons, moving them from the box to the lid, and then flipping it back.

Head over to Tot School to see the other Tot School Posts!

Labels: As it happens..., Tot School

Monday, May 17, 2010

An introduction to Tot School

~Sweet Pea is 26 months old~

Ok... so I mentioned you'd be hearing more about Carisa. First of all, she doesn't know me at all. It just makes me feel good to talk about her like we're real life friends. She, among a few others, has a blog that I've been just eating up over the last few weeks (like I have time for that!) I stumbled on her a year or two ago, but really I wasn't ready for her then. Somehow, I've re-stumbled on her in the last month and I am oh. so. ready! I hope you'll like her as much as I do, because, as I've mentioned, I'm going to be talking about her a bunch in the days, weeks and months to come. And first to come... is Tot School.

Oh how I love Tot School. I've been slowly working in some things with Sweet Pea over the last week or two, but really I'm just getting my feet wet. I keep wanting to officially start, and I know me. If I don't "officially" start sharing it here, I won't ever officially start.

The basic premise is to be intentionally playing with our Tots! I know some of you are thinking, "well, duh... I do that anyway." That's great! You're already "doing" Tot School. You're just not calling it anything special. Me??? I am very good at letting my kids play while I do things... just to look back on the day and be disappointed that I missed a chance to just "be" with my babies. So for me, this Tot School thing is magic. Some days it's 5 minutes finding animals in a book together on the couch and making noises (like today), or putting our hands together in a bucket of beans for a few minutes (also today). Other days it's working through all the puzzles together or playing with pom poms. We've done a number of things over the last week or so, and I've been enjoying every minute! I'm looking forward to being even more intentional (and dare I say it, even planning the intentionality) in the coming weeks. What a great way, especially after baby comes, to have some one on one time with my baby girl... even if it's only 5-10-20 minutes some days.

What about Tornado? Oh, he's usually right there too. For some of the things we all take turns (like stirring the beans in the bucket). For other things he is practicing waiting patiently and letting Sweet Pea be center stage of mommies life (this is very good for him!) I imagine he'll be a regular part of Tot School... but the activities I choose and guide will be tailored for Sweet Pea. Don't you worry about him though... when we were done with Tot School time today, he was already making his way to the kitchen table, asking if it was time for "big boy school". And of course, it was!

Head over to Tot School to see what others are doing with there tots at various ages and stages. And let me know if you decided to join in... either on your blog or just at home. I'd love to know what you're doing with your littles!

Labels: Homeschooling my 2 Year Old, Tot School

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Chasing Babies... Growing in Grace

Sunday, June 6, 2010

Tot School

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

Tot School

Monday, May 17, 2010

An introduction to Tot School

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