The conventional wisdom among homeschoolers is… you can focus on the older kids, and Get Something Done, while the toddler naps. That is SO TRUE. Cranky BabyGirl napped from 11 am - 1 pm today and during that time, JediBoy and I…
- did two learning wrap-ups (addition - +2 and +3)
- went through about 20 Brain Quest cards with 5 questions on each (first grade)
- did 10 each of jumping jacks, toe touches and push-ups (quite modified, of course!)
- he counted out loud to 100 while jumping in place
- worked through about two dozen flashcards (Disney addition and subtraction)
- worked through two dozen more flashcards with JediBoy finding the answers on his “educational keyboard”
- talked about print making
- made practice prints from styrofoam trays
- he made one final styrofoam tray covered with hearts and happy faces
- we used that tray to print a couple dozen valentines
And I had time to check my email, finish and post my latest game review, and have a snack. In two hours? That’s completely impossible when BabyGirl is awake!
You’ll see in our activities that I’m suggesting more math / number activities. JediBoy has come so far this year in reading - when we sat down last night to read our Valentine books, he decided to read them to me instead, and did! We hadn’t opened those books in a year, so it was sight reading for him, and he did great. Now I’d like to encourage and indulge his curiosity about numbers. So I ordered the addition and subtraction learning wrap-ups from another homeschooler on VegSource, and when we’re spending quiet time together I’m more likely to get down a bin of math-related things than to just pull out a book for him to read to me. Even the Brain Quest packs have one math question on each card, so today he got lots of practice. He was explaining his reasoning to me on questions like 9 + 9 (9+10 is 19, and 9 is one less than 10, so 9+9 is one less than 9+10, or 18). I talked him through a couple 2-digit plus 2-digit addition problems, and he even did a fraction / division question in his head (divide a pie in thirds, then divide each third in half - how many pieces do you have?). We’ll see how far this path takes us.
Because he’s been sick all last week and is still a little tired and low-energy, I changed my plans for Valentines - usually, he makes each one individually. I knew he wouldn’t last through two dozen valentines that way, so instead he made a design on the back of a styrofoam tray and we printed the valentines.
We made test prints from the edges of the tray. Then I cut a flat piece from the bottom and JediBoy used a dull pencil, a yarn needle and a ball point pen to make a design on the tray.
I used the pencil to make sure his lines were evenly deep.
JediBoy painted the tray between prints.
Then I helped him position the tray on the front of the card and he pressed it down.
Our cards!
