Tot School: Spring is Here!

B is currently 30 months old.

The highlight of this past week was making Spring Cookie Cottages together as a family. (See this post for more details and photos of this fun activity!)

We were blessed with a couple of days with really nice weather this past week, so we couldn't pass up the opportunity to spend lots of Tot School time outside working on large motor skills.

B is getting quite confident on his tricycle these days, and has wanted to spend lots of time practicing.

We've also enjoyed batting practice,

running,

kicking a ball,

jumping,

and bouncing.

B is definitely happy that Spring is here!

Spring Cookie Cottages

Remember our Valentine Cookie Houses? Well, we had so much fun with them, that we decided to try a version using Easter candy. I made them 1/4 the size of the Valentine houses, which turned out to be a great size. I call them "Spring Cookie Cottages".

This is the one I made. I used M&Ms, Pez, and coconut grass.

This is B's creation. J put on dots of icing, and B enjoyed placing the candy pieces on the dots. (Great for fine motor control, sure, but also just plain fun!)

Here's J's cottage, complete with decorative brick wall and "Easter eggs" hiding in the grass! The shingles are (of course) jelly beans--J's favorite.

Here's the one N made, with a Starburst door and colorful gravel. (Who needs to mow a lawn?)

K created a cozy honeymoon getaway cottage, with a cute Pez chimney and a flower bed overflowing with colorful blooms in the back.

Of course, eating the houses is the best part of all. Just ask B!

For other tot-friendly projects and recipes, visit Delicious Ambiguity.

Weekly Wrap-Up: Almost Spring Edition

Can it really be time for Weekly Wrap-Up already? The calendar says yes, so here we go!

A few highlights of what's going well:

• I managed to get all the drawing prizes packed up and shipped out. If you were one of the winners, the Post Office tells me you should be receiving your goodies today (if they haven't arrived already). Although it may sound strange, I truly enjoyed the whole giveaway process so much, that I can't wait to hold another one! Stay tuned.
• I finished another week of C25K! Although it's not my main goal, I have lost a couple of pounds in the process, which feels good.
• Baby P took her first step this week! She has been working very determinedly on her balance, and is improving every day. This has been such a joyful time for all of us to see her progress and celebrate with her.
• B has loved playing with balls this week, practicing catching, throwing, and kicking. The weather was nice enough for part of the week for him to play in the backyard to his heart's content. Winter and too many sick days were definitely hard on this active child. Welcome, Spring!
• B is getting very good at dressing and undressing himself, which we are all celebrating. He also learned to peel an orange with very little help, which he was ecstatic about.
• K has really been enjoying math. In the past couple of weeks, she has especially had fun devising numerous ways to use and play with attribute blocks as well as exploring non-standard measurement.
• K completed the first level of All About Spelling, and is thrilled to move on to Level 2. She particularly enjoys manipulating the phonogram tiles and writing with markers on our "Spelling Board" (large white board). She has a great intuition for spelling, but this program is great to reinforce more specific rules. This has really increased her confidence in this area.
• N has been spending a lot of time this week riding his bike around the neighborhood. It has been a long process for him to feel confident on it, but he's finally there! This has been a great experience for him to keep trying something that didn't come easily to him and to overcome his fears to reach a goal. We have all been thrilled at his success.
• Since N joined a Cub Scout group a couple of months ago, he has had great fun working through the requirements. We decided to make "Scouts" one of our daily workboxes, so he has been making steady progress. He earned his Bobcat badge in about a week, and is now working toward his Wolf. This has been a fabulous program for him, with a good mix of learning activities that we might not come up with otherwise. He and J are looking forward to his first Pinewood Derby next month!
• We had a great time as a family making Spring Cookie Cottages. This is definitely a holiday tradition we will be continuing!

A few things that haven't been so great:

• Baby P is definitely in the process of cutting some teeth--the two in front on the top--and it has been a miserable week for her. She is also getting a cold, and has not been sleeping well due to congestion. We're all extra tired and needy this week!
• We had a dentist appointment this week for N and K, which, although it went well, was an interruption in our schedule. Although workboxing definitely helps with this, I still struggle to get back into our routine after it is disturbed.
• I have been feeling emotionally drained and on the verge of burnout lately. I have decided it's time for another personal retreat, which I'll be able to take in a couple of weeks. I just hope I can hold it together until then!

Well, that's our week in a nutshell! To see what other homeschoolers have been up to this week, visit Kris's blog.

Fun with Filling in the Blank

One thing I have done with my children beginning when they are toddlers is to give them a chance to "fill in the blank". When I read a familiar story or sing a familiar song, I will pause periodically, allowing them to supply the next word or phrase. When they are very small (or when the story is less familiar to them) I might be met with silence, so I'll just say the word myself and continue. I have always been amazed, however, at how soon they really can supply missing words, and all three of my oldest children have really enjoyed the "game" as toddlers.

This is a great way to encourage memorization at a very early age. It also increases the interactivity of stories and songs (making them more enjoyable and memorable), points their attention at the connection between spoken and printed words, and heightens awareness of individual words, phrases, and language patterns (such as rhyming).

I just had to share a humorous experience we had with this technique recently, though. B chose this story for bedtime reading:

We went through the first two-page spread, with him "filling in the blanks" as follows:

Me: "Come, be my . . . "

B: "friend,"

Me: "and together we'll . . . "

B: "play."

Me: We'll be happy and . . . "

B: "busy"

Me: "all through the . . . "

B: "day."

We turned the page and came to this:

Me: "Together we can . . . "

B: "swing from a tree,"

Me: "we can . . ."

B: "EAT BUGS!!!"

Now THAT's true friendship!

We all (including B) laughed so hard when he said it, that we couldn't even finish the story. It was the most memorable bedtime we've had in a very long time. I guess it shows that this fill-in-the-blank technique can encourage family bonding as well!

Winners!

Thanks to everyone who participated in this giveaway! This was even more fun than I thought it would be. I enjoyed meeting other homeschooling bloggers as well as clearing a little space off my shelves. I may have to do more giveaways like this in the future, just for fun!

Here are the official winners, chosen by random.org:

Drawing 1: Basic Signing Vocabulary Cards, Set A

Winner: Spesamor Academy

Drawing 2: The Usborne Internet-Linked First Encyclopedia of History

Winner: Mama Hen

Drawing 3: A Thomas Jefferson Education

Winner: Charity

Drawing 4: Junior Great Books complete set of K-1 Student Anthologies

Winner: Jeanine

Drawing 5: Assorted computer learning games

Winner: Brandy

I will be sending each of the winners an e-mail today asking for mailing information. Congratulations, and thanks to everyone for entering!

Tot School: Sherlock Deluxe

B is currently 30 months old.

(Note: This post is the third in a series on adapting games

to play with a toddler. Find the first two posts here and here.)

Another game we've had fun with lately is Sherlock Deluxe. Although the recommended minimum age is 5 years, I heartily agree with the claim on the back of the box that calls this "A Memory Game For the Whole Family!" J and I enjoy playing as much as our children, and it is easily adaptable for younger players as well.

The game comes with a large deck of sturdy, easy-to-handle picture cards attractively illustrated with common animals and objects such as a balloon, a key, a duck, a drum, a sun, and a lightbulb.

Also included is a pawn in the shape of Sherlock the dog, the game's mascot.

When played according to the game instructions, the deck is shuffled, then eight picture cards are arranged in a circle as in the photo above. The players agree on a reasonable amount of time to memorize which card is where, then they are all turned face-down.

The person to the right of the current player places the pawn in front of any card. The current player then attempts to name the object or animal on the card. If the card is guessed correctly, the player moves the pawn the number of spaces and in the direction shown on the card. The player's turn continues until the pawn lands on a face-up card, which the player then wins. (The above photo shows a turn where the player correctly named the lightbulb, then moved around the circle and correctly named the duck, and is now ready to guess another card.) If a player guesses incorrectly, all the cards are turned face-down and the next player takes a turn.

This is a fun alternative to matching-type memory games, and the number of cards can be adjusted up or down to increase or decrease the level of challenge. One time, when we were all playing, I asked everyone to tell us their strategy for memorizing the cards. It was fascinating (and a great learning experience) to see that we each had a different method of accomplishing the same thing!

Here is the way B and I like to play together--with just four cards at a time. The game usually holds his interest for at least two turns each (sometimes longer), and I have been amazed at his ability to remember the pictures. His favorite thing, though, is moving the pawn, which is great for counting practice.

When we first lay out the cards, I verbalize my own strategy of memorizing them--relating them to a person, object, or location in the room. For example, I'll say, "The duck is sitting on Mom's head, B is playing with the yo-yo, the light bulb is hanging on the fireplace, and the chair is by the bookcase." B has really picked up on this, and will repeat these phrases when guessing the cards on his turn.

In addition to playing the game as intended, we have used (or plan to use) the cards in the following ways:

• B loves to just look through the picture cards and talk about the animals and objects he sees, asking lots of questions.
• One day, B decided to sort the cards according to the numbers on them.
• N and K used these for a story game they devised all on their own, where each player draws a certain number of cards from the deck, then has to write a cohesive story containing all of the objects. They turned out so fun!
• The cards could be sorted into different categories, based on color, purpose, usual location, etc. I would like to try this type of activity with B this week.

I'm sure there are many more options for using the components of this game--I would love to hear your ideas!

To see what other tots are doing for fun and learning, be sure to check out Carisa's blog.

C25K and Me

Well, after lots of talking about what I'm doing with my children in our homeschool, I've decided it's time for a post on something I'm working on! The newest learning experience in my life is J and I deciding to undertake the C25K challenge. Since neither of us has ever been into running (or anything even close to it), this was a BIG step for both of us! When J first told me several months ago about the concept of C25K and mentioned that he was considering trying it, I was really skeptical that anything could turn ME into a runner. In short, I scoffed.

I couldn't stop thinking about it, though, and I started reading everything I could about the program. Somewhere along the way, I realized that 5K isn't really as long as I always thought it was, and the idea of disciplining myself to do something I've never done before was definitely appealing. Once we decided to do it, it has actually been very exciting! We've both been amazingly successful in rising early and completing our workout for the past two weeks, and we still feel motivated to continue. Here are some of the reasons I think this is working for us:

• We're doing it together. I can't count how many times I've begun an exercise program (though never running before!) and then just kind of gradually let it slide. I definitely have motivation issues when it comes to working out! Since the C25K program is built on a 3-days-per-week schedule, we can alternate mornings (and both take Sunday off). I honestly don't enjoy exercising with other people, but there's just something about both of us doing the same workouts (though on different days). This kind of support has made ahuge difference for me, and for J, too.
• Our kids know we're doing it. The ask us each day, "Was this your day to run?" and "How did it go?" It has been fun for them to see us learning something new, too--especially something that isn't easy for us. This is especially motivating, since I can't imagine expecting them to keep working on things that are difficult for them if I can't do it myself!
• We found a great iPod Touch app. One of the reasons I was hesitant to try this program was that I had envisioned having to use a stopwatch to gauge each section of the workout. Thankfully, though, we came across this great app for the iPhone/iPod Touch. This program simplifies the entire training process--not only does it help you track your progress through the pre-set workouts, but it serves to cue you during each actual session. You can have iTunes playing in the background with whatever audio you choose (I prefer podcasts), and a pleasant voice tells you to "run" or "walk" or to begin your cooldown at the appropriate times. I seriously cannot imagine trying this program without it!
• The program itself is brilliant. One thing that's difficult for me in many areas of my life is pushing myself too hard too fast and burning out. This program is specifically designed to keep that from happening, and it is geared toward building up endurance gradually.
• Even after only two weeks, we've seen progress! I will freely admit that I really struggled on the first day of trying this program. Due to all the reasons listed above, though, I kept going. As I completed each session, I found myself covering more distance in the same amount of time. More important to me, though, is the fact that I have felt significantly more able to sustain each run on each succeeding day. This has been amazingly motivating to me, and my husband reports a similar feeling.

Although I never thought I'd say this, I really am looking forward to continuing this running program. I would recommend the C25K challenge to anyone, and someday, when our kids are older, I will definitely be recommending it to them as well!