Space Lesson

This week we are learning about space. With it still being dark fairly early my little one had gotten very curious about the stars and moon so we decided to spend a week on space. Here are a few things that we did during that week. Good luck little Astronauts! 

Star-cave - Dramatic Play, Sensory, Gross and Fine Motor

Needed Items:

• A large box. (I used our XL dog kennel)
• Construction or Card Stock paper
• String or yarn of some sort
• Flash Light
• Cost $0.00

What to do:

1. Cut the paper into stars of various shapes.
2. Suspend stars from the top of the  "cave"
3. Tape Stars to the sides of the "cave"
4. Drape a blanket over the cave so it is completely dark
5. Give child a flash light and let him explore!
   
   
   Getting ready to explore our Star Cave!

 Inside our star cave! 

We counted stars, and talked about constellations!  

Make a shooting star - Fine Motor / Art / Creativity

Needed Items:

• Pom-poms or a collage material
• Construction or Card Stock paper
• Paint
• Popsicle stick
• Ribbon or streamers
• Cost $0.50

What to do:

1. Have a large star cut for your child to use.
2. Invite them to paint it.
3. Invite them to glue collage material on it.
4. Once dry glue or tape it to Popsicle stick 
5. Add ribbons 
6. Let the fun begin!

Dinosaur Study

 This week we have been learning about Dinosaurs!  It was an unexpected direction of study but I was happy to follow him on the adventure path he created!


Dinosaur Skin! - Art / Texture / Patterning
Needed items:

• Washable Paint - We mixed green and brown
• Paper Plates - 2 
• Bubble Wrap - We had ours saved from packages we received
• Total Expense - $0.00

How To:

1. Mix your paint onto one of the paper plates
2. On the other paper plate write "Child's name - Dinosaur Skin - Date"
3. Allow child to lay the bubble wrap into the paint.
4. Place the bubble wrap paint side down on the paper plate.
5. Press down or have some fun and pop the bubbles
6. Remove the bubble wrap.
7. Ta-da!
8. *Helpful hint* The less paint you use the clearer the print.

Here we can see Little Paleontologist laying the bubble wrap on his plate to create the texture. 

Finished Dinosaur skin!

Little Paleontologist - Fine Motor / Science / Professions / Tactile 
Needed Items:

• A tray to keep bits of chalk from everywhere
• Small dowel rod, and paint brush
• Fossil kit
• Cost $5.00 for kit.

How To:

1. We have been talking about who Paleontologists are and how they dig up fossils
2. Give the child the chalk with dowel rod and brush
3. Motivate child to dig to find the fossil
4. Discuss if it was faster or slower then they expected
5. Celebrate their discovery!

Here is our little paleontologist  as he begins to work on digging the chalk away to find the fossils. It is a great time to talk to him about how hard of a job it is. How they know where to dig and other open ended questions. 

                                           

Victory!

                                             

Create your own Fossil - Fine Motor / Science / Professions / Tactile / Art
Needed Items:

• Dinosaur Toy
• Air Drying Clay
• Cost $5.00 for Clay

How To:

1. Have child select their favorite Dinosaur toy
2. Create a small disc of clay 
3. Have child push the foot into the clay
4. Allow clay to harden.
5. You can also expand on this by burying it in sand and letting the child discover their fossil.

Here is our little paleontologist stomping the foot into the clay to create his own fossil

Instant fossil!

Chandler's (Almost) 4 - Year Old Assesment

I do not sit down and do worksheets with my son, but I choose to do an assessment every six months to help get an organized look at where he was and where he is and where to aim for the future. It helps me see where he is struggling and gives me the chance to dive into my beloved realm of homeschool blogs, pinterest and other wonderful areas for new games and crafts for us to explore together. He will be four in in 26 days from today so I won't do another on him until he is closer to five. Meep! I can't believe how fast my little one is growing up! Alas, it just makes me cling to our cuddle time more!

I started with a three year checklist to see if he was on point for his age.

THREE YEAR ASSESSMENT 

 JUNE 27th, 2013 

 3 years and 11 months old

Communication:

1.  Follows 2 step unrelated directions -  Always
2. Identifies at least 3 objects from a broad range of categories - Always
3. Identifies objects by the sound they make -  Always
4. Articulates clearly, speech intelligible 80% of the time -  Always
5. Ask Simple Questions - Always
6. Comments on story when being read to -  Always
7. Spontaneously uses sentences of 3 to 5 words - Always
8. Tells first and last time upon request -  Always
9.  Knows family and friends names -  Always
10.  Knows words to short song or rhyme.

Cognitive Skills:

1. Points to 3 shapes - circle, square, triangle. - Always
2. Points to primary colors - red, blue, yellow, green - Always
3. Counts by rote to 10. -  Always
4. Demonstrates concept of one and one more - Always
5. Demonstrates concept of more or less -  Always
6. Looks at books, turning one page at a time, talking about story and picture -  Always
7. Imitates simple blog design produced by teacher (3 part bridges, 5 color train) - Always
8. Engages in symbolic play (chair used as car, can used as hat) - Always
9. Participates during large group activities - Always

Social / Emotional:

1. Gives name of a friend - Always
2. Follows rules without being reminded - Sometimes
3. Takes turns with peers with adult supervision - Always
4. Meets unfamiliar adults comfortably - Sometimes
5. Is helpful  to adults and peers - Always
6. Plays cooperatively with peers with adult help - Always 
7. Can express feelings verbally - Say happy, sad, afraid, angry - Always
8. Is a friendly, happy child -  Always
9. Shows affection toward others, sympathy if someone is hurt- Sometimes
10. Seeks help when experiencing difficulty, when sad or hungry - Always

Self-Help Skills:

1. Uses spoon and fork to eat -Always
2. Uses napkin to wipe mouth spontaneously - Always
3. Undresses self independently - Always
4. Indicated need to use the toilet - Always
5. Toilets independently - Always
6. Uses tissue to wipe nose - Always
7. Operates large buttons and zippers on own clothing - Sometimes
8. Pours from a small pitcher to a come - Sometimes
9. Washes hands with soap and dries - Always
10. Puts on his own coat - Always

Fine and Gross Motor Skills

1. Stands on right foot for 4 seconds - Always
2. Walks down stairs  by alternating feet - Always
3. Stands on left foot for 4 seconds - Always
4. Stacks 10 or more 1 inch blocks -  Always
5. Copies horizontal and vertical lines - Always
6. Draws a circle and cross - Always
7. Hops five feet - Always
8. Walks on tiptoe - Always
9. Throws ball forward -  Always

Going off of this checklist Chandler has mastered everything he should know at three except for a few areas that we are continuing to work on. Because he was doing so well on the three year old checklist, I let him have a run at the Prek - Kindergarden assessment and this is what I found:

FOUR YEAR ASSESSMENT 

 JUNE 27th, 2013 

 3 years and 11 months old

When checking to see if he knew his letters, numbers, or number sounds I pulled them randomly from a bucket so he couldn't just sing the song :-)

Uppercase Letters - ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ 

Lowercase Letters - abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz 

Numbers -  1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 

Writing the Letters -   All but struggled with v and j 

Child can write 1st name -  Yes -100%

Child can rote count to - 29 

Child can count objects to - 44

Child can write numbers -  1, 7 , 10

Child knows these shapes -  Square, Triangle,Rectangle,Oval,hexagon,pentagon

Letter Sounds - AB-DEFGHIJKLMNOPQRST-VW-YZ

The other chart was covering stuff the three year old assessment already did so that information has already been covered. I am super proud of my soon-to-be four year old! Just goes to show that children can learn through life and through play! My next post will be on Tuesday where I cover the rest of our June activities!

What is my child truly learning?

I guess I should begin with why I decided to start this blog in the first place. My son had been in professional, licensed care since he was six-weeks old. Like most of you, I had to return to work and that meant putting my child in to the care of someone else.

The difference being, I was an Early Childhood Educator. This put me in the same building my son was in every day. While that did not mean that I could sneak snuggles through-out the day (despite how badly I wanted them!), it did mean I was able to observe the world I had placed him in.

When he was younger, it was mostly the games of juggle the babies that bothered me. Two teachers in a room of ten infants.  While it met State guidelines, that was a lot of mouths to feed, and diapers to change and it would require a fair bit of patience on the behalf of the babies. (and we all know how good babies are at waiting their turn :-) )

With each passing year I found myself becoming more and more uneasy with what I saw in his classrooms. Teachers on cell phones, or yelling at young toddlers for pulling hair. Impossible expectations and excessive recourse seemed to meet my child and his peers at every turn. Oh, how I longed to glance into a room and see a teacher wearing a laundry basket on her head or crawling on the floor like a caterpillar. How I wanted to hear teachers rave about the birds nest in the tree, not complain about the heat.

There were so many lessons to be found, from the gentle breeze to the size of the parking spaces the children moved past each day. I knew, surely - I couldn't be the only ones who saw each and every lesson just outside the pages of a premade lesson plan.

I had always been one to share the world around me. I would talk about the leaves changing colors, or recount a favorite story as we drove down the road.  I found that I began to do so more and more often. I didn't not do this to make up for some shortage he was getting at school. I did it because I loved it! I loved watching his face light up with each and every discovery. I was completely enamored by the way he saw the world and was blessed to see it with him.

When he was three years old, I was finally able to pull him and myself out of the construct of a typical pre-school. It had become a flux of  forced structure and chaos that often ended by a teacher screaming and threatening them all with time out. It had become ditto sheets and movies, while teachers read kindles or talked among themselves. 

I am not saying all educators in a professional situation are bad. I am simply stating what I saw in the decade that I worked in the field both as a teacher and a Mommy.  I am sure Pre-Schools can and are wonderful stable learning environments for children across the country.  I have found that their method of teaching does not suit the style of learning that my son benefits from. 

I am so blessed to be able to teach around his interests. For example, he found a box turtle tonight - guess what all our lessons will be around until he finds his next focus? It is great to be able to create a world around what he loves, and to see him flourish because it is what he needs. Not what a group needs, or what a state sanctioned curriculum feels like he should learn.

So in this blog I will be making weekly updates with some of our lessons and activities, a few of my crafting tid-bits might slip in along the way. I invite to you follow this blog and learn with us as we explore Hands-on Homeschooling.