I bought a "Letter of the Week" curriculum for my little ones and used it pretty by-the-book the first month. However, the excitement for school kept dropping and, by the end of September, neither one wanted to do what was in their workboxes. J is a little too young to be writing but my goals for him are basic cutting, recognizing (and then writing his name) and to learn colors. My goals for M are kindergarten math completed, all letters learned, and basic handwriting. Technically, M will be in kindergarten next year.
So, two weeks ago, I realized I needed to revamp things. I went online and found out about "Sensory Boxes" and also googled a bunch of crafts for last week's letter of the week "P." Since then, it has gone much better. I never figured it would take me more time to prepare for the little ones then the big ones but it has absolutely gone that way. The boys are big into painting right now so we try to paint something most days.
The whole idea for the sensory boxes came because M kept asking me to play with flour. He remembered doing it during the first few days of school and asked over and over again for it. That got me thinking about other creative ways he could get messy.
My first sensory box. I just used what we had on hand so it was oatmeal with some glitter in it, cups, spoons, and Mr. Potato Head toys. Wow, sensory boxes are messy. I mean, maybe they are not for some, but they are all mess here.
My second sensory box effort. M liked it, J LOVED it and I found that even my two oldest wanted to play in it. I will admit it did not keep M interested for as long as I would have liked at one sitting but he did go back to it throughout the week.
I also created five smaller boxes with individual items in them. The first week's boxes I pretty much borrowed from a website. M played more with these but he was forever getting them ALL out and mixing them together (big mess). I keep wondering if I am missing something.
This week's boxes have not been as big of a success-he is not as fond of the pattern blocks and letter tiles.
We are still doing some of the "Letter of the Week" activities but I add in more crafts. I also started a "Color of the Week" last week to help J learn his colors. Since we were doing P last week and were going to the pumpkin patch, we started with orange. This week, it is blue (which J says is one of his favorite colors).
An incompleted craft in the box. M liked looking at the picture to figure out how he was supposed to put it together. I need to do more of this with the picture.
Completed penguins.
We wrapped up our week with painted pinecones and a piano.
We are doing "F" this week and the crafts were a little harder to find. J made a fox one day out of the letter while M filled his with feathers. We painted paper plates and will glue on frog stuff tomorrow. Part of the hassle is just the planning, with painting so many of the crafts are two day events.
M will pretty much do everything in his boxes but J skips around. At the beginning of the year, J was big into coloring and now he can't stand it. That is the hardest thing to keep up with--their changing minds. :)
Homeschooling is absolutely a process.
