“The mother’s heart is the child’s schoolroom”
- Henry Ward Beecher
I don’t know if we just got off to a rotten start with school (sick the first week, funeral and lots of other activity the following two weeks), or what, but I can’t seem to get anything I’ve planned to do with M actually done.
I’ve got to re-think our schedule a bit, I think. I know I’d be more enthusiastic about it if our time was in the mornings; however, we are busy with other things 3 to 4 mornings a week. And at least 2 (maybe all 4) of these are things neither one of us wants to give up. But school in the afternoon when my level of fatigue is at its highest (my blog isn’t titled that just for fun!), just is. not. working. Thank goodness we are only talking preschool here, but still. Why is it every thing we want to participate in is held in the mornings? It would be great if we could break up our afternoons with some of these outings instead. It would be perfect, actually, and I guess that’s just asking too much. ;)
Ah well, if nothing else, at least the shelf activities were not overlooked. So on we go…
SHELF ACTIVITIES:
Craft punches (leaf and frog) with strips of paper. Each paper has a number on it and M punched out that many shapes on each one. Craft punches are always a hit around here:
A sand art activity – fill small containers with a spoon and funnel:
The results:
The results:
A “rubber band-jo”, hee hee. I thought of that myself, but I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one – it just begs to be called that, doesn’t it?
I wish I would’ve gotten some action shots with this – M loved playing with it. We talked about how the rubber bands vibrate over the space below to make music; you can actually see them vibrating, which was neat. We also talked about “plucking” and “strumming”. And we listened for low notes and high notes. M commandeered this to go with his other instruments, so it looks like yours truly needs to buy a new bread pan. :)
I wish I would’ve gotten some action shots with this – M loved playing with it. We talked about how the rubber bands vibrate over the space below to make music; you can actually see them vibrating, which was neat. We also talked about “plucking” and “strumming”. And we listened for low notes and high notes. M commandeered this to go with his other instruments, so it looks like yours truly needs to buy a new bread pan. :)Sensory activity with sandpaper cards. I cut out 6 pieces of sandpaper - 2 each of a rough grade, a medium grade, and a fine grade – and we took turns trying to match the pairs by touch alone. The matching pairs had the same sticker on the back as a control of error. M really enjoyed this and I found him doing it on his own a few times throughout the week.
Leaf arranging – a wooden bowl, a small block of florist’s foam and some silk leaves. I bought a couple of bunches on clearance at Michael’s and separated the stems with wire cutters.
This was the big hit of the week. M wanted to do this over and over. Now, I don’t necessarily think leaf (or flower) arranging is a skill he absolutely must have, but the attention to detail, the fine motor workout, and the appreciation of something beautiful (and the work needed to make it beautiful) are all very, very good things! And look how pretty it turned out!
Well, it’s pretty in real life, not at all blurry like in the photo. ;)
This was the big hit of the week. M wanted to do this over and over. Now, I don’t necessarily think leaf (or flower) arranging is a skill he absolutely must have, but the attention to detail, the fine motor workout, and the appreciation of something beautiful (and the work needed to make it beautiful) are all very, very good things! And look how pretty it turned out!
Well, it’s pretty in real life, not at all blurry like in the photo. ;)Matching up numbers 1 to 15 with squirrels and acorns. I think I found this printable here, but have had it now for a couple of years, so it may not be available any longer. The acorns have magnets on the backs, hence the cookie sheet:
Lacing craft leaves onto a ribbon, from here. I sewed a button on each end of the ribbon and cut slits in the leaves. The clips are for hanging it on his art string. I took a picture of it hanging, but it seems to have disappeared.
It was “C” week, so some C items for the phonic box – cow, car, camel, circle:
We’ve been doing simple crafts for each letter. M is not much into mama-directed crafts, but he is really, really into looking at something and then re-creating it on his own. So I make up a small copy of what it should look like and he goes for it. :)
C is for caterpillar (idea from here, although I just cut my own circles):
c is for cars:
We put these in our ABC Collage and Trace book, which he is absolutely loving. 
Here’s a sample of how he “reads” it on his own. He sat down one evening and did the entire book! His voice is not very loud, so you have to listen closely.
Other than that, not much school has been going on. Oh, except for a lot of this:
Because if you’ve already dragged the cushions to the floor you might as well jump on them until Mommy comes in. So, he’s getting his exercise – that’s homeschooling, isn’t it? ;) Homeschooling and regular life look a lot alike, come to think of it, don’t they?I’m linking this post up to Preschool Corner and Weekly Wrap-Up; be sure to check them out!
Have a beautiful day! :)
Sometimes I like to just set up a project and leave it until he notices it and asks, “What are we going to do?!” :) It’s like a little surprise and makes him more eager to do it. You’ll need colored paper, a marker for drawing in details, glue, and googley eyes. M also wanted scissors once we started putting the leaves on the papers, so he could cut off stems or cut leaves in half.
The weather was just cool enough for him to need his new little mama-made hat with a pom-pom. :) 
