Week 10/11
Session A activities for these weeks: primary colors, vowels, pledge
Session B activities for these weeks: #1-12 dot to dot & coloring, Consonant sounds project (a poster for each letter and we cut out pictures and pasted them on the right letter sound), READ Preschool (finished all the upper and lowercase letters Gg-Zz), Played missing letters or numbers games, played a math dice counting game, READ Preschool (mazes, dot to dots, rhyming words, etc...), Counting with Numbers Book p2-11 (#1-4 and counting practice), art card review, "A Harbor in Moonlight" painting, Nat Geo little kids, Cam Jansen,
Total time spent was approximately 7.5 hours structured time or about 4 hours per week.
Sunday, October 19, 2014
Saturday, October 11, 2014
Trusting Free Play
I'm not even going to post a "round up" for this last week because Jack and I had a sort of battle of wits so my patience was worn just a touch too thin to put on the patient awesome teacher hat. And I was tired. That never seems like a legitimate excuse for things but really, I was so tired I caught a bug and I'm just now feeling better.
So all the nothing we did this week reminded me of how important it is to understand that the times when you aren't *doing* something are just as valuable as the times that we are cramming activity after activity down their throats. School and more school then homework and dance class. Soccer, music, spanish, and even structuring the play at home into "educational" activities. The school year is in full swing now and it is hard to resist the urge to put my son in something because that is what people do with their children when they reach a certain age.
As I complained to my friend over the epic showdown we'd had over a cup of juice earlier that day, she calmly explained that it was because he was just too bored with me. I got defensive and started naming off all the things he'd done that week without me but realized that we are just on two different planes. She, and most others of our generation, believe that children must be dropped off somewhere for a structured activity, for which we must then excuse ourselves for the duration of, in order that they don't become bored and therefore stagnant in their development.
I disagree. And I'm not alone.
Play is so important to optimal child development that it has been recognized by the United Nations High Commission for Human Rights as a right of every child, or so says a 2006 paper published by the American Academy of Pediatrics. If you haven't read it, you definitely should check it out.
Yet we are increasingly paranoid about our very young children (ages 3 and 4) falling behind academically and constantly finding ways to put more stuff on their shoulders. A mother once commented to me that her 3 year old was trying to get out of doing extra academic work at home by saying that she was "so tired." This 3 year old goes to school from 8:30 - 2:30 pm Monday through Friday and attends 2 dance classes per week.
And then there is Jack. We spend probably 8 hours a week on structured school activities and he goes to gymnastics once a week. It sure does sound like he could be bored compared to his friends, who all have structured activities away from home for nearly 40 hours a week.
Sometimes he says "I don't know what to do" which is I think the same thing for him and I direct him into an activity. However, most of the time, he is really busy. Too busy to eat and sleep actually. He is building towers and robots and setting traps for monsters. He is pretending to be a garbage man or drawing himself a story. He grabs a few things from the toy box and heads outside to play for hours in the dirt. I hear him making up his own songs and singing them on stage at a rock concert. We talk endlessly about topics that have endless "Why's" and he has time to fit the information into his worldview. They aren't the games I would choose nor does he construct things the way that they *should* be but all his inventions are his own. He is absolutely NOT bored and he is NOT getting behind by "missing out" on soccer or school.
And I have absolute faith in him that these things he is pretending and building with household items are teaching him what he needs to be resourceful and hardworking. He relies on no one for entertainment. He needs no toys. Experts are now saying that boredom is GOOD for children and that unstructured time is just the thing.
I just have to keep reminding myself that I am giving him a gift here. The gift of time. He has time to explore the world and himself without anyone or anything telling him how to do it.
So all the nothing we did this week reminded me of how important it is to understand that the times when you aren't *doing* something are just as valuable as the times that we are cramming activity after activity down their throats. School and more school then homework and dance class. Soccer, music, spanish, and even structuring the play at home into "educational" activities. The school year is in full swing now and it is hard to resist the urge to put my son in something because that is what people do with their children when they reach a certain age.
As I complained to my friend over the epic showdown we'd had over a cup of juice earlier that day, she calmly explained that it was because he was just too bored with me. I got defensive and started naming off all the things he'd done that week without me but realized that we are just on two different planes. She, and most others of our generation, believe that children must be dropped off somewhere for a structured activity, for which we must then excuse ourselves for the duration of, in order that they don't become bored and therefore stagnant in their development.
I disagree. And I'm not alone.
Play is so important to optimal child development that it has been recognized by the United Nations High Commission for Human Rights as a right of every child, or so says a 2006 paper published by the American Academy of Pediatrics. If you haven't read it, you definitely should check it out.
Yet we are increasingly paranoid about our very young children (ages 3 and 4) falling behind academically and constantly finding ways to put more stuff on their shoulders. A mother once commented to me that her 3 year old was trying to get out of doing extra academic work at home by saying that she was "so tired." This 3 year old goes to school from 8:30 - 2:30 pm Monday through Friday and attends 2 dance classes per week.
And then there is Jack. We spend probably 8 hours a week on structured school activities and he goes to gymnastics once a week. It sure does sound like he could be bored compared to his friends, who all have structured activities away from home for nearly 40 hours a week.
Sometimes he says "I don't know what to do" which is I think the same thing for him and I direct him into an activity. However, most of the time, he is really busy. Too busy to eat and sleep actually. He is building towers and robots and setting traps for monsters. He is pretending to be a garbage man or drawing himself a story. He grabs a few things from the toy box and heads outside to play for hours in the dirt. I hear him making up his own songs and singing them on stage at a rock concert. We talk endlessly about topics that have endless "Why's" and he has time to fit the information into his worldview. They aren't the games I would choose nor does he construct things the way that they *should* be but all his inventions are his own. He is absolutely NOT bored and he is NOT getting behind by "missing out" on soccer or school.
And I have absolute faith in him that these things he is pretending and building with household items are teaching him what he needs to be resourceful and hardworking. He relies on no one for entertainment. He needs no toys. Experts are now saying that boredom is GOOD for children and that unstructured time is just the thing.
I just have to keep reminding myself that I am giving him a gift here. The gift of time. He has time to explore the world and himself without anyone or anything telling him how to do it.
Sunday, October 5, 2014
H is for Halloween
I don't have much to share this week. We slogged through the phonics week but things still aren't clicking so I am sticking with my decision to step back a little and take the next several weeks as review on the reading front. I'll talk more about that later. First I'd like to show some of our art for the week!
Jack's favorite holiday is Halloween and he was really counting the days until October 1st on the calender because that is the day I promised we could finally decorate the house and begin halloween crafts. We picked up a pumpkin and put a silly face on it with Mr. Potato Head-like pieces, put up window clings, and he chose 1 new decoration to add to our collection (a jack-o'-lantern with a plug in light).
We stamped feet and made them into monsters! He is still giggling about the little rhyme that goes with it. I decorated M's feet and he decorated his own.
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| Little Frankenstein's Monster Feet! |
In other art news, our painting this week was Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte. I was really impressed with how many elements he picked out of the painting. Watercolor is exceedingly difficult to work with so in the end, all of his colors melted together but he talked about each color he chose and what piece of the painting he was working on. When we were finished, he was upset that his painting hadn't "turned out" like he wanted and told me we were switching. Now when people ask, he claims he painted the one on the top.
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| Again, please excuse my hasty art work. |
I don't want him to get frustrated with his work but I think that it is inevitable that as he becomes more aware of artwork the more he is going to compare what he does to what he sees.
We also talked about primary colors and color mixing. I found this lovely little book by Leo Lionni (author of Frederic) called Little Blue and Little Yellow to use as an introduction to the lesson. My goodreads review is here.
Anyway, Week 10.
We'll head toward math land and give the phonics a rest. I've updated the homeschool links page with several resources that have free printables. I have printed off several dot to dots and other activity pages for the week. There are several number games to play and we introduced the idea of addition/subtraction at the end of last week so we'll practice that idea some more. We'll be reviewing consonant sounds by going through magazines and finding pictures that begin with letter sounds we've worked. We'll cut them out and paste them on the right letter board. My walls are about to get colorful!
I also have several fine motor skills activities planned. He'll be using scissors and doing some writing. We'll be adding to his "Book About Jackson".
Week 9 Round Up
Day #1
Session A- 0 Calender X
Notes: None
Session B- 45 min
Notes: Numbers Coloring "9" p. 22-23 , Alphabet Coloring "H" & "T" p18-19 and 42-43, Alphabet Animals "T"
Day #2
Session A- 5 min Calender X
Notes: #1-20 cards
Session B- 60 min
Notes: FSR Book A Lesson 14 p.30-31 photocopy, Numbers Book "8" & "9" pp34-36, Primary Phonics Readers (Al, Ben Bug, Meg, Tim), Nature Reader (T for Turtle and others), Practiced putting #1-10 cards in order
Day #3
Session A- 5 min Calender X
Notes: Pledge, Vowels
Session B- 60 min
Notes: Numbers Book pp37-39, Alphabet Animals "H", Halloween Craft, #1-10 game (put in order, find the missing #), Primary Phonics books
Day #4
Session A- 5 min Calender X
Notes: Vowels, Geography
Session B- 60 min
Notes: Numbers book p40-41 (10), READ (preschool) H is for Hello p.85, Lots of read aloud books after a trip to the library
Day #5
Session A- 0 Calender X
Notes: none
Session B- 60 min
Notes: Numbers book p42-43, Number cards game 1-20, Read "Little Blue & Little Yellow" and discussed primary colors, practiced mixing colors with paint to see what happens, art card review, other library books
Session A- 0 Calender X
Notes: None
Session B- 45 min
Notes: Numbers Coloring "9" p. 22-23 , Alphabet Coloring "H" & "T" p18-19 and 42-43, Alphabet Animals "T"
Day #2
Session A- 5 min Calender X
Notes: #1-20 cards
Session B- 60 min
Notes: FSR Book A Lesson 14 p.30-31 photocopy, Numbers Book "8" & "9" pp34-36, Primary Phonics Readers (Al, Ben Bug, Meg, Tim), Nature Reader (T for Turtle and others), Practiced putting #1-10 cards in order
Day #3
Session A- 5 min Calender X
Notes: Pledge, Vowels
Session B- 60 min
Notes: Numbers Book pp37-39, Alphabet Animals "H", Halloween Craft, #1-10 game (put in order, find the missing #), Primary Phonics books
Day #4
Session A- 5 min Calender X
Notes: Vowels, Geography
Session B- 60 min
Notes: Numbers book p40-41 (10), READ (preschool) H is for Hello p.85, Lots of read aloud books after a trip to the library
Day #5
Session A- 0 Calender X
Notes: none
Session B- 60 min
Notes: Numbers book p42-43, Number cards game 1-20, Read "Little Blue & Little Yellow" and discussed primary colors, practiced mixing colors with paint to see what happens, art card review, other library books
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