PreK and Kindergarten Activites

Homeschooling lots of children of different ages is really a challenge. I have read and listen to lots of tips on how to do it and why. They are all different and work well for those families, THAT is the wonderful thing about homeschooling. I have had weeks where I feel like I am sinking in a sea of dishes, laundry and piles of "to do" school stuff. Or where I just can't seem to get anything done because my younger kids are distracting me. 

 I have tried giving the younger kids things to do while I work with the older kids, and I have tried just having them tag along while they sit on the older kids stuff, and this works "some" but I still find they are happiest when they get their school time too. I do pre K and Kindergarten level activities (just for the younger two boys) 1-2 times a week. The other days through the week, they each get their reading time with mom where we read books then do a puzzle or quick game etc. For me I find my younger boys are much better about doing "busy bags" or playing or doing things on their own better if they get some time with me too. For us, I give the older two something they can go by themselves (first thing after our spiritual thought), while I play with the younger ones, Then They are much better behaved while I work with the older two. Most of these ideas/activites are from early in the year but I am just now getting them posted. 

 Here are a few things I have done with my younger boys. Ryan (picture one) is making a number line up to 20 creating something from Legos for each number on the line. GREAT activity lots of practice counting. We did this over time, not all the numbers in one day. Picture two is similar, these are beads on pip cleaners, then a sticky note with the number on top. Dallin did 1-10, Ryan did 11-20 again we did a couple each week, then reviewed each time we got the project out again. They really liked it.

 Ryan LOVED this activity, and Dallin helped too. I would give them a letter in this picture it was the better B and he went though the house finding things that started with that letter. I then put the words on pieces of paper and we sounded them out, to match the word to that item. I went with him searching,  but he found everything on his own.

 This is a really fun Lego Math game teaching greater then and less than. I give them a container of Legos, and start the sand timer, they build as fast as they can until the timer is out. Then we count how many each person has, then see who has greater or who has less. Dallin just learns to count and number recognition, Ryan is really learning the concept of greater and less.

 For Dallin after we counded his I would give him four options of cards and say "where is the number 10? and have him find that card, that matches the number of Legos we counted. I did this for Ryan too, even though he already knows them.

I try to keep things simple around here, I do not have tons of time to plan, print, cut out and do long fancy things. These things are easy, and do not takes lots of time, but when for me, I find when I spend that time with my little ones, they are happy they do not feel like they are being pushed aside for the older ones, and I feel happy because I get time to enjoy my little boys personalities before they are all grown up!

Legos are a big part of our homeschooling life.

Legos have been a very exciting part of our homeschooling, and I will be sharing a lot more of the ways use use them in our schooling but here are just some we have done together 

 Boston Tea party- later we made this into a Pirate ship!

 These are the LDS conference center (made by my oldest, Ethan) Bellow is the LDS Temple, we did this as a family- mom was the mater designer.

 Here is a truck I made for Ryan

 This is a Truck Ethan made- we did have instructions for a truck and he used that as a guide but made it his own "flying space truck"

 Here is a Castle  I made for Aaron

 Ryan and Dallin LOVE to make marble mazes

 Ethan building with instructions which IS a great skill, learning to read and fallow directions and laid out plans is a great thing, this teaching them stills of working independently.

 Ryan (this is from a long time ago) used them to "show" amounts on the number line from 1-20 He created different things using "that many" Legos

 Here is another time we learned about the Eire Canal, read some books and learned a fun song they on their own decided to build, and act out the story of how they would build these boats and have them pulled by oxen along the Eire Canal.

I will share many more ways we use Legos or some of the boys Lego creations as they come.

Fall Activies

are you tired of me saying it I LOVE FALL!!!

and I am happy to see that Alabama does have a pretty fall, all things considering.

We took a walk and collected fall leaves of all shapes and sized, we studied about the trees and why they turn colors. Here is a GREAT video that tell you in case you did not know.

Click HERE for a Link

Here is another GREAT song that teaches photosynthesis - my kids were singing this for days! (but we did watch it a few times)

Click HERE for a LINK!

anyway- we made the snack place mats with our leaves, and construction paper and contact paper. We also wrote # on the leaves (once they were done- so they are covered with contact paper) and then they rolled acorns on them and would add up the #'s that the acorns would land on. They loved this, but got frustrated that the acorn would roll off easy- next time I will put then on a cook sheet.

the boys making there snack mats
Here we did some fall Q-tip painting I saw this idea on pintrest

We did this when we were still learning about that letter F as well... for fall

Squishy Bags

We made these it was fun, we use them to practice letters and numbers Ethan does spelling words. They are supper easy and all you need is gel, and a zip lock bag, we also added glitter because I had some on hand. I also duck tapes mine closed. The important thing is to get out all the air!! I did not go a good job on Ryan's, but it still works great. If you need more instructions just google or search pintrest for squishy bags.

Letter & number activites

During the summer I have been trying to do an hour or two of Summer school. This is just to keep the juices flowing in my boys brains and to give us fun ways to do activities together.

I am NOT a fan of activities that

A. Make bid messes,

B. Require lots of stuff, and

C. TAKE LOTS of TIME to PREPARE!

I have gotten all these ideas from, books magazines or heaven help me, my own brain (can you believe it?) or at least I had not thought of them before but I'm sure someone one else has already :)

Well I wanted to post them because

1. I am a forgetful person, and I will forget these by next summer when I will still have little

kids that want to do fun simple activities.

2. "Someday" by kids will look back on there scrapbooks and see that yes, mom did spend time with me.

3. thought it wouldn't hurt to share the ideas. (although I'm sure you thought them already)

YARN Activity!

this activity is supper easy, all you need is yarn, pencil, paper and glue. I cut the paper into quarters for Aaron and picked letters to practice. He knows the names and sounds but is working on his writing, I read that having kids trace with there finger helps them remember the shape to write it.

For Ethan I but the paper into strips, and he spelled a couple spelling words.

I wrote the word or letter in pencil, then they used scissors to cut the yarn the right lengths, then traced it with the glue. Then added the yarn. Once they dried these have been great flash cards the boys use to help with there spelling and writing. (you could also do this with numbers/math if you wanted)

Science Fun!

This is an easy fun science activity. All you need is paper, kids washable paint, straws, and markers. You take the paper and put a small blob of paint (you might need to water it down a little if it is to thick, it depends on the brand of paint you have) Then have the kids blow air through the straw pushing the paint in different ways. Making funny looking splotches. You can talk about how the air is pushing the pant, you are making the air, (or how ever much details you want etc) Once they are dry (we did ours the next day) use markers to make them into silly looking monsters. (you can also add google eyes, but we did not have them on hand so... we just used markers)

Play-Dough

I picked up these dry erase white boards at target in the $1 bins and they make great mats, (but you could do this on a cookie sheet or just your table if you want)

all you need is PLAY-DOUGH let the kids pick what color the want, then have them roll it into a long snake, Ethan then used his spelling word flash cards to spell out different words with the flash cards (we only do about two or three) Each time he says it and then sound it out, says the letters, and traces it with his finger.

Aaron worked on making his shapes and tracing them with his finger. You could also do this with numbers, letter or whatever you wanted to work on.

Math Train

since my boys are train freaks I liked this idea, all you need is construction paper, glue, markers, and a circle punch and or scissors. I took the construction paper and cut it into different size blocks (not even, not equal) Then punch out a bunch of wheels from black with the circle punch. I only did a few a head of time, and did this more, as they made their trains. They made an engine (L shaped piece) with very uneven hand but smoke stack. (I cut these for them) They glued wheels and wrote their name on them. Then they made more cars for their trains but assembling the box and wheels, then writing a number on them.

Ethan is doing math, so he made +, -, and = cars. Aaron is still learning number names (past 10) and sequence (past 10). We worked on these over time, making a few more each time, then we use them to do simple math problems or for Aaron to put numbers in order. For example I would give him a set of 3 or 4 number and he puts them in order in this train. (you could do with with letters and spelling if you wanted - but it would require more cars!)

counting Fun

I use this for Aaron to count, and learn what numbers represent, and Ethan uses this for helping to visualize his math problems.

all you need is an egg carton, and buttons or small pebble type things

write numbers 1-12 in the inside bottom of the egg carton, and lets the kids put that number of little item is the matching whole. easy, and my boys like it :)

Well, that is all for now, when we do more I will post more. I have really had lots of fun, and I notice that I enjoy my time with them more when things are easy to do, and do not require a lot of prep, planning or stuff. AND having these little things makes learning fun, and is does not feel like learning, and they seem to learn better, and are not board.

origonaly done 7-18-2010