MORE! TSBVI Activities

I lurrrve the TSBVI website. It has all these Montessori activities, that are particularly helpful for small children who are blind or visually impaired. Mcclellan is neither, but the sensory/auditory activities that help blind children be aware of their environment are also GREAT for those toddlers who happen to be very sensory and auditory learners!

This one, I'm so proud to say, was built from the findings of my husband's well-stocked garage. When I read that this activity required 25 washers, 5 sets of 5, in graduated sizes, I was like, "Looks like a trip to Ace Hardware!" But no, Matt had all of these, the wood and the nails in the garage. Yesssss! I think Mcclellan's really going to like the eye-candy that this work has to offer.
Shape sequencing...as I've shown. There are four cards, each with two foam shapes glued to them. There are corresponding loose shapes to finish the "sentence" on the card.
My favorite is this one with puff paint and bottlecaps. Sure, I could've used just a marker, even a colored one. But the tactile funness of the puff paint is going to be super to encourage the one to one number matching. And bottlecaps? What kiddo doesn't love bottlecaps?
And another fun, toddlercentric one: jingle bells! Here the goal is to match the two that sound the same and are of the same size (and happen to have the same color ribbon!). But even to match the opposite bells is a good lesson in differences and opposites. Multi-functional!
This week is well stocked and I'm excited to see what Mcclellan has to do and say with his work! Verity is digging our shape sorter cube and a box full of sensory balls I've laid out for her. We also went on a nature walk yesterday and filled a tray full of shells, flowers, and rocks we found while out and about. Depending on how the flowers look, midweek, we may or may not keep this work out!

Teaching Moments

We did our "Color Areas" activity today. I'm finding that doing focused, specific activities is proving to be a little more challenging to get started. After putzing around a bit, needing some guidance from Mom, and a lot of "watch me do it...now YOU do it," Mcclellan finally catches on and gets interested. We collected yellow and orange materials from around the house today. These included a yellow banana peel that he spied on the counter in the kitchen...
Then, in the middle of hunting for an orange something, he has been dragging a costume-jewelry necklace of Grandma W's when I heard, "Ker-chattle!" The string had broken and black and grey squares were scattered about. We paused our orange hunt and picked up every last bead. There were 48 in all...

The brilliant new idea had struck me by then, but not wanting to deter from our regularly scheduled programming, we finished up our Color Areas. Then, "Mcclellan," I said, "We are going to sort." After the same putzing about, he was well into sorting black squares onto one plate, grey on another.
"I'm sorting, Mama!" he called. And he got 24 grey squares on one plate. 24 black on the other! This teaching moment brought to you by an accident and a broken something turned into a beautiful, purposeful work activity!
Again, this was something that just can't be planned! I'm getting better, really I am!

Workspaces

Two babies playing happily? Yes, its niiiice.

Anti-art and Sniffing

I've come to the saddening, undeniable conclusion that my son just does not. like. to. paint. Ever since he was a baby, finger painting, he's not been enthused about the messiness, the gooeyness that is painting. He would just give me a look that said, "This stuff just does not belong on my hands, Mom." The same holds true today. He seems to love to get messy just so he can go wash up. Crazy kid. We painted our cans for our chimes and he was not a fan. We'll see how the actual assembly goes later this afternoon.

On a positive note, he did love the playdough (and always has) he was left to while I prepped his sniffing jars. Maybe a sculptor?

Our sniffing jars are a hit! I used cleaned-out sprinkle jars with the little shaker caps on them, and filled each jar with a cotton ball doused in something smelly.
Butter, wine, coffee, mint, vanilla, and smoke (each from a flavoring or the direct source). My favorite is when he grabs the butter scent, smells, and says, "Kropsu!" Kropsu does have a considerable amount of butter in it...
His little toddler fingers are having fun with the screw-off lids too. Success!

Staying on Task

Using the amazing Letter of the Week curriculum (online, see side), we have opted to do the learning poster each week. It give a great visual of what we are learning about, we post pictures of new vocab words, and well, it just helps me (and Mcclellan) stay on task with what we are learning.

This week, we are learning about eyes.

I did a weird thing today...

I talked to someone else (gasp!) about educating my son. For some reason, just the simple thought of turning him over for two half-days a week at the local Waldorf school really kinda freaked me out. What? Pay someone else to teach him things that I won't be part of? I mean, I don't even set him in front of a television without being there with him to talk about what we see and hear. Call me overprotective (he is only 2 for crying out loud!) and controlling. No really, I am. And why shouldn't I be? That's another "philosophy of homeschooling" post for you. Not this one.

At any rate, I was freaked. I love the activities, the environment, even the subject matter taught in a Waldorf setting. I love the idea of getting some minimal exposure of my child to other kids his age. I love the idea of getting involved with a parents-of-preschoolers community. So where does my anxiety come from. I mentioned to the enrollment coordinator at Prairie Moon that it was weird considering education for my firstborn; sending him off to someone else for the caring and feeding of my spawn. She smiled and nodded. "Silly young mama," I'm sure she thought. "We do have a lot of homeschoolers who come here around 3rd grade, either because its just not working for the kids...or the parents," she casually explained to me when I told her of my plans for part-time schooling and aspirations to educate mine own at my home. How silly indeed, I must be.

Digress as I may, I still have a weird, uneasy feeling about sending Mcclellan off (not even until 2010!) to another school (and this one is even private!). I guess it comes down to me just not being ready (fine, I still have like, 10 months), and needing to do more research in when/where/if to put my kids for any outside-the-home education. There is a Montessori I still want to check in to, and I really need to explore Prairie Moon specifically to see if it will fit in with a Biblical worldview; if it would be edifying, supplemental, or just downright distracting. Oh, yes, I plan on spending days with these preschool classrooms to see if they are right for my kids.

How do public schooling parents do this? Yes, I know I am an overachiever and an idealist. But, seriously: How do parents plan to send their kids off to public schools. Judgments and arguments for or against public/private/homeschooling aside, I really do want to know. A discussion on our philosophy of homeschooling? Oh, you can bet there will be one of those eventually!