Foam Dough Cupcakes

In part of my effort to make the most of these last few weeks of summer, I made up a batch of foam dough for Xander.  Basically, the dough is about equal parts shaving cream and cornstarch, with a bit of food coloring to make it more fun!  I also learned the hard way that you need to make sure you use enough cornstarch or your kid might have blue hands...

For something to "do" with the dough, I gave him some silicone cupcake liners, candles, and "sprinkles" (a beaded necklace I cut apart).

He had so much fun!  It is pretty messy, but it washed up easily.

Blowing out the candles.

Having a blast!

Got a little too close...

Messy pants!

Beginner Spelling Cards

I recently wrote about my epiphany with Xander and the need to keep up with him.  Making these Beginner Spelling Cards was part of that.  The file includes 52 words of four or five letters, with some of the letters already in place.  The types of words are all grouped with colored borders, to help make my own organization easier.

My plan is to laminate the cards and have him use letter tiles to fill in the rest of the letters.  You could also have your child write in write in the missing letters with a dry erase marker.

Keeping Up with a Super Tot

Let me preface this by saying that this post is not intended to be a complaint or an opportunity to brag.  These really are the types of things about which I wake up in the night worrying!  I have the most amazing, independent, intelligent little boy, and I want to do my absolute best by him!

The Wake-Up Call

I have spent the last few weeks (months) trying to figure out what we are going to do after we finish the Mommy and Me ABC materials.  I thought I had it all figured out and had even drafted the "curriculum" post.  Then I watched him read me a book, I mean really read me a book and I realized that he has blown by me.  No idea why that day was different, I have known he could read for over a year, but for some reason it never quite clicked to what level he was reading now!  I have known that he has picked up phonics without being taught and can often read most of the words when I give him new books.  However, I don't have a "teacher" telling me "your son is reading at a such-and-such grade level," so I guess it never really sunk in. (Do other homeschool mom's ever have that problem?)

To try to figure it out where he was I printed out the Dolche words, preprimer through third grade, from Home Schooling Haven.  We spent the morning going through them, off and on.  The 220 most prevalent words in his written language and he missed 8.  Not only that, but his mistakes were all logical (he read the words phonetically or was in a hurry and said a similar word like here's instead of hers). 

That's awesome and amazing and wonderful and I'm so proud, but it was also a huge wake-up call that made me take a much harder look at my kid and his needs.  I had a major panic moment of WHAT THE HECK DO I DO?  How do I keep him challenged and interested?  I had planned to focus on sight words with games and activities, but that is not exactly going to work when he can pretty much read them all.  I don't want to bore him or make him feel like learning is tedious!  On the other hand, he is two and a half.  I can't just go out and buy a first or second grade language arts curriculum.  He does not have the motor skills to write or the cognitive skills to comprehend it all, nor do I want him doing excessive seat-work.  I cannot just stop or slow down, he ASKS for words and worksheets.  If we skip Tot School for more than a day or so, he asks me when he can do his "work" (a term he came up with, not I).  I cannot just give him harder books because he gets overwhelmed by small font and long paragraphs.  He needs books with large fonts and only a few sentences per page, but with new and challenging words.  What we do for school has to meet HIS unique needs, not what seems appropriate for his age.

I LOVE that he is so bright and has such a desire to learn new things, but I also feel grossly inadequate.  Keeping up with him would be a full time job and I am an only parent.  I can pray for the opportunity to be a full time homeschooling parent in the future, but until then I have to just do my best and hope we can both be satisfied.

The Plan

Each child is different and early education needs to meet their individual wants and needs.  Therefore, Tot School is going to undergo some changes around here.  (Honestly, I'm kind of wondering if I should move to calling it preschool or something else.  I'm open to thoughts on the subject).  

As far as language goes, I'm going to do my darnedest to keep finding him books that are challenging enough without having the formatting overwhelm him.  I will continue making 3 Part Cards for vocabulary, even though I know he would learn faster if I just flashed him the words, he likes them too much.  We will probably play some occasional sight words games just for fun review.

We are also going to start spelling and forming words.  I was very resistant to the idea, thinking he wasn't ready, but I think I was wrong and that he will enjoy the challenge if I can approach it the right way.  I bought him a set of magnetic letters with an organizing box so that we could work on words without him having to write or become overwhelmed by a huge pile of unsorted letters.

I am also going to be intentional about presenting other subjects, specifically Spanish, science, and math.  I am adapting Right Start Math Level A for him, I am making my own science "curriculum" for him, and Spanish will be a random collection of resources and my own materials.

I'll post a "curriculum" list once I have it updated!

Paint Bag Pre-Writing Fun

One of of my main focuses this year is practicing pre-writing skills.  Therefore, I have been on the hunt for fun activities to develop these skills.  One super simple way to practice is with a paint bag!

I first gave Xander a paint bag when he was four months old (in this post)

The bag is made by cutting two pieces of Glad Press n Seal to about the same size.  Then squirt a good amount of paint into the middle of one piece (I used maybe 1/4-1/3 of a cup of Crayola washable finger paint).  Put the other piece of Press n Seal on top (sticky sides in), seal around the edges and trim the extras.  Then tape around the edges to hold it all together.  I used orange duct tape, just because I had it and thought it would be more fun than regular masking tape.

It is a lot of fun to squish the paint around, but I am hoping to practice writing letters and making intentional lines with it!

Xander had a good time shaking up the paint for me!

Y for Yak

We are currently working on our Mommy and Me ABC units.  This week we did the letter Y and yak.  Unless otherwise specified, all of the printables are from my Mommy and Me ABC Printables, which are free as we complete them (for a detailed list of all the materials in the printables, check out this post).

 

Here was the Tot School set up for the week. 

Puzzles

Xander was really into the Y puzzles this week.  He got them out almost every day, sometimes multiple times a day.  He particularly likes the yo-yo puzzle with four pieces.

 

  Letter Maze

Tot School outside and in a cape (one of the many advantages to doing preschool at home)!  Finding all the Ys to get the baby yak to its mommy.  He finally used a different Do-A-Dot color to mark all of the Ys (he has been stuck on purple for weeks).

Letter Sensory Bin
Generally I had been giving Xander only scoopers for his sensory bin.  This week I put a bunch of sensory bin tools in a box for him and he got SO excited to use them!  We had colored alphabet noodles everywhere, but it was worth it to see him try to use every tool.  Something I should have done much sooner, although now I'm thinking I need a bigger box since there are still more tools in the basement!

 

   Art

Art is really not my thing, but I have been making an effort to let Xander branch out in his artwork.  I got him some funky brushes to let him try out different textures.  I just printed the letter lacing page from my printable and let him go at it!  He really enjoyed them!  It has been a while since I have seen him SO excited about painting. 

Lacing

Case Sorting

Sorting uppercase and lowercase letters.  Y was a little hard, but he ended up figuring it out.

Letter Clipping

Probably way too easy of a task, but he really enjoys it, so I keep printing them.

Letter Building

 

Other Tot School Activities

He freed some penguins (post here) and then gave them a bath.

 For more Yak ideas, check out my Yak Pinterest Board