We don't exactly have a curriculum that we follow, but we do "lessons" here and there. So, whether Sophie is assisting me in the kitchen or we actually sit down and work on numbers, letters, reading books or her Bible, we are always learning something around here, whether she knows she is learning something or not ;)Today we did what you could probably consider a science activity - we made our own finger paint. Sophie called it goopy stuff and made more of a mess than a work of art, but hey with kids it's all about the process rather than the end product! I got the recipe out of my multifaceted book, Super Baby Food, this book is great not only does it have a plethora healthy foods and recipes to make for children, but it is full of resourceful crafts and other great ideas using a lot of what you have on hand at home, so it is frugal too!
This was a great activity Sophie really enjoyed it and although it was a tad bit messy, the clean up was pretty easy!
Finger Paint
1/4 cup cornstarch
2 cups cold water
food coloring
Combine cornstarch and water in a saucepan and boil until thick. After the liquid has reached the desired consistency remove from the heat and add a few drops of dish washing liquid to make clean up easier. Pour into separate containers and add your food coloring. The mixture cooled relatively quickly and our "paint" was cool to the touch once we were done adding our food coloring and was ready to be used. You can use this as traditional finger paint on paper or with a brush, or on a smooth surface like a cookie sheet or counter top. This is a great sensory activity!
Mixing up "Watermelon Red"
Adding the food coloring to make "Jungle Green"
Practicing her sad face that Neal taught her.
Loving her "goopy stuff"
In an effort to put more structure, productivity and learning into our days I have embarked on a new and might I add, very fulfilling adventure. I am attempting to try my hand at some make shift homeschooling. Albeit it is on the preschool level and I figure it is best to start small and with baby steps, this way I can figure out if I am really cut out for it down the line when she is older and ready to be challenged even more. I am not really using any structured curriculum at this point, I am mainly pulling from my job experience and my education (I knew that college degree in child development would come in handy!). I have also found several websites that I am incorporating various ideas from and molding them all together to form my own impromptu lessons. I have found Starfall to be a very helpful website, some of the site is geared more for older kids, but like I said, I am picking and choosing. I have also found some great Christian home school stuff, so we are trying to incorporate some Bible lessons/verses daily. Sophie loves to read her Bible and we have found that she is also retaining so much info from Sunday school so I thought this would be a great add on to what she is learning at church.
Right now my plan is to work on a letter a week, so right now we are on A, we have started by creating an alphabet book, she had so much fun coloring, gluing and cutting (Mama helped with the cutting) and I was really impressed with her gluing abilities! All the while creating the "A" page we talked about the letter A what sound it made and what things started with the letter A. I was blown away at how much she really seemed to enjoy it all and at the end of the day when Neal came home she was able to share with him some of what she learned. I certainly don't spend all day "teaching" Sophie, of course I see everything as a teaching experience whether it is intentional or not, but my new concentrated efforts of teaching last anywhere from 15-30 minutes (or however long she can focus!), and then sporadically throughout the rest of the day we will talk about and incorporate what we worked on that morning.
I have also implemented Quiet Time bins for times when I need to get things done, i.e. cook dinner or get a shower and don't need her underfoot. Each bin is labeled Monday through Friday and has toys/activities in them that are to be used on a specific day and during a Quiet Time (or Mama needs a time out) moment only that way if the bins are only pulled out at a certain time on each day they stay fun, new, and alluring. The various bins contain coloring books and crayons, a magnetic dress up doll, Little Einstein figures, My Little Pony, Stringing Beads (for hand eye coordination and fine motor skills), stickers, clothes pins with yogurt containers (clipping the pins onto the containers is good for the fine motor and practice for holding a pencil), measuring cups, number identification/counting cards, a blank notepad and crayons, each bin also contains a couple of books that she has not seen in a while so that should excite her!
I am really excited about all this mostly because Sophie seems to be excited too, but also because as I mentioned it gives a little structure to our morning and day and I am not constantly wondering what we are going to do to fill our time. I will keep you posted on how it all goes!
The front cover still needs her name and some of her own personal flair added, but this is a start!
Mixing up "Watermelon Red"
Adding the food coloring to make "Jungle Green"
Practicing her sad face that Neal taught her.
Loving her "goopy stuff"
