Homeschooling with a Toddler

 

I've been homeschooling for about 12 years. I began when my oldest, Mikaela, was in preschool. She is now a junior in high school at our public school! Although my two oldest are in public school, I have homeschooled every year since the year I first began. I have had babies or toddlers (or both!) for most of those years. Now I have a 6th, 4th, and 2nd grader and a 14-month old.

It's not easy!

Zeke has started climbing...which means he climbs on our table anytime we are sitting at it and sometimes when we aren't. I'm constantly grabbing him and pulling him off of the table or calling for one of the other kids to get him off! He wants to grab pencils and markers from our caddy and throw them off the table all over the floor. He wants to throw everything into the garbage can and then take things out of the garbage can. He decides to throw fits when I read aloud and cry when I'm trying to explain a math problem. He loves to color and draw all over the kid's worksheets instead of on the paper I give to him.

He is a handful. A cute handful, but a handful indeed.

I'm going to list a few of my tips for homeschooling with babies and toddlers, but I'm going to promise you they won't work all the time. Some days there is nothing you can do but make it through the day!

TIP #1 - SNACKS
I usually put Zeke in his booster seat with a handful of Cheerios or some breakfast. While he is corralled and quiet, I try to read our Bible lesson for the day. Some days, he will sit quietly for a while, but other days it's short-lived. Throughout the morning, I will give him a cracker or his snack cup when I need a few moments of quiet.

TIP #2 - FORBIDDEN TOYS
I don't really mean forbidden. I'm talking about toys your toddler doesn't get to play with very often. For Zeke, that is usually his big brother's trucks, tractors, and farm animals. If he's getting squirrelly, I'll pull out some of those toys and just set them down casually. He'll take the bait and play quietly for a good bit of time. Sometimes I'll give him the Magformers or bucket of crayons - things he doesn't have in his reach normally.

TIP #3 - ONE-ON-ONE TIME
I can usually tell when Zeke needs some one-on-one time with me. I'll get his puzzle or his shape sorter and give him a good five to ten minutes of my attention, usually while the big kids are finishing up a worksheet or project. That focused time gives him a much-needed boost. Sometimes we will sing the Itsy Bitsy Spider or read one of his favorite books, sometimes we will do some of his "school" work (ABC Jesus Loves Me), and sometimes we will just snuggle and give hugs and kisses. It doesn't matter what we do, it's just the attention and time spent that helps. When I take my attention off of him again, he is normally happy to entertain himself for a few minutes. I usually give him several of these chunks each hour!

TIP #4 - BOOKS
Zeke absolutely loves to read. He already has quite the collection of board books! He even has his favorites already - Moo, Baa, La La La and The Going to Bed Book by Sandra Boynton and all of his "lift-the-flap" books (although I will admit some of his lift-the-flap books are flapless now!). I will put him in my lap or beside me on the couch with a few board books while I am reading or teaching or helping one of the kids with their independent work. Most of the time, he will flip through his books quietly for several minutes until he wants me to read to him.

TIP #5 - NAPTIME
I'll be honest - I don't do a lot of school during Zeke's nap. I usually hit the housework during that time - laundry, cleaning the kitchen, tidying up from our school work, sweeping, mopping, dusting, and cooking lunch. He usually takes a nap around 10:30 or 11:00. I aim to have our together school done by then (Bible, geography, and science) so I can get him to sleep while the kids begin on their independent work or maybe finish up an art project. When he is asleep, I will help Titus with his language arts and math (which takes maybe 20 minutes) and then start cleaning up and cooking. However, some people like to save all school work for naptime! Zeke doesn't take enough naps for that to work here. He takes one good mid-morning nap and sometimes an afternoon catnap.

We do most of our schoolwork before lunchtime, so I'm only having to juggle teaching with a toddler for a few hours each day. The rest of the day I can give him lots of attention and his siblings give him plenty of attention, too! If you have any more tips for homeschooling with a toddler, leave me a comment! I'm always looking for more tricks to put in my bag!

Our Favorite Preschool Curriculum and Resources

I am by no means an expert on teaching preschool, but I have taught four children preschool and am working on my fifth! I am going to list our favorite resources and curriculum choices, as well as a few helpful tips, for teaching 3-5 year old children.

{Before I begin, I will say that having a well-stocked arts and crafts cabinet is a must for this age! Paper plates, glue, construction paper, scissors, googly eyes, stickers, and markers are a few of the things I try not to run out of. Preschoolers can create so many wonderful things, learning about colors and shapes, perfecting their fine motor skills, and using their imagination - all at the same time! If you have nothing except arts and crafts supplies, you can still teach preschoolers!}

These Rod and Staff workbooks for the preschool-age are wonderful! They teach colors, numbers, shapes, Bible stories, patterns, and sequencing - all of the pre-reading and pre-writing skills your preschooler needs to learn. Titus does a page or two a day and is learning so much! They are very inexpensive, yet very high quality workbooks.
 

 
Several years ago, I printed off and laminated these alphabet pattern block cards for my then-preschooler, Silas. Now, Titus is using these with his letter-of-the-week curriculum I wrote for him. Along with learning how to properly form the alphabet letters, he is practicing fine motor skills, problem-solving, colors, and shapes - a win/win!



Another great hands-on activity for learning the alphabet {among other things} is Cuisenaire Rods! I've had this Alphabet Book for years, and Titus has had a blast creating letters and pictures with the colorful, multi-length rods. It's also great for fine motor skills and problem-solving; it's such fun even my 11 year old enjoys using it.



Counting bears are such a classic homeschool math manipulative, and for a good reason. They are so versatile and can be used for much more than counting! I purchased some pattern cards that Titus uses {patterns are such a hard concept for him to understand! ugh!} with his counting bears. He also sorts the bears by color and size, and we play games with them! I lay out flashcards with the numbers he is learning {currently 1-3} and he puts the correct amount of bears by each number.



All About Reading, Pre-Reading, was such a fun curriculum for Silas to use in Kindergarten. When Titus completes the letter-of-the-week curriculum we are using, we are going to use this! I already purchased the extra student kit {since Silas used the first one!} and can't wait to use it with Titus. It's a fun, hands-on curriculum, and who doesn't love Ziggy?



Before Five in a Row is a gentle, literature based preschool guide. I wouldn't call it a curriculum, but you could definitely use it as such! Using classic children's books, you will guide your child as he learns about numbers, shapes, colors, art, and literary analysis {at a preschool level}. Many of these books have become our favorites! Here is a link to the BFIAR blog posts I have written.



We have two sets of these animal magnets from Melissa and Doug. They are great for classifying, learning animals sounds, and just playing around! We use a cookie sheet for a magnetic board.

What are some of your favorite curriculum choices for preschool?

A Day in Our Homeschool

I have never documented a full day in our homeschool before, and it sounded like fun. This was a normal day last week.

5:00 am: I wake up! {This is my natural wake up time, and I have learned to go with it. If I try to sleep later, I have a hard time feeling awake all day.} I read my Bible and have prayer time. I take my bath, get dressed and ready for the day, and get a head start on morning chores - I may switch out the laundry or unload and load the dishwasher.

7:00 am: I start waking Mikaela up. She likes to shower in the morning, and she is a slowpoke, so she has to wake up early. It usually takes me until 7:15 to get her out of bed and in the bathroom!

7:30 am: Silas and Eli walk into the kitchen, sleepy-eyed. I am working on my blog, but I stop and hug them and talk to them for a minute. They start fixing cereal. I swap the laundry - the clean clothes pile is getting larger, but the dirty clothes hamper is getting empty!

7:45 am: Mercie wakes up and fixes her bowl of cereal. Silas and Eli start cleaning their mess.

8:00 am: Mikaela is out of the shower, dressed, and fixing some cheese toast. I am tidying up the living room. Silas wants me to read him a book.

8:15 am: I remind the kids to make their beds, brush their teeth and get clothes on. We start school at 8:30, and it must be done by then.

8:25 am: I start calling them to the table. Titus is still asleep, so we try to be extra quiet.

8:30 am: We start school. I read the Bible, and we pray together. We each say our memory verse {even Mom!} - Matthew 6:5-13. I have them go around saying the books of the Bible, the names of the continents and oceans, and what God made on each day of Creation.

8:45: We start BiblioPlan. I read from the Companion, the Story of the World, and the Bible. Titus wakes up and climbs into my lap. He is semi-quiet.

9:15: We start working on our BiblioPlan map; the four oldest ones each have a binder with the map inside. I help Titus fix cereal and Silas find the Fertile Crescent to color on his map. There are a few tears when Mercie messes up her map a bit, but we fix it.

9:25: I assign the older 3 a creative writing assignment - "Pretend you are one of Noah's sons and it is the first day on the ark. Write a diary entry of how you feel." They decide that each of them will be a son of Noah, since there were 3 sons, and start writing.

9:30: I take Silas into the living room with his Foundations A books. We start working on voiced and unvoiced sounds, which he does in speech as well. Titus is in my lap - again. We work on handwriting and complete a worksheet with compound words. Silas has to "smash" the two words together {butter - fly - BUTTERFLY}, and he has to clap and yell the word at the same time. Titus starts clapping and yelling words, and I try to move on...

9:45: The kids are through with their writing assignments, and Mikaela and Eli read theirs aloud. Mercie refuses to read hers to everyone, but lets me read it "in my head!".

9:50: The younger four sit at the table with me for nature study, and Mikaela goes to her room to start working on grammar. We read about evergreen leaves and draw a diagram in our journals.

10:10: I start cleaning up the table and the cereal mess that Titus made. I tell Mercie and Eli to start working on math, and I grab Math-U-See and Silas and sit at the table. Titus plays with the blocks from Math-U-See.

10:25: Silas is done with math and asks to go play. I say yes, and he and Titus head to the bedroom. I clean up the blocks.

10:30: Mikaela brings me her grammar and science to check. Eli is through with math and cursive, and asks me to do his grammar with him. We sit at the table and do it all orally.

10:45: I tell Mercie to come to the table, and I do her grammar with her orally. Titus and Silas have about fifty hot wheels in the living room, setting up a car lot to "sell" hot wheels. There is a small argument over a certain car, but Eli helps sort it out.

11:00: Mikaela is through with her math, and I check it. She only misses one and corrects it. The four younger kids are all playing cars in the living room. I clean up the table and dining room, sweep the floor, and take the garbage out.

11:30: I heat up leftovers for lunch, and we all eat something different. After lunch, the kids clean up the kitchen and I start folding clothes.

12:15: Mikaela starts hanging up clothes while Eli puts away pajamas, underwear, and socks. The little boys put away their hot wheels and beg to go outside. I oblige.

12:30: Mercie watches the boys outside while Eli and Mikaela and I work on our US Elections lapbook. I read while they cut out, and then we follow directions to put the project together. I keep an eye on the kids through the window by the table.

1:00: Mercie brings the boys inside, and I get her started watching the Here To Help Learning video lesson. We pause it and do the writing warm up, finish the video and she completes her "homework". The boys are playing in their room with Eli. Mikaela is in her room, making jewelry or reading.

1:45: Silas and Mercie sit at the table and we do our Grapevine Bible Study. They love stick-figuring through the Bible, and I let them use markers! Titus joins us and writes all over his hands.

2:00: I send the three younger ones outside again, and Mikaela and Eli do their Grapevine Study.

2:20: I send them outside with the younger ones and their library books. I finish cleaning the house, sit down and play Candy Crush for a few minutes {hey, being real}, and fold a load of towels. I set a package of hamburger meat in the sink to thaw for dinner.

3:00: I go outside and watch the kids play. I pick up the yard, feed the cats, and sit in my wooden swing.

4:15: I start browning the hamburger meat. I pilfer through the cabinets, and add a can of chili beans, a can of tomatoes, a package of taco seasoning, a spoon of sour cream and a handful of cheese. I mix a box of Jiffy cornbread and pour over the top, and then put it in the oven at 400 degrees.

5:00: After cleaning my kitchen mess, the kids start coming inside, asking if dinner is ready. I tell them it will be a few minutes, and they put on Looney Toons in the living room. I am sweeping the dirt and leaves they brought inside!

5:30: Mikaela fixes everyone a drink while I fix plates. They ask to eat in the living room on a towel, so I say yes. Everyone eats and makes a mess.

6:00: I start bathing Titus and Silas while the older three clean up the dinner mess. Titus doesn't want to get out of the tub, but I finally talk him into it.

6:30: Rod comes home from the field and showers. I fix his plate and he eats in the living room while the kids crowd around him.

7:00: Eli showers, and then Mercie takes a bath. The little boys are playing with hot wheels again. I ask them to clean up. I am swapping laundry and starting the dishwasher.

7:30: We read the Bible together, discuss it, and pray.

8:00: Teeth are brushed, kids are tucked in bed, and Rod and I talk in the living room.

8:05: Titus wants to stay awake with us - Rod sends him back to bed after a hug. He cries.

8:30: Rod and I get in bed.

9:00: Titus wanders in our room and crawls in bed. I snuggle with him.

{Throughout the day, I read numerous books aloud to Titus and Silas. I break up many fights and arguments. I keep Titus from digging in the cabinets for snacks. I have the kids do chores while answer text messages, check my blog and email, and talk on the phone to my husband. I spend a few minutes each day planning for the next school day, my sister comes to visit sometimes with her four kids, Rod's grandmother may stop by with a bowl of spaghetti or some books and stickers for the kids. Every day varies,  but this was a regular day I documented with no visitors and no errands to run.}

Click below to read more "A Day in Our Homeschool" posts from the Schoolhouse Review Crew!

Homeschooling When...You Move Around A lot

My husband is a tie-in foreman for pipeline construction. His job requires us to move around. A lot. Most of his jobs last anywhere from 2-8 months. They are usually more than a day's drive from our home in Louisiana. He works 6 or 7 days a week, 12 or more hours a day, so if we want to see him then we travel with him.

We've been doing this for around 7 years now. We have been to numerous states {some more than once!} and made many friends along the way.

Is it easy? Not always. It's not fun to uproot our family several times a year. It's not fun trying to find a furnished house or apartment to rent while we are away. It's not fun to be away from our family, friends, church, and house for extended periods.

Is it worth it? Absolutely. It would be torture to not see my husband for months at a time, not to mention him having to be away from us! I firmly believe that our family should be together, all the time. Therefore, we travel with him. Several times a year. To many different places.

Back to the topic... How do we homeschool when we move around a lot? The easy answer is - we take our books with us! It's not so simple, though! With 5 kids, it's not feasible to pack a ton of curriculum, books, manipulatives, educational toys, puzzles, maps, globes, games - you get the idea! We usually have a limited amount of cargo space - my husband's truck and my Yukon XL. Loaded down with five kids and two adults and plastic tubs of stuff and more stuff and even more stuff!

I don't take every piece of our curriculum when we travel {and yet, I always come home with way more stuff than I brought...hmm...}. It's hard to pare down the essentials {because I want to bring it all!} and there is always something I really regret not bringing with me {which is why we have double and triple of a lot of stuff!}.

I am going to share my tips and advice for homeschooling when you travel a lot.

1.) Find the local library. This is so important, that I usually google the library in the town we will be in before we even get there! Some states require different things to obtain a library card - always find out those requirements before you go. Having a library card makes it so easy when you need a book for school. Plus we never pack any books {other than curriculum books} which saves space! The kids love going to a new library for the first time. We always make friends with the librarians, too. That way they are more forgiving when we check out, oh, 40 books a week, or make use of the inter-library loans, or {gasp} tear a page out of a book!

2.) Find local museums and exhibits. We always make use of the awesome field trips available! Sometimes there are little hidden gems that are a lot of fun and educational. It feels like a big vacation sometimes.

3.) Pack only the most-used manipulatives. It is so hard for the decide which manipulatives I will bring. I usually pack counting cubes and bears, pattern blocks and cards, and letter and number tiles. We use these quite often, especially with Silas in Kindergarten and Mercie in 2nd grade. I would never have enough room to pack everything we use, so I paid attention to what we pulled out the most and these made the cut. You could always use dry beans or pennies!

4.) Find the local thrift store. I don't pack any board games, but I do allow room to bring some home. We always hit the local Goodwill store or thrift store and usually hit the jackpot on 99 cent board games. We bought a {brand-new} "Name That State" game and "Geografacts" game in the last place we were. These games are at least $30 on Amazon! We also find lots of educational books - kids dictionaries, Spanish words, atlases and more for around 50 cents each. {This is why I always go home with more than I bring...}

5.) Use a curriculum that doesn't require many extras. This is the first year that my kids aren't using the same core curriculum. It was a shock when I had to pack everything up {I bought it while we were on a job}. I won't make that mistake again! Eli, my 5th grader, is using Heart of Dakota's Bigger Hearts for His Glory. His books would fill up an entire plastic tub by themselves! That is not feasible for traveling, so we will be doing something different when the time comes to travel again. I really want to combine them for history, science, and geography again, as it not only makes traveling easier, it makes homeschooling easier.

6.) Use e-books. While I don't have an e-reader or even a tablet {double gasp!}, my oldest daughter has a tablet that was given to her. I will put a lot of her required reading on the tablet to cut back on books that we must pack. If your children like using e-readers, you could do this to save space.

7.) Use the Thinking Tree Journals! These journals don't take much space, and all they require to use them are library books. Talk about saving space!

Homeschooling when we travel so often isn't easy, but keeping my family together is important! I hope this helped someone in my situation.