Homeschooling Day by Day - Week 2

Last week's main lesson was not to stress if some of the activities don't happen as planned or don't happen at all. The beautiful part is just about any experience can be turned into an educational one.

Plus that's the beauty of homeschool - I can go with the flow. In my planning I try for at least 1 hour of playground time each day (or going to a park or a greenway). On a rainy day we can stay home or go to a toy store or a Barnes&Noble (mostly to play with trains and look through the latest issue of Drumhead, no kidding!). But on a sunny day, we're going to be out for way more than an hour without worrying about sorting bears, lacing beads or putting together puzzles.

With this in mind, here's my very tentative schedule for Week 2:

Ok, I just realized that I it's already Monday evening and I haven't posted it yet. So we did make a scarecrow, but out of a brown bag (see picture above). Mr. M wasn't too much into it, but compensated by doing not 1 but 2 other art projects later in the day - playdoh drawing and drawing a rail road (with help of his trains).

Monday

• Art - making a scarecrow; it was a huge hit the first time we did it and Mr. M keeps asking about it now and then. We might also make another scarecrow out of a brown bag. This one will include mostly painting, drawing and gluing.


• Fine motor - we're back to the stickers are fun phase and I'm going to use this to learn body parts (I'm thinking heel, toes, individual fingers, elbows since Mr. M already knows most body parts)


• Science - making thumbprints and examining them through magnifier


• Blocks - we haven't made much progress with building a town, so we'll pick up where we left in Week 1 - buildings, signs and hopefully a railroad signal.

Tuesday

• Art - body tracing (or at least teddy bear tracing) would be fun


• Blocks - building the tallest tower we can build


• Game - I'm dying to try Twister with Mr. M


• Math - making a face out of felt to learn different shapes (ok, so Mr. M already knows most basic shapes, but never hurts to review)


• Practical life - pouring rice (can you tell I'm reviewing my Montessori books?)

Wednesday

• Art - doodle art


• Fine motor - paper-clip pick-up (with a small brush, a magnet and a pair of strawberry hullers)


• Language and memory - a game of "what's missing" with 3-5 objects


• Game - water table (ok, so it's actually a sink, but it's a ton of fun nevertheless)


• Practical life - I'm gonna get ambitious here and try to teach Mr. M to set his table for each meal

Thursday

• Art - paint to music


• Cooking - making little pizza faces out of pita bread, cheese, raisings, carrots, etc.


• Taste - tropical fruits tasting

Friday - Bear's Birthday Party

• Art - make party invitations (and deliver them to Chef Pig, teddy bears and other guests)


• Cooking - bake and decorate cupcakes


• Math - sort birthday candles by color


• Fine motor - gift wrapping (and unwrapping)


• Game - Bear's birthday party