Creative-Mommy

Links: 5 Little Shapes and 5 Green and Speckled Frogs both came from http://www.childcareland.com. The flashcards I sent to a friend for her little boy, and forgot to save the website. If anyone knows where they came from please let me know!

I find that flashcards are great for my kids, not so much so I can walk around and drill them on whatever it is we are working on, but so they have something to hold and carry around. Julia will take one to me and ask about it, then take it to her dad, and her sisters then back to me. The reinforcement works very well, and it gives her a special manipulative that is hers to "play with". The set I made her is for basic colors. This site had many more I would have loved to have, so please let me know if you are familiar with it. I saved the file to my computer, but not the address to my favorites.

The shape song is to the tune of Three Blind Mice, and can be found on Shelley's childcareland site, under the freebies. It promotes basic shape recognition and once again provides a manipulative for my daughter to use and move around.

5 Green and Speckled Frogs is a song I learned in pre-k many years ago. My oldest learned it in pre-k as well. The frogs themselves came from Shelley's site, although any clip art of frogs would work. You could also make a glove puppet or finger puppets, depending on your child's interests and learning style. The pattern was for a flannel board, which I do not have at this time. However, as I have shared before, I do have a metal board my husband made me, and so I find that magnets work well for us. As always, everything on here has been reinforced with packing tape, although contact paper or laminating sheets would work as well.

Many people I know do not actually do school work with their younger kids, but instead give them something to keep them out of the way. I find that involving all my girls in school makes things go more smoothly for me, and the little ones are learning more than I would have expected.

At not quite 2 Julia can sing the ABC song, count to 10 on her own, manipulate objects to 10, recognize basic shapes, as well as knowing the words to several nursery rhymes. She is also learning the letters in her name. I do not sit down with her and drill her and make her do schoolwork. But she loves to sing, so we sing, and she loves to count spoons, so we count spoons and she loves to sit on my lap and dictate shape-drawing or letter writing. So we do all those things and I find that she is already gaining a love of learning. When I say it is time to do school, she is often running at the front of the pack to get to the table.

That to me is the beauty of homeschooling.