It’s been a while since we have done any sort of Tot School!  Now we are slowly coming out of the Emma transition and have been enjoying trying to enjoy the snow and being cooped up inside.  Here’s a little peek at what we’ve been up too…

Playing outside…

Making snowflakes out of popsicle sticks, glitter and buttons…

Henry was all about sorting the buttons.  We used all white ones and he picked them out with tweezers mind you – I needed him to be occupied for 5 minutes and by golly it worked.  And he loved it so much that he mixed them up again did it all over again!

“Glitter is totally manly mom” – George…no he didn’t really say that.

JJ moved on to cutting paper snowflakes…

We made edible snowmen out of fruits and veges (for directions click here).

However, George never got any on his stick, they went right in his mouth.

For a background on how/why we do Tot School, click here.
It was a HOT week – we were only outside for maybe 40 minutes each day.
Lot’s of playing happened inside with minimal interference by me, which was surprising.

We worked on our E pages that we glued eggs onto…

We made elephants with our handprints…

We made an egg memeory game and played it…

We painted eggs after reading Pig’s Eggs…

We played with blocks and then Kara decided we needed to call it a “block party” complete with homemade party hats…

We made or remade catapillars…

And we went swimming…

So I haven’t been doing anything formal really during our time together.  The reason is two-fold; first, I’ve been really nauseous and second, the weather has been amazing.  So, lots of exploring and learning has been going on outside, which is what summer is all about in my opinion.

We did manage to work on our D pages and play with dominoes…

We went to the Zoo with our cousins in town from Colorado…

Played with the hundreds of cardboard coasters we have and never use…

And enjoyed the outside where clothing is optional…

For a background on how/why we do Tot School, click here.

We had a great week with Tot School.  The rain kept us in a lot.

We are working on our C pages in our ABC book this week…

Then for tot trays….

We used these punchers to make different shapes on paper:

We made sticker pictures:

We traced different sized yogurt lids, bottle caps and this wooden stencil:

and we strung bits of straws onto pipe cleaners:

On Wednesday we had a couple extra friends to play, so we ended the morning like this…we can call it the keepin’ it real picture…

Aaaahhh….Clifford.

We only did tray time 2x this week, mostly because of my lack of motivation.  The days we do tray time, it engages the kiddos and makes our day go so much smoother.  (more on my tiredness and lack of motivation in another post)  This week I am going to try and be more diligent about it.

We worked on our B pages of our ABC Book, inspired by Totally Tots,  that we are slowly compiling.  And over the weekend, the boys helped Daddy with the retaining wall around the playground and helped me plant flowers.

Here are our pictures…

Tray Time and ABC Book

sorting Legos……………………………………………..fine motor skills…………………………………………………. hide n’ seek pasta bowl……………………………………..

counting stickers…………………………………………………working on our own Going on a Bear Hunt books…..working on our B Page………………………………………..

even JJ (5yo) pulled himself away from his Legos to make a Going on a Bear Hunt book.  I am really enjoying that he loved colored pencils so much now.  I love colored pencils.  There is something therapeutic for me when I draw with them.  I like how you can change the color so easily when you draw with them depending on the pressure you apply.  I also love the sharpening and so do the boys.

Simon’s Birthday at The Magic House

Rocket Park

I SO want one of those diggers JJ is on for our backyard!

Kim was talking about how she was going to homeschool Tyler for preschool.

Me: “Oh, I could never homeschool, I’d go crazy , I’m not organized enough, etc”

Kim: “Jill, you DO home school your boys.”

Me: “Oh, I guess I do.”

I never think of it as homeschooling.

I don’t send my boys to preschool for two reasons.  First, and foremost, is that I know they have the rest of their lives to be in school -so why rush it?  Second, I’m cheap and don’t want to pay for something I can teach them myself.

I’ve watched other children in my home since JJ (5yo) was 9 months old, so socialization isn’t an issue.  These days, I have a three extra kids other than my own three, three days a week…wow I guess three is the magic number!  I think coupled with my own Montessori education and the the interest I had in early childhood education in college, it was natural that our days have become a loosely structured day with focused time for learning.

For the past four years, I have made my own “curriculum”.  Usually it was gathered through lots of surfing on the web and trips to the library.  Sometimes, the themes (that’s what I called them) would work beautifully and other times I would get very overwhelmed with because I would make it more complicated.

Fast forward to the last several months, I discovered Tot School and Totally Tots.  Both of these sites are specific for moms who keep their toddlers home to prepare them for a homeschooling future.  This doesn’t fit me entirely – JJ will be attending half -day kindergarten in the fall – go Hudson Hawks!  BUT, the ideas and community I have found thorough these sites have provided me a great relief.  I don’t have to reinvent the wheel, they have a simple curriculum that I feel I can pick and choose what works for us.

We do Tot Trays once or twice a day.  First in the morning and sometimes again in the afternoon if the 4 o’clock hour is especially hard.  Here are some pictures from using our trays this week.  In later posts, I’ll actually explain the specifics on what the kids are doing.

We implement ideas from Totally Tots on Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays – when I have other kids with us.

It looks like this:

Mondays: Now I know my ABCs – weekly ABC ideas with tots

Wednesdays: Bible Bites and sometimes Crafty Corner

Thursdays: Once a Upon a Book

I’ll be doing a post on Sundays about what we did the week before in Tot School.  This might help me own more what we’re doing, going back to my conversation with Kim.  I think it’s so funny when friends give me a totally different view of myself that I don’t see.  It’s funny that I see myself so differently, I’m thankful that I have friends that will sweetly tell me the good, bad and the ugly.