Tot School again! (Apples, 32 Months)

During the month of August, I mapped out a basic plan for a school year’s worth of Tot School.  I’ve gathered a lot of resources, both in file folders and digital files on the computer, but it’s not all organized yet.  I’m hoping – really hoping – to stay on top of things this year rather than scrambling every Sunday night to pull it all together!  So far, I already feel behind & we’re barely started.  Ha!

For the month of September, we have apples, cows, trains, and leaves on the agenda.  I’ve simplified – just the basics, nothing that takes huge prep work or any other craziness.  The nice part is that I can keep a file folder of each subject & just reuse it with future kiddos. 

Alex asked me to take this picture of him
with his Tot School work.  He’s very proud of it!

Alex was SOOOOO excited when I told him we’d be starting Tot School again!  I’d set up a little area upstairs with his Tot School shelves and our little blue table.  He was literally bouncing when he saw it! 

The first day I told him we’d be doing Tot School when Max was down for his nap, Alex ran upstairs.  After Max was sleeping, Alex called me upstairs saying, “Mom, I got my Tot School ready!”  He’d laid out everything that looked fun to him, and he was READY to work!  I didn’t realize how much he’d missed it!

Books -
We checked out a BUNCH of books from the library, but Alex’s favorite (by far) was Apple Farmer Annie by Monica Wellington.  (And that’s what he called it: “Mom, can we weed Apple Fahmuh Annie by Mon-ka Well-ton?”)

Patterning -

Oh, how he didn’t enjoy this!  The goal is to use the colored pompoms to complete the pattern.  Alex preferred to just randomly put pompoms on all the apples, giving no thought to color.  I think we’ll wait a while before trying this one again!  These in the picture were completed with a HUGE amount of guidance from Mom!

Cut and Paste -

Mommy still does the cutting.  Alex only makes random cuts with a scissors.  He’s really getting the hang of gluing, though, and he now understands why glue goes on the BACK of the picture! :)

 

Kumon Tracing -

Not apple themed, but we’re slowly working our way through a Kumon book designed to teach control while holding a pencil or crayon.  You have to guide your pencil through a maze or down a line.  The pictures are his very first (amusing) attempt, but he’s understanding it now that we’ve done about 6 or 7 sheets.  I should have taken pictures of some of his more recent sheets…He’s really enjoying learning to make straight lines or guide the pencil through a “maze”.  Oh, and we’re thinking he’s going to be right-handed; he’s always holding the pencil or crayon with his right hand for these pages.

 

Dot Art & Magnets -

Working on the letter A and on dotting in the circles.  He was very excited about the dot markers & magnets.

 

We also worked on letter A recognition – what it looks like, how it’s made, what sound it makes.  Alex seems to have little desire to match letters and sounds right now.  I guess that’s what we get for taking the summer off!

Shape Matching -

Mommy had half of each apple, and Alex had the other half.  We made a game of finding our matches.  While he doesn’t know diamonds or rectangles by name, he was able to make all the matches and name all of the remaining shapes. 

Finger Painting -

We made this Bible verse apple – a nice, simple, not-too-messy painting project.  Mommy had to make one, too, at Alex’s request.  The apple leaf reads, “Keep me as the apple of Your eye; hide me in the shadow of Your wings.”

 

Field Trip –

We’re planning to go apple picking in a few weeks!  I wish we could have done it right on schedule, but it didn’t work out that way.  After that, we can make applesauce and apple muffins and…mmm…I’m typing this before breakfast and making my mouth water at the thought!

We had a few other activities, but we ran out of time to complete them…and this year, I’m not going to worry about that!  We’ll do what we can, and the rest can go in the file folder for Max to do next year *Ü*

All of our activities this week are from Confessions of a Homeschooler and Making Learning Fun. 

To see what other tots are doing this week, be sure to check out the Carisa’s Tot School website!