We attempted Tot School on Monday, but it didn’t go so well. Alex had a mini-meltdown, and he chose to spend Tot School time pouting on his bed. He got angry that he had to do the RRSP board before we work on the theme activities. That’s happened a few times this fall. With a crazy week and a bad attitude, I never tried again.
I did some thinking throughout the week. Tot School is all about having FUN while learning; it’s not about mom forcing tot to do things her way. If Alex loves our theme pages, then that’s what we’ll do. Next week, we’ll try doing our regular tot school time, slipping an RRSP letter practice page into the middle of our activities, and doing calendar time. That might be the solution for Alex’s “silent temper tantrums”.
I’m going to try hanging the RRSP verse in our kitchen so we can review it at mealtimes. I’ll just hold off on using some of the other elements for now, as Alex obviously isn’t ready for that right now.
What we DID do this week is play together, do puzzles together, build Lego barns, color pictures, make Caillou & Build-A-Bear paper dolls, and make a new color-matching game for Max with Disney Cars characters to match on the squares. (What did DIDN’T do is take pictures…)
We also spent a day making applesauce & apple pie filling at my sister’s house. We had just a few apples, ha ha! Come on over if you want some applesauce; we have plenty! ;)
If you haven’t seen it yet, I’m offering a mini-pack that will work well with some of the pages available from 2TeachingMommies and 1Plus1Plus1Equals1. Click on the picture to see the pack…
You can learn more about RRSP, Preschool Corner, or Tot School by clicking on the links below. You’ll also see what other moms are doing with their tots and preschoolers!
6 comments:
Its all about the having fun! I think your plan sounds good :-)
I wish I could come over. Those apples look yummy! I also agree with Lindsay about having fun, but it sounds to me like they are LEARNING - building with legos, puzzles, making applesauce, THAT is tot-school =) Sounds like you are a fabulous mom and an awesome teacher!
I used to fight with my son too and had the same revelation!! It's tough when we work so hard to get stuff ready for them and they aren't interested at all!
We did a bit of RRSP and are onto RRSK now. I've found that singing the verses as songs has my boys much more engaged than when we were just reading them!
It really looks to me like you did tot-school throughout the daily activities. It doesn't all have to be about the worksheets, but about joyful play experiences where your tot gets one on one time with you=) You look like you are doing a great job with your little guy! I hope your next week goes better for you and Alex!
We've learned that lesson as well. Sometimes our weeks are sparse because the kids just don't want to work on anything, and that's perfectly ok! Sometimes all that's needed is taking a breather and regrouping later!
Liam and I have days like this too. Sounds like you guys still had a lot of fun though, and like the others have said, there is a lot of learning going on when the little guys play!
I know what you mean about the hotdogs. For me it's all the trucks in our house I'm constantly tripping over. :)
Post a Comment