Tot Tuesday

Kaleb is all most two years old. Now, I don't recommend officially starting school for a tot his age. I do however have some things planned out for the year so he doesn't feel left out. September's theme is animals and I have plans to incorporate some of the tot bags that I created as well as create new ones. This is what he did this Tuesday.

I gave Kaleb some sponges, actually he found them in our water toys bucket. I asked him to clean the glass door. He didn't care that they weren't wet, he just scrubbed away.

I changed his sensory bin for the month. He had been scooping noodles into cups and such but I thought he needed a change. Thanks to my mom for the idea....

I shredded some paper for his sensory bin. He was a little hesitant at first, since he was expecting noodles when I brought the container down. We don't own a shredder, so I had to do all of this by hand.

He scooped and poured then threw and threw....

got some stuck on his foot...

and left me with a mess to clean. Not too bad, we will be bringing this bin out all month. What fun! My tot was busy today.

Our New School Year

We have been home schooling in our family for years. We have done "school" since J was able to talk. We did what some call tot school, activities that aided coordination and thinking skills. We learned our letters and numbers. We did a year of Winter's Promise pre-k, BFIAR, and FIAR (Before Five in a Row and Five in a Row). This is year where we have a more structured curriculum. We are doing Sonlight Core K. It is Sonlight's core for Kindergarten. Here is the break down of what J will be learning this year.

J - Kindergarten

Sonlight Core K - tons of books and resources, it is the backbone of our school day

Bible: Positive Action Learning About God

Math: Horizons K books 1 and 2

Language Arts: Reading Made Easy by Valerie Bendt

Handwriting Without Tears K

Scholastic Sight Word Readers

Bob Books, set 1 and 2

Explode the Code books 1,2, and 3

Literature units prepared by me

Science: Sonlight

Social Studies: Sonlight

Art:

projects from Handle on the Arts - Introductions to World Cultures (a book that incorporates various projects into Core A)

Various Art projects incorporated by me, found on the Internet

Music: piano instruction at my husband's school

P.E.: playgroup, running around after her baby brother

Life Skills: tying shoes, helping Keke with dishes, set the table at night, making her bed, cleaning her toys, quiet time (love this!), being responsible

I look at this list and it looks like a lot of work. Hopefully it will be challenging enough to keep her attention but not be overwhelming to the point of frustration. I am nervous to a point because of the level of books in the Sonlight Core K program. We are starting off with chapter books but J has always loved reading. So we will see how this goes. I will keep everything open and if it isn't working for us, I will adjust accordingly. Hope your new school year has started well.

We're Back

We finally made it back and are working on getting ready for the new school year. I have many things planned and am excited to be able to share them. Here are a few things we did while in America...

We were able to take advantage of the huge yard and driveway at my parents' house. The kids were able to ride their bikes and cars all around. This was great considering all we have here is a balcony.

Kaleb was able to eat some fresh tomatoes from my father's garden. He would steal one from the colander and eat it like an apple.

We were able to spend some time with our big brother. We drove him back to college so he could work and spent some great time with friends in Florida.

J took swimming lessons and ballet this summer (thanks mom!) keeping her very busy.

We were able to spend some time down at the beach with my family. We all had a great time and the kids loved the water. It was a busy but relaxing summer. We enjoyed every minute of it, thanks to my family and friends. After a day and half of travel, we finally made it back home. It has been a struggle to get over jet lag. Kaleb has been struggling, he has spent that lest two night awake until 4 in the morning.

The only way to get him to sleep has been to open our couch and lay down with him, exhausted. We are supposed to start school on Monday but it he isn't sleeping on our time yet, I may have to postpone it. Staying up with him is hurting my recovery as well.

So I look forward to a new school year with new ideas and lessons. I plan on having more tot bags to share in the future. May your school year start off without a hitch.

We Interrupt This Blog...

We interrupt this blog for an announcement. My children and I have been anxiously awaiting our trip to 'Merica and it has finally arrived. Due to travels and plans, this blog will be temporarily closed for an unspecified amount of time. I will return before the beginning of the school year with many new ideas, plans, and activities. I may return sporadically this summer with updates but I don't want to promise anything.

We are hoping our summer will be full of family, friends, popsicles, and fun. And we hope that your summer will be full of those too. Happy vacation!

I really should be packing....

I really should be packing but I saw this post about creating finger puppets and I just couldn't help myself. I was really just looking for things to do during the flights, since I will be iPad-less :(,  and I thought finger puppets would be fun. Then it got a little involved with looking for graphics and such. But I did it, I created finger puppets for the Three Little Pigs. Hope you enjoy them. We will be using these on one of our three flights or layovers in the airport. Wish me luck!

The template is from LilCountryKindergarten and the graphics are from Mrs. Patton's Patch. Thanks! Click on pic to take you to the file.

Monday's Discovery

Bravery - the discovery of the week/month/year. A family who was leaving for awhile left us a plastic slide that we could use while they were gone. I had put it up when Kaleb was starting to crawl around because I didn't want him to hurt himself. Recently, I have brought it out of the storage closet. Kaleb can stand on the bottom step but usually needs help getting to the top and sliding down. I was working with J when I looked up and saw this...

on the second step....

on the third step....

success!!!!

Can you tell he was pleased with himself? Every time he moved a little, he screamed with joy at his achievement. Bravery, this child has very little fear. That can be good and bad. To aid in his safety while practicing the slide steps, I have placed every pillow I own around the slide to prevent too harsh of a fall. He still has to learn how to sit and slide but for now, he was on top of the world.

Culture Kit

This summer I am participating in a Culture Exchange with several other families. Living abroad is an ultimate learning experience for any child but for those unable to travel, culture kits allow the world to become a little smaller. These allow children to experience a taste of a a culture/country that they may not know about or may only dream of visiting. This is my first cultural exchange so I was unsure of what to put in my kit. Hopefully what I have chosen will offer a view of the country we live in. This is what I will be sending my other families.

I created a mini book which discusses many of the wonders of our country. It contains maps, pictures around the country, mini T lessons on colors, numbers and sayings, customs, recipes, etc... I added packages of Salep which is a drink made from orchid bulbs, a mini rug, and a keychain of the eye that is very popular here.

I bought some postcards of familiar sights here, added a balloon with the national flag on it, and an array of coin money that we use.

I was lucky to find a puzzle of some of the famous sites. I added a paper doll craft, a coloring book, and a seek-n-find in T.

Lastly, I added some fun chocolate cookies and some tourist apple tea. I truly wanted to add T Delight but I was unable to find small packages. I may still add another sweet before I send them.

I am hoping this kit will allow the children who are receiving it to experience a little of the country we live in. If you would like to do your own Turkey country study, you may check my pinterest board. It has links to different sites with recipes and crafts. If you would like a copy of my mini book, please leave me a message and I will email it to you. It is a personal book with my daughter in it, so I won't post it as a download. I hope this post will encourage you to experience new cultures and possibly participate in your own cultural exchange.

 Worldwide Culture Swap is a good place to start for ideas on culture boxes and for joining a swap.