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« Gone Protesting. | Main | Could I BE any more GROUCHY? »
Changing the Rhythm
September 29, 2003
I've noticed something somewhat disturbing in the past couple of weeks, since we've been trying to maintain some sort of regular rhythm in our homeschool day. That is, I don't spend very much time in one-on-one activities with Coley. Most of the activities that I have planned through the days are Monkcentric, and I just find something to distract Coley enough to allow us to do our work.
I also really need to scrap this overly restrictive schedule that I planned out and instead offer a menu of activities that the kids can choose from on a daily basis. I figured out that what I'm going to do is have morning circle time where we're all together, and then do one-on-one with Coley for about an hour or so while Monk plays with the computer or entertains himself...and then in the afternoon, Monk will get my undivided attention for an hour or so while Coley is engaged in something that he enjoys (like playing in Monk's room or playing with the computer). Then when I come home from work - at bedtime - I'll spend about 30 minutes with each of them one-on-one.
Soon enough, Coley will be able to understand when it's Monk's turn to have my full attention, and it won't be nearly as difficult as I know it's going to be at first. He already seems to understand the bedtime thing - I've been able to put him down and then tell him "OK, now I have to go put Monk to bed" and Cole will lay in bed by himself until he falls asleep.
Today, the boys played outside for much of the morning. I am so happy that summer is drawing to a close. Coley and I did some painting, and now he's walking around the house with a magnifying glass, "finding clues."
Another idea I have is to do a weekly newspaper scavenger hunt. Doesn't this sound like an awesome way to occupy the kids so I can read the paper at least once a week? Monk can look for words and concepts, and Coley can look for pictures. Does anyone have any good ideas about stuff I should put on the scavenger hunt list? Stuff like "find a map" or "look in the classified ads for a car you might like" or something. Gimme some ideas! I'm going to do it this week with the Sunday paper. This dovetails nicely with my idea that I want to find a few articles every week that illustrate simple, positive things that happen every week.
Some links for newspaper scavenger hunts:
http://iteslj.org/Lessons/Goodmacher-NewsScaven.html
http://www.teachercreated.com/lessons/000721cl.shtml
http://www.nwanews.com/nie/educators/PDFs/Another_Scavenger_hunt.pdf
http://www.kidskitchenreadingclub.com/kids/rc_newshunt.html
http://teachers.net/lessons/posts/2836.html
http://www.bgsu.edu/colleges/edhd/programs/ASPECT/po2.html
http://www.flash.net/~presv/Frames/TeacherHints/NewspaperScavengerHunt.htm
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Comments
nosey me needs to know, how old is coley?
coley is going to be three on October 24th.
oh ok my DD just turned two, im attempting to homeschool her now but sometimes i feel unsure about the 'lessons'.....well....because.....she's two :0
The only reason I really attempt to involve cole in any activities is to keep him busy (distracted) so I can do more complicated projects with Monk.
However, there are lots of fun things to do with toddlers. One of cole's favorite things in the world is playing with liquid water colors and coffee filters - dropping paint on a coffee filter causes such a beautiful and cool effect. It's pretty amazing.
Hey Dru, I hate to tempt fate :) but you could have Monk look for different dog breeds in the classifieds, e.g. look for a beakle like Bailey, look for boxers like Twyla.... BTW, I'd love to join the crew over at Full Bellies if there's room and you have time to hook me up. Thanks mama!
They could look for a dog in the pictures, a big letter A (for example), find a number, count people in a picture, a certain color in the color section... obviously I'm thinking of Coley things as I have someone the same age. ;)
He can cut strips from the sports section. :D
Hey Dru!
I'm trying to catch a little blog reading while I have a minute. I miss reading you and love this piece, not to mention my Gabriel's birthday is October 25 a day after Cole's. Well a day after and 9 years before.
I always miss homeschooling and my kids being little when I read your blog. I'm wondering how I can create newspaper scavenger hunts for 12 and 15 year-olds. I can see the eye-rolls now.
Take care, Dru.