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Ideas for Independent Work
- This topic has 8 replies, 8 voices, and was last updated 11 years ago by
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I’ve just had a baby and the span between our newest and the next one up is six years. As we’re adjusting to life with five children (one of them being an infant) I’m looking for morning independent work for my other children (not chores/jobs, as they already have those) — three of whom are not yet avid readers and only just getting into early readers. Any suggestions?
Copywork. Explode the Code workbook. Math drill sheet/copywork – just a short page of basic math facts. Read to your sibling for X minutes. Play a game with your sibling (we have lots of educational games). Watch X movie with siblings – something like Liberty’s Kids or Jeff Corwin or Magic School Bus. Hey, it’s science! And history! Computer programming iPad games or similar educational app. Listen to an audio book. Watch a how-to drawing video and draw. My older boys (age 13) do much more than this, but my 9 and 7 year olds do many of the above.
My new readers do better with their reading if I give them a page number – read 4 pages in this book. Then I have them narrate to me sometime during the day.
I second the suggestions above. www.starfall.com is free and has phonics and reading, and More.starfall for $35/year/family also has math. www.xtramath.org for free math drills.
I second the copywork and ETC workbooks (we use these). Maybe Draw Write Now books for copywork and drawing (and a little reading with social studies/science). Have them work Geopuzzles together.
Also audiobooks for literature and/or history. If you have the book to go along with it and they follow it, that can help with them learning to read. Many libraries have these.
How old are the kids who need indepdent work?
My 1st and 3rd graders like some of the workbooks from Evan-Moor, specifically geography and science. It is a little easy to read activity.
Story of the world is also helpful, you can get the audio book and let the kids color activity pages while they listen.
I am confused. Are you saying that your five kids are ages 0-6? Or that you have a new baby and then a 6 year old, and they go up from there?
Either way, if you have one or two good readers/helpers, they can help the youngers with things like copywork, math games, and phonics. And nursing a baby and readers go together fairly easily.
I second mtnmama on Story of the World – Jim Weiss has a few audios that are excellent and always popular around here. Dover coloring books are also great for educational coloring. Audio books can be found at the library or online.
If you aren’t 100% anti-T.V., we have found the Mathtacular and Discover & Do DVD’s very helpful when we have a new baby and need some extra educational instruction. Selected National Geographic and Nature specials are very good for science topics, as well.
Classical kids Cd’s (or just classical music playing)…big art book out where kids can peruse, or some prints hung on the wall for them to see. We use the Pimsleur Cd’s for audio French and like them very much.
Lots of hands on (independent) things like puzzles, drawing and art supplies. And, of course, books, books, books….they can ‘read’ even before they really read, you know :-).
Congratulations on new baby! Mostly, I would say to take it easy and enjoy this time. You know how quickly it passes!
My two older kids use Teaching Textbooks for Math, which is very helpful for when I am working with the younger two on other things.
These are great suggestions — thank you!! (I have a 4th grader, two 2nd graders and a first grader …with a newborn. My 4th grader is all set but my 2nd graders and 1st grader are the ones for which I’m looking for independent work.) Thanks much and keep ’em coming if anyone has other ideas!
Great ideas. We have done many of these suggestions. Thinking board games, puzzles, and manipulatives like blocks, kinex, legos, pattern blocks, stencils, stamps, watercoloring, listening to classical composer and drawing, playdough, magnet dolls, and handiwork all count as learning opportunities and can be done rather independently. These are not “curriculum” per se, but do add so much to a well rounded education and keep them busy in a creative and educational way. You can get back to heavier amounts of “book work” when the baby is a bit older and you have all adjusted to the new normal.
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