Scheduling the littles

Obviously, you are a great Mom and teacher to your kiddos! But, I think I would be a little less structured with the ‘stations’ and not expect kids of that age to be in one focused ‘zone’, then move to the next, etc…In my house this would create stress. Maybe your kids are a lot more cooperative than mine, however!

Do you have a seperate area or a partition where your 7 yo could work? We do desk work at individual desks in the bedroom, while the little kids are occupied in the living room or play area. Personally, I think it has been good for my kids to learn, “Brother is working now, we need to respect his work by staying out of this room.” And there is some degree of distraction which an older child should be trained to overcome. Distractions are going to be a part of life – he should be learning the mental habit of attention to the task at hand despite them.

Anyway, in the end it is your family and you are the best judge of what your kids will need. I would just encourage you to stay flexible :). I am impressed by your forethought and committment! Have a blessed school year!

This is our first year. I have four 5 and under. I have made baggies for my very “busy” 2 year old. They include 1.Chalk slate and chalk, 2. Pipe cleaners and beads, 3. Crayons, paper, and safety scissors, 4. Play-doh, 5. Modeling clay, 6. a homemade color wheel using matching pins, and add books and puzzles to the mix. I hope this keeps her busy! I tried to schedule reading time with her first. I’m also going to attempt “room time” during reading instruction because that is what I feel needs the most attention by both myself and my DD5 (almost 6). Room time is going to be the 4 year old in family room playing, 2 year old in bedroom with door open and baby gate up, and 10 month old in crib or playpen with toys. I hope to give them freedom to play but enough structure that we can accomplish something. Last year we toyed with “schooling” during nap time but my daughter seems to be too tired to engage her thinking skills in the afternoon. Reading literature at that time goes well though.

Play stations wouldn’t work for us because I’m positive that my 2 year old would balk whatever play station she was at if it wasn’t her idea! 🙂 She has a strong-will to see things her own way right now…we’re working on that habit!

Michelle,

Is there a link to the colour wheel you made? It sounds fascinating! 

I’m moderately structured for my small ones.  I’m tipping heavier on to the older kids side now, as I will have a 16 year old, 14 year old, 12 year old, 10 year old and 8 year old as well as my 5 year old, 2 year old and newborn.  I need the little ones to be in my sight and constructively occupied, but I don’t tend to divide up our time ridgidly because I like to stretch their attention spans when possible.  I’ve done things similar to a “workbox” approach and for my littest ones, I tend to set out 4 activities on shelves for them to do in order.

My DC are 11, 8, 6, 3 (and one on the way).  This year I’ve been printing notebook pages for all 4 of them.  My 3yo just colors and scribbles on hers, but it keeps her busy and makes her feel included.  When I’m reading aloud, I have her play quietly in the room (we’re still working on the “quiet” part).  I’ve been meaning to pull out a few basic toys for her, but haven’t gotten around to it.  It will probably be some blocks, baby dolls, Little People and/or playfood.  I also keep a few preschool activities in our school closet: lacing puzzles, counting bears & cups, dry erase board, I-spy bag, etc.  I am way too unorganized for workboxes, so I just pull something out when she needs some direction.

At some point during the day, when all 3 of the older DC are working independently, I pull out my 3yo’s preschool program.  We’re using HOD’s LHTH and we get through as much of the lesson as we can.  Usually we read a Bible story, do a fingerplay, and play with numbers or letters.  Today she had an art project as well.  It takes about 15-20 minutes to get through it all and she loves having her own school time.  I love having it all planned out for me.  I skip some of the more involved lessons and just complete what we can easily fit into the schedule.  

Last year my then 5yo played with her quite a bit.  Now that I only have one “little”, I’ve found it best to keep them all at the school table as long as possible.  So far it’s been easy keeping them together, but we have a long year ahead!

Another thing I’ve done is have the older ones work in another room when they need quiet.  My oldest especially needs quiet when she works on her math lesson.  She goes into the living room or her bedroom.  You just have to make sure they are actually working…my 8yo struggles with this, so I usually have him work nearby me.

I have done something a bit like this…not in stations , but on paper. Monday these activities are available (one activity from each category, similar to yours but only three or four categories). I think I just got out the supplies for each day’s activity at the start of school time and let them choose from there. It worked great to have the rotation plan, but only one or two things were needed each day (or more). Children are frustrated to have to stop playing something they are really interested in for no good reason. So while ti’s good to have a plan to suggest and/or provide before the first one gets old, it’s also good to let them go with it as long as they can enjoy an activity…it helps build their attention spans CM style.

I can’t find a site…I’ll keep looking. All I did was take a ruler and divide a paper plate into 8 pie sections. I colored each section with a basic color. I colored the end of a clothes pin the same color and wrote the color name on it. My 2 year old does enjoy playing with this.

I must add…since this was originally posted and I’ve actually had school for more than a few days…my activities are not keeping my 2 year old as occupied as I had hoped they would. I am waiting until morning nap for the 10 month old to start school. I also bought a used Playmobil set for the 4 year old that he ONLY gets to play with during school. This keeps him more than occupied; he adores this time. The two year old still seems to wander around aimlessly. She won’t stay focused on an activity for more than a few moments. I tried to do “room time” and she broke the baby gate down twice screaming so we really need to practice that more. I’m truly at a loss with her. I believe obedience and habit training is trumping anything with her. However, it seems life has to happen and I can’t stop everything because SHE is so demanding. She is very precious and sweet but is extremely “weak-willed” and emotional. Some days she does fine just wandering around playing; other days she can be distracting. Although she can be distracting, I think over time free play time is what is going to work best for her during our morning school hour (math, reading lesson, handwriting). Other stuff we save for her afternoon nap. (Literature reading, piano practice, composer study, etc.)

To quote Joanne “The preschoolers know that during school, they can sit quietly at the table with us and use some of these materials, or they can play in the playroom, which is just around the corner from the area where we do school. Any time they get disruptive, I send them to the playroom. If arguments or other misbehaviours start in the playroom, they have to come be at the table. Otherwise, they come and go as they please. I rotate which toys are available in the playroom, so it doesn’t get boring.”

I think this is where we are at with school.