Toddler woes

Ah, the joy of little boys! I would love to say it gets easier after you have a few, but with the fifth boy on the way (fourth in a row) it really doesn’t. LOL.

One thing that really helps for some school time is training them to sit at the table for table time. That involves a booster seat equipped with a seat belt. Give them an activity, and be willing to change it every so often, but if they’re tossing it on the floor after just a few minutes they sit until it’s time to get the next activity. Start small and work up to an hour.

One of the keys here is having some special things for them to do part of the time. One of mine loved a piece of construction paper with a paintbrush and a tablespoon or so of plain water. The water shows up like paint on construction paper and doesn’t make a big mess when spilled. (Especially if you prep the area by laying a towel out as a ‘placemat’ and putting everything on that.) Another loved markers. They wore about as much as the paper did, but becasue they were contained it was them wearing it and not my walls. Playdough. Magnetic letters and a cookie sheet or magnetic dry erase board. Dry erase markers and dry erase book/board. Puzzles. Cutting food by Melissa and Doug (it’s velcroed together and they slice it – very satisfying to some little boys). Magnetic wooden doll from Melissa and Doug (there is a boy one who has costumes to magnet on him).

Other than that it’s just what you’re already doing of course – consistency!

Oh, and don’t be afraid to move where you do homeschool. Move everyone to a bedroom or other room with a door. Shut you all inside. Then you at least don’t have to wonder what the 2 year old is getting into, he’s right there in the same room the whole time. ((HUGS))

I love what Valerie Bendt says about making sure that you start school with the little guys, and then intentionally touch base with them several times throughout the morning. I think it can make a BIG difference in their day (and consequently your day as well) if they get a little concentrated time at the beginning, and then they know that you will be frequently re-connecting with them as you change out activities, etc. It doesn’t even take 5 minutes to really get down on their level and look them in the eyes and connect with them before starting their next activity, but it pays in big dividends. You are probably already doing that — but I find it is easy for me to skip that and then our school day suffers.

Here is her book, full of ideas for independent activities for the preschool crowd (worth its weight in gold imo): http://www.valeriebendt.com/makingthemostofthepreschoolyears.aspx

HTH a little.

~Jenn