Toddler Schooling

So I have been sharing some ideas of what kind of toddler home school I do with my kiddos and realized that I am forgetting a lot of our favorite activities, so in an order to share more quickly and to remember I am posting them on the blog.

My big theory is I want maximum learning for least amount of work and cost.

TIP NUMBER ONE: Forget the "Glitter!
So pinterest often does not work for me because I spend way too much time looking for ideas and making the learning look more pretty rather than effective. I recommend just focusing on getting a lot of fun supplies out and letting your child pick what they want to play with and then on the spot make up an activity using wiki sticks and fish magnets or whatever they pick.

Sounds hard?
Just have in your mind what you want your child to learn prior to starting...
 For Example child....
Needs to work on writing letter J and K and the number 8
Needs to learn to recognize A/B patterns
Needs to work on these certain sight words
Needs to sequence numbers over ten.

Then if your child chooses a water pen, chalk, or marker board you can work on writing  skills.
If they choose blocks or random objects you work on patterns or comparing. The child is in charge of learning while you are still guiding it.

TIP NUMBER TWO: Have Fun!
School should be fun not boring. I am a firm believer in playing lots of games. My almost three year old is now playing dominoes with us. Love the counting and matching it teaches. With having more than one child to teach I love having puzzles and memory games that I can assign one to work on while I teach the other.
Also do not hate on technology! Kids learn amazingly from videos on youtube. Also I love "Letter Factory" made by leap frog in order to teach letter sounds!

TIP NUMBER THREE: Apply to Everyday Life!
Force kids to apply what they are practicing! My oldest is four and is always writing out a shopping list. It helps me! -But it also gives her a chance to apply what she is learning and reap the benefits. I also love the opportunity to talk about what we can afford and start teaching healthy moderation (yes healthy food should be moderated too!) before we get to the store where fits would normally be thrown without proper prep.

PS. She also writes out the ingredients as we cook. Food is an excellent catalyst. Writing the ingredients also occupies her little fingers so we have cookie batter left over for the cookies.

Please comment on the lessons and share if it helps you or you have great ideas and lessons that would help me to teach certain objectives!