Monday, December 6, 2010

Tot School, Taitum Style!

While combing through homeschooling sites to find resources for Piper, I have also come across 'Tot School'. This is basically setting aside some time each day to get down and play one on one with your tot - in my case, Taitum! I was very excited to come across the idea and examples provided of fun, age appropriate activities at 1+1+1=1. Considering the amount of time and energy I was finding myself putting into Piper's homeschool preschool, I felt it was only right to be providing Taitum with some specific opportunities to learn AND, more importantly, have my full attention!

I have found that starting homeschool with Piper has been a huge learning curve for me and a bit overwhelming because there is SO much out there! So I haven't been quite organized enough yet to do Tot School with Tait every day but try for at least two or three days a week. Sunday nights, her and I are generally alone so I always do something then. The rest of the time Piper is usually involved but I try to focus most of my attention on Taitum for that chunk of time. Piper is far more demanding of my attention then Tait is so it has been a bit of a challenge but a good one, worth taking on! I would also say it has been a good lesson for Piper to learn to allow Tait to have my attention.

I have also found it difficult to simply follow Tait's lead. I set up an activity and try to show her what to do but more often than not my little girl's idea of fun is completely different! I force myself to go along with it despite so desparately wanting to do things the 'right' way. And in the end, you know what? I have FUN! My baby girl is a blast! The things she comes up with are cute and adorable and she loves it! And regardless of the fact that we've 'gone off track' I know she is still learning and taking so much in just by playing with me!

If you're interested, I encourage you to read more about it since Carisa at 1+1+1=1 explains it so much better (It was her idea in the first place!). Some helpful posts are: Where Do I Begin? and Tot School FAQs.

Besides an overall goal of trying new activities and experiences for Taitum on a regular basis, I also hope to soon implement the idea of Tot Trays. This will probably happen around the same time I get around to setting up Workboxes for Piper! But 1 step at a time (at least that's what I keep trying to remind myself!).

Finally, here is a glimpse of some Tot School moments over the past week and a half...



'Pouring' practice with some pom poms, plastic containers and measuring cups!
Finger painting (and taste testing?) after making an angel Christmas craft that you'll see in a later post!


I had hoped to teach her how to use the shape sorter correctly...Taitum had other plans which involved stuffing Eener bear into the container :) We played 'peek-a-boo' with him for a bit.


Then we spent some time with the ring stacker. It was so cute to see her concentrate so hard on getting the rings on but then....


She decided to fill the shape sorter bucket with the rings and other items.


And then dump it all out everywhere! This was so funny for her! So we did it over and over quite a few times!

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