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A while back I asked on our Facebook Group for all of your “stupid” questions – all of those questions that you may be embarrassed to ask.
It is finally time for me to share my thoughts!
Questions #1 – “Is it really important to do crafts everyday?”
Some kids love crafts. Other kids would rather have a hair cut than have to glue and paste another piece of tissue paper. Crafts are important because they work fine motor skills and imagination (unless the child is bound to a certain way of doing the craft). It is also an opportunity for the child to follow directions.
Everyday? Definitely not. But craft time is something that I believe should be a weekly event in your home.
Question #2 – “My son is 2 1/2 years old. At first it was all good but now he has lost interest in doing the curriculum. I try to read to him but he wants to try to read himself and he takes the books away. I want to get going but we end up not doing anything.”
At 2 1/2, keep the learning scattered throughout the day. Also incorporate the learning into daily activities as much as possible. As far as reading with a toddler…Peanut (2 1/2 years old) loves to read but he also wants things on his terms. Potty training is our favorite time to read. At times he will try to grab the book and take over but I just hold the book out of his reach and he forgets about the book and begins to enjoy the story again. If this doesn’t work, sometimes it requires a reminder that “Mommy is going to hold the book right now.”
Question #3: “How do you do the curriculum with a toddler/preschooler while also caring for an infant (with inconsistent nap habits)?”
We “scheduled” all of our babies so I highly encourage this for many reasons. Consistency is just one. Secondly, infancy is the easiest time to hold school because the baby isn’t mobile yet. Use tummy or exersaucer time to do activities from the curriculum. A baby can sit with you during Bible and reading time.
Question #4: “I’m not good at time management and have several activities through the week so that no 2 days are the same. I get to Thursday and realize I’ve not touched on several objectives. We read a lot, but he is “behind” in his verbal output, so the songs and other things like that end up me singing to him (which I admit I need to do more of). And much to my dismay, he seems uninterested in coloring and other craft type activities most of the time. I see that the activities should be fun, but he doesn’t seem interested and I’m not sure how to instill that in him.”
Posting the “I am Learning” Posters on the refrigerator helps me keep the objectives forefront on my mind. As you transfer the objectives from the lesson plans to the poster, think of specific times in your week that you can cover the different goals. For example, decide that during bath time you will work on the Bible verse. Decide during car time you will work on the Bible song.
As far as instilling interest in him, sometimes you have to hide the learning so it looks like play and fun. Slowly learning time will cross over to the normal activities in the day.
Question #5: “I saw somewhere that the 5 year old curriculum wasn’t a full kinder program. Does that apply to all the other ages? Should I be supplementing more for the 3 year old? If so, what subjects?”
That is a good question. The 5 Year Curriculum is a Pre-K program and not a Kindergarten Curriculum. This is why it does not cover all of the standards for Kindergarten but it does cover all of the standards for Pre-K (plus more). The rest of the curriculum are complete according to most state standards.
To answer your question, I do not believe that there is anything that you need to supplement for the 2-5 Year Preschool Curriculum. (Unless you are you using the 5 Year Curriculum as a Kindergarten Curriculum.) If you have concerns, compare the curriculum objectives with your state’s Kindergarten requirements.
Tomorrow, questions #6-10!
Do you agree or disagree with any of these responses? Let us know!
Very helpful tips! Thanks for answering "dumb" questions that are really quite helpful. Just a note, though, that some babies just do not schedule well. My son was a very high maintenance baby, but was pretty happy in a baby carrier, so even when he wasn't taking naps lying in his crib well and I had a ton to do, I could carry him around and still have both hands free. My baby carrier saved my sanity when my son was an infant, and I think will free up some time to teach an older sibling. That's just my 2 cents recommendation, though. Thanks for all the good advice!
I'm not sure what exactly you mean, Heidi, by 'We "scheduled" all of our babies', but if this means not feeding an infant on demand I have to disagree with you. Many studies have shown that breastfeeding on demand is the healthiest way to care of an infant. And I'm assuming you're referring to an infant because that's the wording that the person posing the question used.
An alternate suggestion for incorporating learning time with preschoolers while caring for an infant would be to practice babywearing much of the time. My oldest two children are 17 months apart and babywearing (in a carrier or wrap, etc) saved me and got me thought that first year more than anything else. Just google "babywearing" if you're looking for more information.
Scheduling versus demand can really create tension among women. Baby-wearing vs not is another one. Most people are on one side or the other and have specific beliefs about each.
Personally, I believe going too far on either side of the issue creates problems. Sadly, the word "scheduling" brings up images of second-hand clock watchers while baby-wearings bring up images of babies who never leave their mom's bodies and are unable to entertain themselves. Demand feeding brings up images of children who are demanding and rule the house.
Very few are this extreme.
Yes, I scheduled each of my babies just as we were taught in the Children's Hospital. (Can't all be bad if one of the top Children's Hospitals in the nation did it with our heart baby! LOL!) That does not mean that I starved any of our children nor neglected them in anyway. It just means that I had an approximate time when our children ate, slept, played each day. Of course that changed when they went through growth spurts, etc. But, I knew within reason approximately when my babies would sleep each day. Basically, I knew the patterns of our children.
In using these patterns, I was able to plan activities. I had a basic idea of when we could do which activities throughout the day. It was important for me, the baby, and our other children.