Homeschool Archives - Page 8 of 9

How-To Make Preschool “Centers” at HOME

May 15, 2012 by Jules 7 Comments

Remember you own preK or kindergarten?

I sure do! As a kindergartener I remember hours of fun; moving from one area of the room to the next. Feeling like a grown up being able to find exactly what I needed, being able to put it away on my own, having freedom to travel the room choosing what to do.

Have any of you ever worked at a preschool? Visited a daycare?

I have worked in several as a work-study job and in many others as a substitute teacher. While studying in college to earn my Psychology degree I remember going back and forth between class and subbing. It was amazing to see the things I was learning in class in a tangible way as I watched the children. "Centers" help hone in their creativity. Simplifies so while still having choices they are not overwhelmed. Simple organization goes a long way in making them feel secure and not scattered like their toys. Here are the centers we have INside:

Manipulative Center

We currently have lots of different manipulative: Puzzles, baby toy manipulative, Playdough, etc. These toys and tools enhance children's fine motor skills and helps strengthen their hands, helps with eye-hand coördination, helps improve their writing skills.

Art Center

The art and Playdough supplies are on the top shelves because I don't yet allow my kids to do these things without supervision or at least permission. We do these while the "baby" is napping. There are infinite numbers of how this center developes creativity in children as well as motor skills through working with the Playdough, steering scissors, maneuvering glue, paper and other supplies, and yelling writing utensils.

Music Center

We currently have lots of different instruments that all fit on this shelf {minus the large piano} including record player, piano, 2 microphones, bongos, radio, and 5 maracas. This center may seem like a pointless reason to have unbearable noise but music can "enhance the intellectual development of children, stimulate brain function, and produce gains in test scores." (1)

Block Center

We currently have a set of large Lego blocks {multi colored} and a small set of Jinja blocks {light wooden brown}. These are great for all ages. Just some of the possibilities for learning are: construction, transformation, measurement, spatial relationships, classification. It can even built language skill when they are asked to tell about their creation.

Board Game Center

We currently have LOTS of board games. This shelf only contains the building, matching, and simple games they can do on their own.

Little People Center

We currently have a set a basket of people, a basket of animals, and a few vehicles for the Little People. This center is similar to the dramatic play center but has smaller 'dolls' to play with works as a 3rd person play, pretending what someone else is doing rather than yourself. We often add empty boxes to this play as furniture, buildings, etc.

Vehicle Center

We currently have this center divided into trucks/trains and cars/buses just because we have so many. Our favorite thing to do with our vehicles is

Dramatic Play Center

Currently we have a large kitchen set with tons of food play {lots of variety}. We also have a 'dress up' corner, baby shelf, and lots of baby accessories throughout the playroom. This provides the opportunity for learning rolls for later in life: Parenting, cooking, home maintenance, cleaning, and endless number of other career options that can rotate in and out of this long-term center.

Reading Center

We currently have a single book shelf that houses all of our children's book {except a small basket of "bed time" books and Bibles in the girls bedroom}. I have them sorted according to age-appropriate by height {unfortunately my ~18 month old can almost reach the top shelf}. I have the baby books {ie board books with mainly pictures} on the bottom shelf accessible to all ages but most enticing to the youngest {shortest}. THe middle shelf has more board books that contain more words {needing longer attention span} and are reachable by all kids. The top shelf has "real page" books/paper back books as well as books with pop-ups, or pieces that would be better read by an older child or with help. Having access to books builds a love for reading. They feel more like toys or privilege and not an assignment or chore. This center developes a love of words, encourages motor skills, thinking skills, reading comprehension, as well as the ability to sit still building on attention span. "The number of words one knows as well as the depth of understanding of those words is related to the ability to think."

I couldn't find a simple way to summarize the importance of reading so I've added links to some articles about reading at an early age:
10 Reasons Why You Should Read to Your Kids
What is the importance of reading to a child?
Another article on Ten {more} Important Reasons to Read to Your Child

That may sound complicated but we basically group like things together to help my children know where to find things, where to put them away, and makes it easier to have them play with few things at once cutting down on mass chaos in the playroom.

Do you have a toy "system" that works for you? Please share!!!

Another great read is by Alina Joy over at HC, My Toy System That Keeps Itself Clean!

Return for 5 Days of Organizing & Cleaning TOYS into centers!!!

Citations
(1) Rausher, 1995 via Isbell & Raines "Creativity and the Arts with Young Children 2nd edition

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Filed Under: Homeschool, Organizing, Parenting, The ones about the Rothacher Home Tagged With: baby dolls, baby toys, board games, development, dramatic play, dress-up, little people, music, organization, preschool centers, puzzles, Vehicles

5 Ways to Organize The Toy Monster

May 8, 2012 by Jules 3 Comments

When my hubs and I started talking about having babies one of the things we discusses was TOYS. Matt mentioned that he would like if our house didn't look like a toys store and would love if the living room wasn't overtaken by toys. I agreed and thought that was a reasonable request. Thus, the "centers" began.

With just Maggie, our 2 bedroom 1 bathroom house was easy to keep clear of too many toys. Over the past 3 years we've double the size of our house and family. Here are a few key things we've set in place to organize and minimize the TOY craziness of life with kids. These tips are to know what toys to keep, which to share, how to maintain a pick-up home quickly while allowing your child to help in the process as well as instilling in them some independence.

We purposely keep very few toys. We purge so often that it's often the 'talk' among relatives if their toy will make the cut {sorry guys!}. We want to keep it simple. Here is the criteria for keeping a toy: educational either physically, emotionally, mentally, or spiritually. There are so many kids in this world that have nothing, we don't need to hoard crazy amounts of toys. Why not share!?
We attempt to be purposeful about toys we have. We generally don't do Happy Meal toys, stuffed things, or small pieces. We enjoy basic things that can be used in a variety of play arenas {ie blocks- used from staking, pretend furniture, to detailed cities layouts; dolls- comfort, pretend friend, to parenting}. I will be sharing more about skill building through centers next week. We don't buy toys. Well, let me explain that one. Relatives and friends will more than likely always provide plenty of toys for our children and we do get our children 1 toy for holidays {mainly Christmas/Birthday...usually}.
We have chosen not to have toys in our children's rooms so they know bedrooms are just for sleeping. Providing your child with a restful environment that is peaceful, dark, quiet, and almost boring is the best way to encourage good sleeping.
We have had many ways to organize the toys. We used to have "adult colored" baskets of toys in the living room but they were easily slipped under the coffee table or off to the corner. When we moved into our current home and had the HUGE blessing of a playroom we still stuck with baskets but they are now there are more of them {as are there more children} and they divided more specifically.
We rotate toys so our children stay interested in what they have and so there aren't too many scattered around the house. We never put all new toys out after a holiday. A couple are places among the other toys, a few older toys as well as the rest of the new toys are put into a closet and rotated out later. Some times our children have been know to be "grounded" from a specific toys for being selfish with it, or for mismanagement such as not it cleaning up when ask or playing with it rough or inappropriately.

Hope these are some practical hints to help you manage the Toy Monster that eeks into everyone's house the moment you find out your pregnant ;o) If you have any awesome ideas, we'd LOVE to hear them.

NOTE: We are about to transition to a new {smaller} home so we'll see what kind of organization comes with that and keep ya update!

Return for 5 Days of Organizing & Cleaning TOYS into centers!!!

Filed Under: Cleaning, Homemaker, Homeschool, Organizing, Parenting, The ones about the Rothacher Home Tagged With: clean, how to, organization, toys

How-to Make Your Own Playdough Mats {Thoughful Thursday}

April 5, 2012 by Jules 6 Comments

I found these awesome FREE printables on Pinterest {duh} and my kids LOVE them!

You print them out, LAMINATE them, and then have fun.

I like them because they help my children learn to be more creative with Playdough rather than rolling it into "snacks" over and over again then tasting it.

For my older one, it gave her something for her brain to work on as well as her hands. My second child is a more physical learner so when we start working on numbers this will encourage her to pick it up quicker. I think I may make my own giant letters to laminate so she can work on learning those quicker as well!

If you don't have a laminator I would highly recommend getting one. I have the cheapest i could find and it works Great for all the things I want to use it for. It's a "Scott" brand and I found it at Wal-Mart. The refill laminating sheets are {relatively} cheap as well.

Do you have any fun things you do with your kids and their Playdough that encourage creativity and/or learning?
Do you have a laminator? If so, any tips or recommendations?

Sorry, my link-up is messed up and I haven't had time to fix it yet but I'd LOVE to have links to your thoughfulness! Add a link in the comment section below. Thanks!!!

Orange

March 28, 2012 by Jules Leave a Comment

I think somebody inherited the OCD gene...

Filed Under: Homeschool, Parenting, The ones about the Rothacher Home

Preschool Finances

February 16, 2012 by Jules 1 Comment

How to you teach your child about budgeting?

Yep, those my friend are more washed out formula cans. Are you ready from some up-cycling? We have begun a new habit in our home. Partly to teach our oldest child (3.5) about prioritizing and budgeting but also just as a different system of reward. I'll tell you more about our "fake economy" later but for now I just want to tell you the 3 basic categories we are teaching her to "budget" her money into. God. Save. Spend. That simple. We give back to God just a simple part of what He's so graciously allowed us to manage. Then we save for bigger things. And we get to spend more frequently on smaller things. Here is how we made her 3 banks:

Like I said, I'm working on a future post about our "reward system" but I will just say it involves bread-ties and then divides them {currently}divides them {she calls it 'organizing' them} Evenly into the 3 categories/banks.