Home School is in Full Gear

Yesterday's "warm up" must have been a success because at breakfast this morning both of the older kids were asking to do school today! Again, I hadn't planned on their school actually starting until Thursday but I wasn't even about to pass up this opportunity. Luckily I had pulled out a few things before I went to bed last night just in case. After breakfast clean up we did our calender, weather, pledge and prayer. Next we started off with a set of worksheets. For Emma we did a cute alligator letter A sheet from education.com. For Chandler, an Angry Birds math activity sheet (you can get it here).

Next up for Emma was a fun little activity my mom actually came up with. She took a kids muffin pan and little construction paper circles and made a color sorting center. I gave Emma a bag of craft pom poms and let her sort them out while I gathered the next set of worksheets. You could also use beads, M&Ms or any other little manipulative.

Next for Chandler was a cute worksheet I found over at Homeschool Creations. He is a big Star Wars fan so this page went over well with him!

For Emma I printed out another sheet from education.com about the color red.

Continuing with the letter A and color red themes I sat down with Emma and we played a little game I found over at Workboxables. I printed out the Apple Tree Math Mat, colored, and laminated it. I would draw a number card and say it out loud. Emma would count the matching number of apples as she put them on the tree.

I gave Chandler a Highlights Puzzle Buzzle magazine and I gave Emma a Sesame Street wipe off book I found at the Dollar Tree and gathered the materials for our next activity.

The last time I was at Walmart I found that fun pizza fraction game. I also picked up another neat school center by Scholastic. This set was a great deal for around $6! It came with a pop up table top pocket chart and tons of math cards. I had Emma sorting out the primary cards on one side (just for fun) and I put up a few easy review problems for Chandler.

Shortly after this the kids were beginning to need some redirecting - fruit loops to the rescue! I gave Emma a sheet I had made and laminated with sorting circles on it and gave her a bowl of fruit loops to sort (and eat). Chandler didn't want to miss out on the snacking so I gave him fruit loops to use as manipulatives for working the math problems. It is amazing what a little snack will do for these two! They were totally refocused in a snap!

We took a lunch break and went over a few phonics sheets with Chandler before having him copy down our Bible verse for the week. Then we played a little game to get them up and moving. I have this big foam die with different colored sides. We made up a list of actions and assigned them each a color. The kids took turns rolling the big foam die and a regular numbered die to see what action to do and how many. This is a fun, easy, inexpensive activity that can be done even in a small indoor space.

After this exciting game the kids were ready for a story and some quiet time! I am very much exhausted myself and already thinking about tomorrow! Until then :)