The kids are completely enthralled.
Today should be Math Day, so once they're over MSB, we'll break out the coloring books and do some color by numbers and shapes and puzzles.
Santa brought all kinds of fun educational toys and games, so we have a lot of new learning and exploring ahead of us.
Our schedule is both structured and broad.
Monday is Math.
Tuesday is Science.
Wednesday is Arts & Crafts.
Thursday is Reading.
Friday is Home & Health.
Math doesn't only mean adding and subtracting. It's counting, shapes, puzzles, and number recognition. I sneak in as much "learning" as I can. If we go run errands, we count things on the trip, or we search for shapes.
Science is always a fun day because we get dirty, or messy, and it's a day both GG and Boo look forward to. We collect things from outside, or we look at things under the magnifying glass, or we do simple experiments. We work in the garden or do other yard work.
Arts & Crafts is also a day they look forward to, and sometimes we combine science day and arts & crafts day. We'll make seasonal or holiday projects, or we'll string beads, or we'll color and draw, or play with play dough. We practice with scissors and glue, and I take every opportunity to get hand prints and foot prints on things to keep.
Reading day is full of tracing letters, sounds, word puzzles, and games, and reading stories. There are a lot of free children's e-books, so I'll download a few and read them to the kids. Of course we have a ton of real books here too, and these kids have never turned down the option to sit and be read to.
Home & Health is where we do house work, laundry, and grocery shopping. We talk about the importance of our food choices and focus on our home, health, and environment. Like science day, we work in the garden, and talk about the foods we grow and how they taste. It's a day when I'll start a big pot of chicken stock, or a long cooking soup. The kids help with ingredients, stirring, and adding things to the pots. We also watch a little Food Network on these days. Yes... Mommy *might* be sneaking in a little me-time by rationalizing that, but it fits in the curriculum.
In the time it has taken me to write this, the kids have moved on from watching The Magic School Bus, and are playing with their Leap Pads.
When I mentioned above that the days are both structured and broad, I mean that not everything done on a specific day is mandatory to that subject, but I will try to put elements *of* that subject into each activity. Plus... They are 5 and 3. If it's possible for someone to have a shorter attention span than me, it's bound to be my preschoolers.
Speaking of which, it's time for me to take my vitamins and have some breakfast.
Remember you can stay hungry for things other than things edible, and when you play with your food, that *food* can be whatever is feeding that hunger.
So, as always, stay hungry, and play with your food.
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