I get a lot of questions about the little Mommy School units I do with my three rascals. Therefore, I thought I would do a little guideline of what and why I do Mommy School. First off, the units I do are super easy to plan for and don't take much time to organize. I'll decide my theme and then I either come up with a list of activities from things I did when I taught elementary, various ideas I just come up with, or from online research (google, pinterest, other mommy blogs, etc). Then I make a list of goodies I might need and usually hit up the Dollar Store...I don't spend very much and even though I have a closet full of art/teacher supplies, I usually am lacking a few things that are specific to the unit. After the planning, I don't really have a set schedule...I just do the activities when our days allow it...these units can sometimes last for a few weeks. Some activities I do whole group with all three kids while others I do with just Kason so we can dig a little deeper without the distractions...plus he loves the extra one-on-one time. My main focus for Mommy School is discovery learning. I don't "push" or "force" anything...we are just learning through introduction of concepts and play. I honestly don't care if my son starts kindergarten this next year knowing every phonemic sound, is at the beginning stages of reading, can count to 100, etc. While these tasks are very good (and important), it's just not my personal focus...I know he is going to reach these in a school environment. I aim to introduce basic academic concepts to the kids like math (colors, numbers, shapes), science (through minor experiments), english (alphabet recognition and sounds), and social studies. I do all this through hands on learning. I'll walk you through a little mini-family unit I did with the kids almost a year ago. While learning and talking about families, I made each one of them their own family book...
I put initials on each page to practice the first letters of their names. They were a felt sticker that was raised so we could practice running our finger over the letter while saying it verbally (english). During this activity, we talked about mommies/daddies/siblings/grandparents/extended family, etc.
We spent a lot of time also talking about how each family member is unique and how God created all of us special. We fingerprinted everyone and used a microscope to compare each print (science activity)...
We also talked about how boys and girls are different. I'm real big on sensory bins and buckets for the littles to play with. We had a boy bucket...
and a girl one...
I always let each kid have a chance to explore every activity, so we just take turns sharing. Like I said earlier, I usually have activities that are a little different for Kason since he's older. We actually don't allow the kids to play on the computer very often, so I try to add some computer time during each unit. This unit he walked through a simulation of creating himself choosing his skin color, eye shape, etc.
Just to clarify, we aren't against computers at all (in fact Daniel and I can turn into junkies!), but we try to limit the amount of electronic toys and games our kids use to allow for the use of imagination and creative play instead. During our units I always expose the kids to the alphabet. Kason hasn't ever been one to sit down and trace or practice sounds, but he still loves learning about them....so I do hands on activities instead that are integrated into our theme. For instance in this unit when talking about moms, I had him lace an M like he was sewing...
while talking about Dads, they raced a car around a letter D...
Another activity I always focus on is role playing. Whether it is acting out something we read about in a book, pretending to be animals we are learning about, or in this instance we practiced mommy/daddy roles...
We love to get our hands dirty (or wet!) when we are learning and playing...
Usually when we role play, I get to see what all my munchkins have really learned and what soaked in...
And yes, I let Kason do girly things right alongside all his aggressive behavior, growls, and boyish play.
Like I said earlier, I love, LoVe, LOVE sensory bins and you will always see these incorporated. For this unit, I did a mommy sensory bin where the kids could make their own apple pie...
Max is my hardest one to get involved because of his special needs. I always include him, but his participation varies with each activity. Even so, he is always introduced and allowed to play with us for any amount of time he will allow.
Another activity you will find Kason and I doing often is getting in the kitchen! This is a great time to obviously introduce math concepts, but also to help foster a love of cooking in a fun way...
And let me tell you, that kid loves to be in the kitchen! Mixed in with these units we go to the library to pick up books to go along with our theme, we do crafts, we paint, we play outside...basically any creative expression, activity, or play that we can do. Music is a BIG hit around here, so we sing all.the.time. I'm not very good at teaching them songs that go along with our themes, but this is the area I'm starting to work on incorporating better. Basically, we just love to have fun, explore, and learn together. It doesn't have to be a big scripted lesson plan, just small 30-45 minute activities to engage and introduce concepts. We love Mommy School around here and are definitely open to any friends who want to come discover alongside us!
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