Unfortunately, James is still sick. So this morning I'm home with 2/3 of the kids and Mike took some of them to church with him. I'm attempting to make good use of my time home this morning, so rather than showering... LOL... I've put together our homeschool "bins" for tomorrow.
I'm trying out something new (to us). Since Brianna and Lynae are so independent and desiring to do more "school time" then I have been able to stop and do with them, I'm trying this with just the two of them for right now. I think it would be a MESS with all 6-7 kids that are home, but for these two... we'll see!
I purchased 8 bins at $3 each, and that is the only cost. We'll use the bins even if this idea crashes, so it's a decent investment :).
I have rolls of velcro and each bin is getting a strip of velcro on one end. I made up laminated cards with the numbers 1-8 on them and also 4 cards that say "Mom" on them. The goal will be that the bins that are numbered, the girls can work through in that order, starting with bin #1. I put enough in each bin for the two girls to work together OR for one of them to work alone. But the goal will be for them to both start with #1 and to move on individually as they finish.
Some of the things in the bins are lacing cards, a coloring page and crayons, shape bean bags which they'll name the shape and toss it in the bin, clothespins and a small cup that they clip them around the rim of, a workbook with manipulatives, small puzzle cards with a number on one half and that number of objects on the opposite side... etc. The worksheet or workbook will say "mom" on the tag and whenever I'm ready to work on that one with them they'll do it. I plan to put several items in each of those bins so we can minimize the amount of bins we need. After all, the kids aren't doing those on their own, so I can work through it in one shot or split it up if needed. Some of the things, like naming off shapes, I'll want the kids to do when I'm nearby so I know they're saying the right shape names and to help if they don't know (trapezoid, anyone?), so I'll put Mom on that one, but it will be alone in its bin.
We'll see how this goes! I'm encouraged that their independence thus far will show that they can do a majority of those independently. We'll work on the other kids slowly... to see if some of them might be able to also do some independent work, even if it's on a more simple scale. I think once the two girls get going, that Micah and maybe Emma or Aleksa may be close behind them. With a different set of bins, most likely... :)
What kinds of activities do you have your Prek-1st grader do independently? Would love some more ideas!
In my classroom, we sort. We sort 2 or 3 things by color or shape. (I get the multiple section trays at Goodwill for cheap.) We sort blocks, cars, buttons, coins or other items depending on the season. We also use clothes pins to clip matching colors on the colored cards, or use pizza cardboard rounds to match colors, numbers, etc. Of course, silverware too!
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