Herrington Homeschool Materials: Slow and Steady Get Me Ready

A month or so ago I wrote a post on the different materials and resources we use for homeschooling Ann Peyton right now. I told myself I was going to try to step it up a notch this Summer and I have! I've been more consistent and we've added a couple of new components. I'm hoping to write a couple of posts about the new stuff later, but first I wanted to shared more details about what we've been doing for awhile.

First up: this book!


I'm so in love with it and I really think the kids benefit when I take time to do the activities in it with them. I'm not really a craft person. Let me rephrase that. I enjoy doing crafts with my kids as long as they're age appropriate and not over the top. I think there's a time and a place for super cute crafts, but so often I see crafts that are pleasing to the eye, but really aren't teaching kids many skills. Personally, I just hate it when kids bring home things from school that really didn't teach them anything- it's just to look nice on the fridge. Anyway, I need to get off my soapbox about crafts.

The thing about this book is that it's SO practical. Every activity is either a "life skill" (this is what most of AP's are) or something that will help them move closer to a milestone (mostly in Graves's case).

[pink paper clip for AP and blue for Graves]

We've done activities with play dough. One week the activity was teaching Annie to play hopscotch. Another week Graves practiced throwing a bean bag in a box. Fun activities that I just forget to even think about! They're all pretty inexpensive and mostly use things you'd have on hand anyway. Most of the time, the prep work required is minimal and the activities usually don't take a terribly long time themselves.

This was a good example of "life skill" that I worked on with Graves. (Of course Annie helped). We practiced with buttons, velcro, snaps and zippers! Of course there are tons of toys and dolls on the market to help children with these skills, but it never would have occurred to me to just collect articles of his own clothing (and his sister's) and practice with those. So easy and the kids had fun one rainy afternoon with this practical little challenge!



Annie knows her letters pretty well at this point, but we're still working on pre-reading skills a good bit and any time I can think of a way to incorporate alphabet activities into our day, I think it's a good thing. One week the activity was making letters with noodles. Coincidentally, we were having spaghetti that week and I just cooked some extra for her to experiment with.



This was last week's activity and probably Ann Peyton's favorite to date. She learned to sew! I borrowed a plastic tapestry needle from my mom and as the book suggested found a coloring sheet and tapped it to some cardboard. I poked holes in it with a nail and Voila! it was her own little "embroidery" project.

Each week (I try to do it on Monday) I look at what the activity is and collect supplies and do any prep work and then I pick times I know the kids will be well rested and we'll have enough time to enjoy the activities and plan to do it then. Right now that's how homeschooling looks in general. It's a very organic thing and very relaxed. We're flexible and if we miss a week's activities we just double up the next week. I really, REALLY enjoy this part of homeschooling- teaching the kids small skills and big concepts within the daily flow of our life!