A Day in the Life of Homeschooling a Toddler

Mr. B goes to Montessori school Monday-Wednesday and spends Thursday and Friday with me and Baby G.

What does one of our homeschooling days look like? Since Mr. B is a toddler I need to come up with creative ways to trick him into learning.

This is how I tricked Mr. B into learning today: 

Mr. B woke up and played quietly in his room while got myself and baby G ready for the day. When I came to get him he greeted me with a huge smile and a hug and ran to baby G's room to say good morning. I got him ready in her room which is also the children's library (she's only a baby so she can't destroy it). I decide to present Mr. G with the new ABC's puzzle book I picked up yesterday.

He played with it, taking the pieces out and putting them back together, but wasn't that excited.

We went downstairs and I made us breakfast. While we ate I proposed that we read our new book from Tuesday's haul: George Washington and the General's Dog by Frank Murphy (history lesson!).

This is my first time reading it and WOW! I love this book so much! Mr. B loves the presidents. Before he was 18 months he found a picture of George Washington on one of his nesting blocks and became obsessed. He went on to recognize George Washington's picture in books and would always point him out to us. I've been looking for a very simple toddler-friendly book about George Washington for a long time (this book in particular). This book tells the story of George Washington's love of animals and introduces kids to the American Revolution. The story is cute and engaging. A perfect unschooling history book!

Next Mr. B asked to watch his current favorite You Tube show. Mr. B has unusual tastes in movies for a toddler (Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory with Gene Wilder, etc). Therefore, I was surprised when he became obsessed with Little Baby Bum: an age appropriate show! The 74 minute compilation includes nursery rhymes, ABCs, Phonics, and numbers.

Mr. B and Baby G watched little baby bum for about half an hour while I finished the dishes (I don't consider this education since it's passive learning) . Afterwards we had lunch and read George Washington and the General's Dog again (because it's awesome). Then I tried to put Baby G down for a nap while Mr. B watched Frozen in my office. This was a horrible fail because Baby G didn't want a nap. Eventually I gave up and went to rescue Mr. B from Frozen.

Next I proposed that we put together a new Lego set. I picked up the Lego Friends Jungle Rescue Base (41038) for $30 (on clearance for 50% off) from Target on Monday.

I LOVE Lego Friends! I was very skeptical at first ("girls don't need special toys, they can play with regular Lego sets!!!"). Then I found the Juice Bar  and Rapunzel's Creativity Tower (a Disney set but in the style of Lego Friends) on clearance and got hooked because they are sooooo colorful and cute!

The Jungle Rescue Base is a huge set. Since Baby G was awake and it was close to nap time we only completed the first bag. What lessons did we cover while working on his project?

• Math: counting out the bags, counting the pieces and putting them together from the instructions. Mr. B is getting a lot better at following instructions and putting pieces together.
• New vocabulary and communication: this set has a fun story. Andrea and Stephanie are animal doctors saving and treating injured animals. The set comes with a wider range of medical tools which we discussed. 
• Pretend play and creativity: Bag one included Stephanie with her medical tools, an injured panda and a bathroom. This was a lot of fun to play with and we reenacted some potty training scenarios.
• Patience, problem solving and motor development: these pieces are tiny and hard to put together. When Mr. B snaps them together it's a rewarding achievement. 

Next we went upstairs for some pre-nap reading.

 

Mr. B chose: 

• Man on the Moon by Anastasia Suen: This another one of my current favorites. It's also another perfect unschooling book as it tells the story of the first moon landing in a fun and very simple way. It's amazing how much this book taught me. A history and science lesson in one! 
• The Magical Garden of Claude Monet by Laurence Anholt: An art lesson in a book with an engaging story.
• Michael Recycle by Ellie Bethel: I don't really like this book. It's cute and it rhymes but it's not very good. It's about a messy polluted town. Michael Recycle pays the town a visit, tell them to clean up and leaves. The towns people figure out ways to turn their town into a clean and efficient, green-friendly society. At the end Michael Recycle comes back and they honor him as a hero. WHY? They did all the work and came up with all the ideas. It's a strange book. At least Mr. B got a lesson in recycling.
• Luke Skywalker's Amazing Story by Simon Beecroft: This is a very simple summery of Episodes IV-VI. Very easy and quick read that Mr. B memorized a long time ago.
• Twenty-Six Pirates: An Alphabet Book by Dave Horowitz: This is a cute alphabet book about pirates (ABCs review: win-win!).

After reading, Mr. B played in his room until he fell asleep for his nap. Afterwards, we had dinner and watched the ending to Frozen (I've seen this movie 500 times but this might be the first time I saw the ending).

Mr. Husband got Mr. B ready for bed while I put Baby G to bed. Mr. Husband informed me that they read Man on the Moon (again), Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town by Fred Coots (one of our favorite song books) and Lost and Found by Oliver Jeffers (a recent addition to our collection which I haven't decided if I like yet).

The End. Now the fun begins!