Week 7

This week we did a lot of Fine Motor Skills and my favorite subject:

 

MATH!

 

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When we decided to homeschool Emma 7 weeks ago, I told Brian that I really wanted to teach her about everything.  Not just stuff she would learn in a school setting, but things outside of the standard curriculum.  So this week, we did a lesson on how to properly set a table!

 

I just used an old, plastic placemat that we'd had in a drawer for YEARS and outlined each component.  Then let her "put the puzzle" together.  She loved it, thought it was a game actually.  And now she knows how to set a table.

 

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 We scored some great finds at Joann's this past week.  They had a ton of stuff on clearance.

 

Like these "dot" markers.  I'm not really sure if they are for playing Bingo or what, but we used them to put dots on Alphabets.  I found the template for each letter at this BLOG.

I love her blog!  So many great ideas!!!

 

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We also picked up some felt buttons and a plastic darning needle.  Since I've been crocheting a lot lately, Emma has wanted to "sew" as well.  I figured this was a great way to introduce her to needle work.  It's also great for those fine motor skills AND working on concentration.

 

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One last fine motor skill activity has to do with using tongs to pick up small objects and place them in a new container.  I used the same color but different shapes of beads and asked her to separate them into like groups and place each shape in a different bowl. 

 

At first she was really frustrated with this.  The tongs are a little too big for her hands to manage and the shapes kept popping out of her grasp.  I've been trying to find a smaller set of tongs, like the ones you use for ice cubes.  But I'm really proud of her for sticking with this activity, even though she was aggravated.

 

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This girl LOVES puzzles.  Of any kind.  And when I found this parquetry blocks set with puzzle cards, I figured she'd love it.  She spends most of her free/play time doing these. 

 

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So when I decided to start in on some math lessons, I knew this Binomial Cube puzzle, a Montessori product, would be a HUGE hit.

 

For now, all I ask her to do is to put the pieces together so they fit in the box.  Later on, I will be able to use this neat little puzzle to concretely explain the Binomial Theorem:

 

This picture explains what each cube represents:

 

 

Oh I can't wait to show her this stuff! 

 

Since I wasn't sure where they left off with the math at her preschool, I decided to just start at the beginning. 

I purchased a few things from https://www.montessorioutlet.com/ to help me.

 

And used the tutorials found on this blog:

http://www.infomontessori.com/mathematics/introduction.htm

 

TONS of great videos to follow on that site.  It's been incredibly helpful!

I even purchased a few extra sets of beads so that we could add/subtract/multiply/divide large quantities!

 

(Can you tell I'm TOTALLY geeking out over this stuff!)

 

After doing a few lessons with Emma, I realized she learned quite a bit from the teachers at preschool and we've been FLYING through the fundamentals!

She does very well with this activity.  I wish I would have video-taped her explaining how she uses the bead stairs to do these math problems to Brian.  It. Was. Awesome.

 

I think my little girl might be taking after me in her love for math!

 

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And last but not least, we've transformed our living room into a small town.  Complete with roads, a railroad track, a helicopter pad (not picture - it's on the far left of the top photo, but must have been cropped out), a parking garage, and the stepping stones have been imagined into stores.  I let her decide what stores were in her town.  And so far she's come up with:

Target

Grocery Store

Lowes

Joann's

 

Hmmmm.... can you tell where we shop most of the times?

bahwhahhah

 

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If you have a minute to leave your opinion, I'd be interested to hear how you would handle the summer months. 

 

Meaning, should I completely take a break from planned activities or should I just back off and not do so many?  Or do you have other suggestions? 

 

Please leave comments below and let me know.

 

Thank you thank you thank you!

 

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And here's a cute video of Brooklyn laughing at Emma faking hiccups:

So stinkin cute!

 

Have a great weekend everyone!

Thanks for stopping by.