Hello! I've been finding home-learning a little of a challenge these days, since I'm managing both kids and the chores on my own, plus the materials we have at home are pretty limited (I'm still hunting for stuff like PVA glue, black markers, and stuff like glue sticks seem really expensive! I miss Popular and Daiso haha!) In addition, Baby J is still quite a fussy feeder, so we've been housebound most of the time. Since spaces in pre-schools here are very limited, there is a high chance that we would be "home-schooling" the boy for the year.
We've tried going out for walks, but its been cold out (single digits sometimes below 5!) and it takes an awfully long time trying to get both kids ready. Its rains quite frequently here as well! As a result, we've been spending most of the time at home hiding from the cold, but we've been reading a lot of books (both in Chinese and English, and now, a little bit of German too). And we end up taking walks in the evening when its warmer, and hubby is around to pile the layers on at least one of the squirmy fellows!
With limited resources and time to plan activities, I've been finding the "Before Five in a Row" guide very useful. For the past week, we've been reading most of the stories in the guide that are related to bears:
:: Ask Mr Bear
:: Jesse Bear, What Will You Wear
:: Corduroy
:: We're Going on a Bear Hunt
We've discussed various issues and themes in the books, and also tried out some activities:
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| Dressing up Jesse bear in various types of seasonal clothes. The boy lost interest in this activity after awhile though! You can get the printables here (Look under "Dress the bear", and I think this might be a hit for girls!). |
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| Art activity for "We're Going on a Bear Hunt". Will share more about this next week as we're still painting away! |
All in all, I've realized there are two things that interest the boy: Art, and animals. He has no patience with math manipulatives and flash cards. He isn't fond of worksheets and doesn't want to try writing, and any attempts to teach him phonics have failed. So I guess I'll be planning his activities around these two interests, and of course, since he also loves books, we will continue to read, read and read!
Oh, and since I'm on that topic, any favourite bear books to share?
There is a great blog called No Time for Flash Cards with lots of great activities for pre schoolers using picture books as the basis for most of the activities. You probably already know it but I have found it really useful. PInterest has some amazing stuff too. Hope the weather warms up a little soon so getting ready to go out won't be so hard!
ReplyDeleteIan's latest favorite read is You Are All My Favourites. A bear family with three bear cubs!
ReplyDeleteWow it sounds so cold at 5 degree!
ReplyDeleteDoes yr boy's jacket come w hoodie? My kids learnt how to put on their jacket on their own by first hanging it on the head via hoodie. Then get their arms in one by one. Hope it can speed up yr preparation when going out.
Hope to hear more of yr stories w the boys in the new land soon. :)
ClaireTet: Thanks! Will check out the blog again, and thankfully it is starting to warm up...
ReplyDeleteCarol: OOh, will try to check that title out, thank you!
CE: Hey that is a great idea, thank you! Will try getting the boy to wear his jacket that way, most of them DO have hoods!