First Tot School!

So, this is our first tot school post ever! I'm kind of easing into it. Silas is almost 38 months and has never done anything like this. I'm a pretty free range kind of parent . . . I don't spend a lot of time playing with him one on one, mostly I see myself as a facilitator providing options and equipment then stepping back, preferably out of sight, and letting what happens happen. One exception is books. We both love books and I read books to him at least twice a day, often three or four times a day (before and after nap, before bed and often first thing when he wakes up we'll squeeze a book in at his request).

So far I think this has produced a rather imaginative, traditional, well-developed, independent and happy little boy and I like it! But now that he's past his third birthday and now that he's showing an interest in learning his letters, I think we're ready for a little more focus. I feel his fine motor skills are perhaps a little behind, but really I guess that depends on who you compare him to. Let's just say it's not something I'm really concerned about, but certainly one reason behind beginning Tot School.

Another reason is the plain fact that I intend on homeschooling our kids and figure I might as well start now so that all the bugs are worked out once things are 'more important' if that ever happens! So this summer is all about finding our groove and what works for us. Out of the blue yesterday I pulled a few trays together (except I don't have trays lol! I'm considering just going right with work boxes).

This activity he's using some plastic tweezer that came with a little bug house to move rainbow pom-poms. I just kind of grabbed a random handful and there ended up being two extra which kind of disturbed him, so next time I'll probably be more careful to grab the right number. He enjoyed talking about the different sizes and colours of these things, as well as counting them.

Notice all the little orange squares on the carpet? Another activity was cutting strips of paper. He wants to cut with scissors but has a lot of difficulty with this. When I worked in a daycare we had little scissors with extra handles on them so an adult could help (like these ones), I may look into them depending on how he progresses. We picked those squares up later to use in a gluing activity at a later date.

That's all we did this time around. I learned that it's quite easy to get a few activities together and it doesn't take a lot of time. Silas seems to enjoy the activities and so did I. We'll do this again soon, first time around was a success! For more great ideas and information about Tot School check out this great blog here.