Tot School on Loan #2...

J is 47 months old.

I had my nephew again some, but not as much. Then we did things that I forgot to take pictures of :( So, here is what we did. We had J week since his name starts with that letter.

This is him playing the game my sweet daughter made!

We did lots of jumping while we made the J sound. Then he used a stamp of feet and made it jump on the stamp pad and them his J paper while making the J sound.

While the big kids did some written work he joined in with his J page coloring. I think I got these from Enchanted Learning.

Can I tell you how much I love seeing this table full of kiddos learning. 5 looks really good???

Please, don't tell my husband I said that- He finally agreed to have #3 if I promised that would be all and we ended up with twins:)

With this little outdoor loving fellow no week would be complete without playing outside. Today was kite flying lessons (too bad it wasn't K week!).

He loves this scooter and rides it until he is pouring sweat!

He's so fun to have around. We have some fun things planned for Tot School next week, come back! Head over to Carissa's blog to see some other great ideas!

Tot School on Loan...

This week I had the great pleasure of watching my 3 year old nephew. What do you do when your cousins are homeschooled and you go to their house? You go to Tot School! I had a ridiculous amount of fun planning activities for him to do because it's been a long time since I've had a 3 year old to work with!

He joined in our morning Bible study time. Next, the big kids go illustrate their Bible story and do their copywork. I printed a picture for Justin to color. I pulled him up a chair next to Jackson's place and he thought he was one big boy. He was so serious about his coloring and did a great job!

Next he moved to the table to work with the twins. He loved the sound puzzles just as much as they did. He kept saying, "I did it! I did it!"

Of course, you always have to have recess. It was spent playing with Jackson's trains.

When the twins were napping I set up his own activities. He was very proud of this as you can see:

As you know, I love playing hands pics so I had to get him sorting his bears:

He was really into the pattern blocks. I didn't know he knew his shapes so well but hearing him say 'rectangle' was about the cutest thing.

Of course, the best part of the day was spending with his big cousin who asked if he could teach him how to do the lacing cards. Look how closely he's paying attention:

There's all the fun I had with Tot School on loan! Please check out Carissa's blog for everyone else's fun.

Twin Tot School #6...

Will and Wesley are 24 Months Old

This week in Tot School we really started enjoying our birthday loot. Wesley (who apparently takes after his daddy and is going to be a little fisherman) decided his favorite thing is the magnetic puzzle. It has pictures of bugs, and he learned the word and meaning of bug this week and now points them out everywhere.

I love the look of concentration on his face here:

I was so impressed by how long and diligently he worked on "catching" the bugs and then replacing the piece. I guess that's what Tot School is all about.

Will is also really concentrating here. I love their new toys because they have so many levels of play. Right now they are just working on the fine motor skills of putting the blocks on the posts, but eventually we can do it by color or shape. For now, this is getting Will thinking judging by the look on his face, so cute!

Everyone's a critic and apparently 2 year olds are no exception. I snapped this picture because little Will decided I should have included some Little People play in Tot School. He went and got the dollhouse from their "Little People corner" and brought it over to our Tot School table. I guess he'll be making lesson plans soon!

That was part of our Tot School this week. Check out Carissa's blog for lots of other fun Tot Schools!

A Frequently Asked Question...

Whenever I tell people that I am homeschooling the most frequently asked question is "What do you do with the twins?" Now I am going to be brave and answer that question:

I put them in a box!

OK, before you turn me in I obviously don't really put them in a box. Last year I just did what I could. I was usually running between two worlds- in the kitchen was homeschool world where I was needed to teach math and answer questions while in the living room was baby world where I was needed to change diapers and comfort boo-boos. I'll not sugar coat it:it was hard and I didn't do my best at either. I had a lot of guilt that the twins got the shaft because they didn't get as much of me as they would've if the big kids had been in school. However, I realize they also got a lot of attention from their big siblings that they wouldn't have had either.

This year I am determined to do better. I am trying to be very purposeful in my planning and implementing "Tot School". My favorite go-to blog for ideas (and where I borrowed the title Tot School from) is Carissa's wonderful blog. She has lots of great Tot Tools and Tot Books I look forward to making for the boys.

As I get this more worked out I hope to share how I organize it and implement it simultaneously with the big kids' school. For now, I have decided to use the workbox system with the twins as well. I am using the shoeboxes and shoe rack that was Jackson's last year. It is portable so I can bring it into the living room with them or bring them into the kitchen with their siblings. Currently, we are only doing 6 boxes at a time. Ideally, I'd like to alternate 6 activities every other day for a week with different crafts worked in every few days.

I'm also planning to have themes like farm week where we do crafts and read books to teach them the different animals. All this depends on me. I'm a little overwhelmed right now between planning for a 1st and 3rd grader and then 2 tots. Not to mention the house keeps having the nerve to get dirty over and over!

Oh well, at least I have a plan that doesn't involve putting anyone in a box!

Twin Tot School #5...

Will and Wesley are now 2!!!



We all started back to school this week. The first thing we all did was Tot School. Big Bro and Sis love to help with Tot School! Having 2 2 year olds I need all the help I can get!

It seems like such a simple toy, but it continues to be Will's favorite- the pegs with the shapes that you stack on it. He absolutely loves doing this as you can see here. Right now we are just doing the fine motor skills of him stacking them, but soon we will begin sorting by colors and then shapes. It's going to be a big year around here in Tot School!

Of course, when you have t 2 kids the same age one is bound to want what the other one is playing with. Wesley tried to get in on Will's fun by climbing on the table. This did not make Will happy at all so I quickly had to distract Wesley with another toy!

Finally, we swapped toys. Wesley also loves this toy. Can you tell?

This is the first Tot School tool I ever "made", not that there was much involved. They love this simple action of putting the pompoms in the wipes case. I adore this picture because I think close ups of baby hands are precious. This one is twice as nice. It's one of those moments when it hits me again that I have twins!

As long as I can remember I always knew I wanted to be a teacher. If I was around little kids I was always trying to organize them and teach them. My sweet baby girl has definitely inherited this! She proudly tells everyone that she is the Tot School teacher. In fact, she got a little upset that I wanted to help teach too! She really has a gift for this too as on this day I heard her telling them the colors of the pompoms as they inserted them and then singing the alphabet song to them. I thought that was really impressive! Of course, whatever they do or learn I will get no credit for it. She will take it all. This picture to me looks like she is so proud of her students and how quietly they are working!

That was our back to school Tot School, one day of it any way. I have big plans for these 2 this year and glad I have such great help!

Tot School Score...

The twins just had a great birthday. Some of the family let me do their shopping so of course I picked up some great learning toys for Tot School. I am so excited to use all these with the boys!

Of course, when you buy all the toys you have no one to blame when the big kids bang incessantly and loudly on these toys until they have cracked the wooden hammers! They kept saying, "This is much more fun than all our toys!" Did I mention how loud they are?

I'm sure you'll be seeing these again soon in my Tot School posts!

Tot School Pays Off...

Presenting, Dr. Wesley my own little Doogie Howser (but much cuter and so serious):

Twin Tot School #4: Discovery Museum Style...

We had Tot School at one of my favorite places the Discovery Museum in Chattanooga. The boys enjoyed it immensely. That place is absolutely wonderful. They could have played in the water area all day long:

Wesley has an absolute obsession with vacuum cleaners. When he found this one in the little playhouse area, he never let go of it and even took it up into the tree house with him!

Everything is so cute. Not surprisingly, Will loved the painting part!

I really wish we had something like this closer to home. We could go here every week. What great Tot School that would be! I was really wishing we had a school room at home so I could incorporate some of their activities in it, wishful thinking! Still, it was a great day, and I can't wait to take them back!

Twin Tot School #3...

These are the beginnings of our Tot School. I am really trying hard to find time with the twins to learn things. I also have to figure out how to get them both engaged but not in the same thing so they won't fight! Not an easy task, huh?

On this day they worked puzzles really for the first time. Luckily, I had 2! They did pretty well with it and I was amazed at how long they really stuck with it. Definitately lots of puzzles in our future which is great to me because I love working puzzles!

Doesn't this boy look like he's enjoying himself?

Oh, the concentration!

Here's a beginning of many Tot School days to come!

Twin Tot School #2...

Christmas was a great opportunity to get some new toys for Tot School. Santa even got into the action by bring this great puzzle:

We got these great bean bags with the alphabet on them. Right now we may just be stomping on them, but one day we will be stomping on them while saying their name!

Mommy was brave and got out the playdough! It lasted a few minutes.

Will played for a few minutes before knocking it to the floor!

A good try at Tot School and a lot of fun to have new toys!