Tot School

I'm finally starting something new with Deacon that I've been thinking about for awhile. It's what alot of moms call tot school which is exactly what the name suggests-school for tots. Alot of these moms home school their older children and so they plan structured themes and activities for their younger children. The blog where I got most of my information from is http://www.1plus1plus1equals1.com/totschool.html. She has lots of theme ideas and printables I will be using in the future. We are blessed that Deacon is with my mom, Derek or I at all times. No matter who he is with he gets one on one attention which is invaluable to us and exactly what we wanted. It has more advantages than I can even begin to mention. However, Deacon rules the show. He decides what he is going to do and when he is going to do it and we just follow his lead. That's why I think it is so important to do some structured activites with him each day. We will all be working on the same concepts following a basic theme that will change every two weeks. I hope to document it all here. After Christmas we will advance to letters and numbers and that will be the basis of our themes.

I'm going to introduce the themes to Deacon on Wednesday mornings. When he wakes up in the morning he will find his special bucket in the floor. We are then going to go to the library and pick out some books related to our theme. I'm not going to force him to play with the items in the bucket but they will be available to him throughout the day and I know he will take an interest in them.

The first theme is dogs. Deacon loves dogs thanks to Maddy and he can already say the word and make the sound. This made it an obvious first choice as he already has an interest in it. The activities below are a starting point and I hope to add one or two more dog activities throughout the next two weeks.

This is the bucket I'm going to use for his theme activities. His Aunt Jill made it for him for his birthday.


These are some of his dog toys. Most of these he hasn't seen or played with in the last couple of months. These theme activities will also help me rotate his toys as he typically plays with the same ones over and over.


I found these silly bands at Hobby Lobby in the clearance aisle. Deacon loves jewelry so I know he will enjoy putting them on and taking them off. They are in the shape of dogs and he will always be under close supervision when playing with them.

This is a book we got while I was pregnant and it tells the story of a K-9 dog and officer. This will help bring in Derek's job to the theme.

This is a basic little book I made him.

It is filled with stickers that are different textures which he will enjoy feeling of.

I put these dogs on sticks for him to play with.

These are his big and little folders. The glue isn't dry but it will dry clear. Deacon can say so big and we often contrast that he is so big and Maddy is so little so I thought that would be a good learning activity to work towards. I don't expect him to be able to sort them and understand what big means and what little means but he usually does a good job putting things back in the place they go and it will be good early exposure regardless.

The big folder with big bones and big dogs.

The little folder with little dogs and little bones.

His bucket of goodies which I'm about to sneak in and place on his bedroom floor.

I think it's important that Deacon has some type of learning activity each day because if he were at a daycare he would be getting that for sure. I know that he may not fully understand the concepts we are working towards this week but he usually surprises me with how quickly he picks new things up. When he is a little older we will add in themed lunches which I can't wait for!

If you are an avid blog reader as myself or a pinterest addict which I'm also guilty of then you have seen these ideas I'm sure. These moms are having great success so I hope we do too. I couldn't have done any of these activities without my cricut. This project cost less than $7. Stay tuned for more themes in the coming weeks...

Deaconisms

• Yes that is sand you see all over his face. He loves his new sand and water table and like to dump sand all over his face.


• We played with water balloons the other night and had the best time-Thanks Aunt Tay


• His vocabulary is really picking up and he never shuts up...we just can't yet understand most of what he says


• We haven't introduced many new signs now that his vocabulary is expanding but he did learn "stop" He loves tellling "Ma!" (Maddy) to stop


• I'm really encouraging independent play a little bit each day. It's a skill I was worried he was going to miss since we try and interact with him every waking moment. Independent play is an important part of development so I knew we needed to work on this. I love just sitting in his room and watching him pull every book off the shelf and look through them without me trying to teach colors, animal sounds, etc.


• He loves to pretend to talk on the phone. He calls dad most often especially when he's at work


• Maddy and Deacon are the best of friends and he gets so excited when she gets up in the morning.


• He loves to pretend cook while I'm cooking. He loves to stir ice and make a huge mess.


• He is feeding himself most anything but making a HUGE mess! I love watching his fine motor skills develop. I've gotten him some adaptive equipment to help build these skills....can you tell I work with OT's


• He will pick up most anything such as hair gel, hairbrush, toothbrush and mimic its intended purpose


• My absolute favorite thing he has learned to do is clasp his hands together in prayer. He is a sponge and picks up on most things quickly. We have tried so hard to instill our Christian values in him since day 1 and to finally see it in him warmed our hearts. When we ask him to pray he folds his hands together very quickly but ever so sweetly. He doesn't keep them folded during the entire prayer but he definately knows we are praying. He has even done it in church a couple times right on cue.