Homeschool Preschool Weekly Update

Apologies for not blogging more - I've been trying to wrap up my project for work so I can be done with my job and focus more on homeschooling and other projects.  We've actually been doing a lot of fun learning activities this week, but I haven't been good about taking photos.   Here are some of the things we've been up to...

Since I assumed I'd be busy working all week, I put together some activity trays for the girls which I had hoped they would play with one at a time and put back on the shelf when they were done, and I could get some work done.  This was not quite the case (ie: gigantic mess), so I ended up doing the tray activities together with them.  The photo above is a tray where they have to match picture cards and word to two word-family mats (-at and -an). 

This tray was for putting fabric loops on containers.  The girls did this pretty easily, but it kept them occupied quite a while. 

In another activity tray, the girls had to dig through a tub of plastic beads to find word time (at first I wanted to put rice in the tray, but I thought the beads would keep the mess down).  Then they had to match the word tiles they found to flashcards:

E worked very diligently on this activity and surprised me by reading some words I didn't realize she knew.

L enjoyed the Stacking Robots game.  She also really liked using her Wedgits to recreate the designs on the Wedgits design cards.  We've had the Wedgits set since the twins were 1.5 years old, but the design cards are new to us and are bringing a new challenge to the game:

The Wikki Stix were also a big hit this week, as we made lots of pictures, formed shapes and letters, created bracelets and 3-d objects, etc...

L really liked making letters and writing her 'name', while E enjoyed making a baby crocodile, baby caterpillar, a smiley face (Mommy made the face outline and eyes and she did the rest), and a baby octopus.

We also played a new phonics game where I wrote letters on the chalkboard and asked them to erase the letter by its sound ("erase the letter that says 'ah', "erase the letter that 'water' starts with", etc..).    L really got into this game and ended up finding and erasing all the letters before her sister (I'll have to find a way to get E to do this game on her own or get them to take turns without fighting).

We completed many other games and learning activities that I didn't have a chance to take pictures of like playing with magnets (and paperclips), puzzles, working with math manipulatives, board and card games, discussing 'history' and what the girls were like as babies, taking nature walks, and lots more. 

Even on days when I'm busy working, I always make time to read to the kids, so we've been spending approximately two hours a day reading stories.  I'll write what we've been reading in another blog post.