Daily Routine

On Mon, 25 Jun 2007 07:37:20 -0500, cindy wrote:

Hello,
My name is Cindy and I live in Richardson Texas. I have two boys ages 4 and
almost 2. I lurk here a lot because I think you guys have a lot of
knowledge.
I was wondering if you could give me some ideas on setting up a daily
routine. I try to get the boys out of the house for an activity once a day
(swimming, bounce house, etc) but am finding it hard to fill in the time at
home. It is much too easy for me to turn on the tv and let them just veg
out so I can veg out too. I really want to spend our time together more
wisely. Any suggestions? I guess I need structure too!
Thanks,
Cindy

1) wake up, get dressed, breakfast
2) errands/playgroup/rec classes
3)lunch
4)nap/rest
5)snack, play outside. if kids are glued to tv, we all go walk around the
block, which is fun and the kids always end up wanting more outdoor time
when we get back.
6)dinner
7)bedtime

TV happens in the morning as we are getting ourselves together and at
bedtime, as we are winding down. I don't think they get too much of it.

Beliavsky wrote:

In addition to the activities others have suggested, you can try
instructing your 4yo in reading and math. Even in an hour per day you
can accomplish a lot. My wife have been doing so with our son, who is
almost four, and I'd estimate he is at the 1st grade level. Math and
reading workbooks are not too expensive.

The risk here (and I am not saying this is what's happening with the
OP's son, because I have no doubt that there are children who really do
enjoy this kind of thing) is that setting out to do this as part of the
day can make it into a chore rather than playtime. There's a real risk
that this can end up in a situation where the child sees reading as a
job that has to be done rather than as something to do for pleasure.
Sure, they learn to decipher words sooner - but they might also pick up
an attitude to reading that might ultimately hinder the amount of
reading they want to do.

Rather than getting workbooks, I'd get books. Story books that your
children are likely to enjoy. Make time to read these together so that
your child learns that reading is something fun. But, as far as
actually learning to read is concerned, I would follow your child's lead
and see whether this is something that interests him or not. My son is
fascinated with letters and what they say, and can read all his letters,
and because he's always pointing out the words in books or other places
it's quite easy for me to be always telling him "That says..." in a way
that's responding to his interests rather than sitting him down and
teaching him. I think he'll almost certainly be reading early - but
that's the way he wants it. If he wasn't interested in knowing what all
those words said, I would stick to reading to him and not push the issue
at all. With math, as well, rather than sitting down with a workbook
I'd work with real-life situations that come up - two socks and two
shoes to go on two feet, three cookies so each of you gets one and we
have one put aside, little things like that. It stays fun and relevant
and doesn't turn into a job to be done.


All the best,

Sarah
--
http://www.goodenoughmummy.typepad.com

"That which can be destroyed by the truth, should be" - P. C. Hodgell

"Sarah Vaughan" wrote in message
...
Beliavsky wrote:

In addition to the activities others have suggested, you can try
instructing your 4yo in reading and math. Even in an hour per day you
can accomplish a lot. My wife have been doing so with our son, who is
almost four, and I'd estimate he is at the 1st grade level. Math and
reading workbooks are not too expensive.

The risk here (and I am not saying this is what's happening with the
OP's son, because I have no doubt that there are children who really do
enjoy this kind of thing) is that setting out to do this as part of the
day can make it into a chore rather than playtime. There's a real risk
that this can end up in a situation where the child sees reading as a
job that has to be done rather than as something to do for pleasure.
Sure, they learn to decipher words sooner - but they might also pick up
an attitude to reading that might ultimately hinder the amount of
reading they want to do.

Rather than getting workbooks, I'd get books. Story books that your
children are likely to enjoy. Make time to read these together so that
your child learns that reading is something fun. But, as far as
actually learning to read is concerned, I would follow your child's lead
and see whether this is something that interests him or not. My son is
fascinated with letters and what they say, and can read all his letters,
and because he's always pointing out the words in books or other places
it's quite easy for me to be always telling him "That says..." in a way
that's responding to his interests rather than sitting him down and
teaching him. I think he'll almost certainly be reading early - but
that's the way he wants it. If he wasn't interested in knowing what all
those words said, I would stick to reading to him and not push the issue
at all. With math, as well, rather than sitting down with a workbook
I'd work with real-life situations that come up - two socks and two
shoes to go on two feet, three cookies so each of you gets one and we
have one put aside, little things like that. It stays fun and relevant
and doesn't turn into a job to be done.

I'd also look for trade books which involve math and science concepts. My DD
has discovered the "MathStart" series in our library, which is a series of
short storybooks, each of which introduce a math concept. They're levelled,
with level 1 being largely preschool/kindergarten, both in text length and
math concept, level 2 being early elementary, and level 3 being middle
elementary. The Magic School Bus series, both the books and the DVDs, are
also popular here and often turn into science exploration outside or in the
playroom.

She has picked up a lot of math concepts from these books, which she is then
able to apply (more less, relative size, doubling numbers, simple addition,
sets) in play.

She's a very symbology oriented kid, so a magnetic set with numbers and
symbols has led to my demonstrating how to make math sentences, and, again,
as she learns the concept, she's able to start applying the symbols.

The only thing we're doing at all formally is some pre-writing, trace the
shapes, follow the paths type pages, and that's on her own initiation. She
"writes" all the time where she scribbles and tells me what she's writing,
and when I asked if she wanted to practice writing, she jumped on it, and
asks me if she can write in her writing book. I figure as long as she's
asking for it, it's meeting her needs.

Sarah Vaughan wrote:
[snip]
The risk here (and I am not saying this is what's happening with the
OP's son, because I have no doubt that there are children who really do
enjoy this kind of thing) is that setting out to do this as part of the
....[snip]

Rather than getting workbooks, I'd get books. Story books that your
children are likely to enjoy. Make time to read these together so that
your child learns that reading is something fun. But, as far as
actually learning to read is concerned, I would follow your child's lead
and see whether this is something that interests him or not. My son is
[snip]

I think Sarah gives good advice here.

Personally, I did get workbooks for my children, and left them on the
shelf with the other activities, such as bricks and crayons. One of my
kids loved doing them, so I got more. But I never made her do them,
any more then I made her play with dolls.

The other problem here - which is often completely ignored by parents
of singletons - is that the other kid still needs something to do while
the 4yo and the adult do this.

--
Penny Gaines
UK mum to three

On Jun 25, 1:08 pm, Beliavsky wrote:
On Jun 25, 8:37 am, "cindy" wrote:

Hello,
My name is Cindy and I live in Richardson Texas. I have two boys ages 4 and
almost 2. I lurk here a lot because I think you guys have a lot of
knowledge.
I was wondering if you could give me some ideas on setting up a daily
routine.

In addition to the activities others have suggested, you can try
instructing your 4yo in reading and math. Even in an hour per day you
can accomplish a lot. My wife have been doing so with our son, who is
almost four, and I'd estimate he is at the 1st grade level. Math and
reading workbooks are not too expensive.

The 3 month summer vacation is a historical relic, and I've seen
studies saying at the beginning of the school year, teachers need to
spend some time reviewing forgotten material from the previous year.
If the summer break were shorter, there would be less of a need for
this.

In MA (you're in MA?) it's only 2 months, at least here (almost end-of-
June through almost-end-of August).

Back to the OP, a standard part of our daily (weekday) routine is
going to the library and/or dedicating a large block of time to
reading the library books. The library typically has a few tiny-tot
and pre-school aged activities per week; we'll attend 1 or 2 of these,
and make a few trips per week to acquire and return books. It's
something we've been doing for almost 6 years now, and is 'just a
given.' I also enjoy it as I can't stand reading the same books over
and over, despite our having a huge number of books.

Caledonia

Rather than getting workbooks, I'd get books.

Depends on the age of the child, we have a gazillion books, both kids
enjoy them (they are 2 and 4 like the OP), both go through phases of
wanting to spend loads of time reading or none at all. We also have a
moderate stack of work books and activity books of various types and DS
will often choose to do them, at other times I offer and sometimes he's
keen and others not and I don't push it. But he is learning different
skills when he does things from those books rather than reading books,
he wants to learn to write, he's not going to learn how to write by
reading, he's going to learn to write by writing each letter several
times. We're not on to any maths workbooks at this age, but there is a
limit to real life situations we're far from it yet, but I think there
are times when there is benefit in "drilling", simply to get the
practice and have things instilled into the child's mind.

Cheers
Anne

"Sarah Vaughan" wrote in message
...
Beliavsky wrote:

In addition to the activities others have suggested, you can try
instructing your 4yo in reading and math. Even in an hour per day you
can accomplish a lot. My wife have been doing so with our son, who is
almost four, and I'd estimate he is at the 1st grade level. Math and
reading workbooks are not too expensive.

The risk here (and I am not saying this is what's happening with the OP's
son, because I have no doubt that there are children who really do enjoy
this kind of thing) is that setting out to do this as part of the day can
make it into a chore rather than playtime. There's a real risk that this
can end up in a situation where the child sees reading as a job that has
to be done rather than as something to do for pleasure. Sure, they learn
to decipher words sooner - but they might also pick up an attitude to
reading that might ultimately hinder the amount of reading they want to
do.



Reading andothe rliteracy and math activities arent solely the domain of
workbooks. Literacy activities include things like fingerplays, letter
recognition bingo, sequencing cards. Many children like these games. Science
activities abound at the 4yo level.

http://www.mothergooseprograms.org/

Mother Goose Programs has some great stuff, but mostly at a cost. But it
gives you a wealth of ideas on what play based learning is for the preschool
set. "The Busy Book" has a ton of great activities for the preschool set,
and I *think* they have a toddler version too. The library is likely to have
a ton of play based activity ideas for literacy, math and science. I have
"Mudpies to Magnets" which we love.

Rather than getting workbooks, I'd get books. Story books that your
children are likely to enjoy. Make time to read these together so that
your child learns that reading is something fun. But, as far as actually
learning to read is concerned, I would follow your child's lead and see
whether this is something that interests him or not. My son is fascinated
with letters and what they say, and can read all his letters, and because
he's always pointing out the words in books or other places it's quite
easy for me to be always telling him "That says..." in a way that's
responding to his interests rather than sitting him down and teaching him.



And while you are busy learning that STOP means stop while looking at a
street sign on the road, you are distracting from the grumpies as you go
about errands or whatever. Speaking about things in the natural course of
events is wonderful.


I think he'll almost certainly be reading early - but that's the way he
wants it. If he wasn't interested in knowing what all those words said, I
would stick to reading to him and not push the issue
at all. With math, as well, rather than sitting down with a workbook I'd
work with real-life situations that come up - two socks and two shoes to
go on two feet, three cookies so each of you gets one and we have one put
aside, little things like that. It stays fun and relevant and doesn't
turn into a job to be done.



And remember that math is not just about counting and adding. There are a
lot of subjects in math at this age that have to do with ordering, sorting,
categorizing, sequencing that are around forming the neural pathways to
facilitate mathematical problem solving. Again the library will have quiet a
few books on activities to support these skills while the kids have no idea
that they are not just playing.

In my bookshelf some of the books I use are "folder games" which is a book
of make your own games out of file folders, "600 Manipulatives and
Activities for Early Math" .


All the best,

Sarah



Thanks Sarah. Great post.


--
http://www.goodenoughmummy.typepad.com

"That which can be destroyed by the truth, should be" - P. C. Hodgell

"Anne Rogers" wrote in message
. ..

Rather than getting workbooks, I'd get books.

Depends on the age of the child, we have a gazillion books, both kids
enjoy them (they are 2 and 4 like the OP), both go through phases of
wanting to spend loads of time reading or none at all. We also have a
moderate stack of work books and activity books of various types and DS
will often choose to do them, at other times I offer and sometimes he's
keen and others not and I don't push it. But he is learning different
skills when he does things from those books rather than reading books, he
wants to learn to write, he's not going to learn how to write by reading,
he's going to learn to write by writing each letter several times. We're
not on to any maths workbooks at this age, but there is a limit to real
life situations we're far from it yet, but I think there are times when
there is benefit in "drilling", simply to get the practice and have things
instilled into the child's mind.

Cheers
Anne


My favorite academic exercises are play based and almost hidden with
excitement. I went to training class recently on literature sparked science
in the preschool environment. I wish I could lay my hands on the material to
see if it is based in a national or international program. There are story
books with math and science themes in them and stories around exploring a
concept or solving a problem then suggested activities. (I just spent 1/2
hour looking for hte materials from that training class and cannot find
them! GAH!)

There was a story about bridge building. (And hereis where I wish I could
find the materials. Because I could tell you the title and author of the
book.) Materials were provided, like hot wheels cars, pennies, tp rolls and
paper. The kids were allowed to free play with the materials (because if you
dont let them do that you are never going to get them to think on the
activitiy. Then you read the story, particularly with drama if you can
muster it, leading into open ended questions about how to put the materials
into shapes that woud support the pennies. Then the cars. Open ended
questions are the key since it gets them thinking rather than listening with
unknown understanding and retention. Anyway, I will see if I can find my
materials from the class and specify a real resource.

Any preschool science program thata local science museum might have would be
a good undertaking. In this day and age, they should all be engaging and
playbased, and likely appropriate for a toddler too with supervision.

On Jun 26, 4:28 pm, Caledonia wrote:

snip

The 3 month summer vacation is a historical relic, and I've seen
studies saying at the beginning of the school year, teachers need to
spend some time reviewing forgotten material from the previous year.
If the summer break were shorter, there would be less of a need for
this.

In MA (you're in MA?) it's only 2 months, at least here (almost end-of-
June through almost-end-of August).

Yes, we live in Medford, near Boston, and will be looking for a house,
partly based on the quality of the public schools. The best choices
seem to be Arlington and Winchester.

Stephanie wrote:
"Anne Rogers" wrote in message
. ..

Rather than getting workbooks, I'd get books.

Depends on the age of the child, we have a gazillion books, both kids
enjoy them (they are 2 and 4 like the OP), both go through phases of
wanting to spend loads of time reading or none at all. We also have a
moderate stack of work books and activity books of various types and DS
will often choose to do them, at other times I offer and sometimes he's
keen and others not and I don't push it. But he is learning different
skills when he does things from those books rather than reading books, he
wants to learn to write, he's not going to learn how to write by reading,
he's going to learn to write by writing each letter several times. We're
not on to any maths workbooks at this age, but there is a limit to real
life situations we're far from it yet, but I think there are times when
there is benefit in "drilling", simply to get the practice and have things
instilled into the child's mind.

Cheers
Anne



My favorite academic exercises are play based and almost hidden with
excitement. I went to training class recently on literature sparked science
in the preschool environment. I wish I could lay my hands on the material to
see if it is based in a national or international program. There are story
books with math and science themes in them and stories around exploring a
concept or solving a problem then suggested activities. (I just spent 1/2
hour looking for hte materials from that training class and cannot find
them! GAH!)
[snip]
Any preschool science program thata local science museum might have would be
a good undertaking. In this day and age, they should all be engaging and
playbased, and likely appropriate for a toddler too with supervision.

I think Anne's DS is like my DD in that he actively chooses to do the
workbooks, as opposed to some other game or playing that he could
choose. The literature based science stories might be a good way of
teaching the concepts, but some children actually enjoy this type of
drill!

--
Penny Gaines
UK mum to three