How to structure the day- Need inspiration!

[hypatia]

Hi all
My DD is 12m and I've been teaching her for the last 6 months. I'm not a 'professional mum' by Doman standards I think, but I do try to do a little everyday rather than a lot, and then stop.
Flashing cards don't work for us and I haven't had any success with LR so far. Reading books for her is not possible either for the time being as she can't sit still on laps or lie down without wanting to get out and move around 
My daughter has quite a strict routine with her eating, sleeping etc. (I am a SAHM). most of the time i just sit back thinking, well, what do I do now? and feel like i am 'wasting' the day and not doing anything productive with her (I guess i've been a bit down for the last few months since her dad and I separated)

I guess what I am asking for are examples of how you all manage your day, and which activities you do.
I'm not just interested in teaching her to read, just would like to do bonding learning activities and getting her interested in as many things as possible.
Thank you!

[ed]

well I've had the same problem one year ago (without separation: I understand that it is very difficoult for you and for your baby, what was her reaction after that?)
I think that your sensation to "feel like i am 'wasting' the day and not doing anything productive with her" depends of your state and isn't realistic: I was the same: my son was very active and I haven't had any time to prepare something to do with him: but now I know that I've done much things:
talking, comunicate, playing togheter and more important:
laughing and smiling more possible (it's strange but could help) it's like a teraphy and could bring more concentration and wellness
ed.

[Joha]

Hi hypatia!

I totally know how you feel, even more when you see parents in this forum that are so organized and can get so many thing done(not my case ). I have done so much research and found so many things I would like to do, but I wouldn't be able to sleep preparing materials. So now, I just do what I can and try to enjoy my daughter.

Yesterday, I found this Montessori website when activities by age. I really like it becuase is by age and gives you a good idea of things you can do.

http://www.dailymontessori.com/montessori-age-12-24-months/

Also, I just got some materials to make safe-eatible finger paint. It is un-expensive and I think kids would love to do this since they can get dirty.

http://www.creativekidsathome.com/activities/activity_42.html

This same website has some other activities for younger children. I just made some bubbles last night so I can play with my daughter today.

I know you said you are not interested in teaching ehr to read, but if you change you mind later, maybe you could try to make a couple of books with pictures of you and her and just include short phrases. My guess is she will be into that. Also, it will part of the bonding experiences you want to have with her.

Hope this helps a little bit! 

[Jekayda]

http://forum.brillkids.com/general-discussion-b5/how-do-you-schedule-so-many-learning-products/msg36425/#msg36425

Here is a link to another topic.  It will give you an idea of how others have there days scheduled and maybe you can see what you like.  I like Octaviaorca's excel sheet for a schedule which is what this link is to. 

[mother of faith]

hypatia,
I have felt and I am feeling the same thing now. My youngest is a little over 1 year old and he seems to be more attive then my first. To be honest right now don't worry about getting things done or teaching this or teaching that, right now your child's developmental needs need to  be met. I myself worry about the same issues, but I have realized to relax and the flow of being curious be the learning object of the day. Somethings that will help you, as your child crawls, walks, etc play music, sing to her, play the LR slide shows anyway even though you think she isn't learning she is. Don't worry about structure and being organized right now, allow that to develop over time. I too thought this child isn't learning anything, but wait he now is showing me what he ahs learned. When she is crawling or walking have foam letters and numbers lying around for her to pick up and carry with her. Have posters up and word walls everywhere. There is always time to teach, but allow her to teach you some stuff as well. Just take her by her hand and let lead you for awhile, get down on the floor with her and play games, or dress the teddy bear, paint with shaving cream, or with pudding, just enjoy each other. Have books lying around so she herself can look at them when she wants. Allow her to find her independence because then comes the learning and all of the questions.

Sensory matts are an awesome way to play with each other and learn. Some are thinking that's for babies, yes some are but there are some that are for older children as well. I have made many of them. You can see some that I have made with the rolom link below. Toss, role, and catch a ball. If she doesn't want to sit and learn or watch TV, or a computer screen then go for the manipulative learning, HANDS ON , like blocks, toys, stuffed animals, ribbons, bows, paint brushes, hair brushes, vegetable brushes, different fabrics, pillows, plastic vegetables, etc.

[Isabeau]

Hiya!
Since she's really physical and on the go, what about doing some really physical activities?

What about taking her swimming during preschooler time at the pool, if there's one in the area.  maybe some parent/tot swim lessons?  My son loved those!

Or maybe you could discover together a few signs in baby sign language?  I did it with my first son and by 9 months he was signing and by a year he knew over a hundred signs and it was really awesome to get to talk with him before he could speak. just a few things to do together while she's exploring -- crawling around together and finding her favorite things and naming and signing them for her. Or going for a walk -- if you hear a dog, sign dog, see a flower sign flower, etc.  Not trying to force her, just doing it constantly, whether she pays attention or not.  Soon enough she'll be signing them back to you.  You'll have to learn the ones you want to teach in advance, or you'll lose her attention fast.  Don't try to force it unnaturally, just wait until the next time a chance comes to use that sign and don't miss the chance to sign it while saying the word.

Just a couple ideas...

[Quiet Cricket]

Music Together -- check out their website -- offers CDs and music "lesson plans" which can be very active - lots of dancing, singing, etc.  If you are yourself at all musically inclined, you can do this yourself.  If you do not have confidence in your musical ability (yet), check out whether there are any classes available in your area.  They are not cheap, but after attending one you will probably have the confidence to just purchase the CDs/book and do it by yourself.

Also, daily walks and excursions to the park have offered me a lot of opportunities to teach my son (25 mo) about a wide variety of things.  "Hawk" was added to his vocabulary at 18 months after one day when we were at the park and a red-tailed hawk flew over us.  The next time we went for a walk, all he said was "Hak, hak, hak", looking up in the sky.  I was amazed that he remembered that brief experience from the previous day.

[hypatia]

Wow. So much feedback. Thanks to you all.

Ed: I am aware that the negativity about not doing enough comes from my state of mind. I do play a lot with her. When I don't, usually when I am cooking, she is on her high chair watching little pim. It is fascinating, any random cartoon she won't even look at the screen, but Little Pim she just adores it.

Joha: oh yes I definitely want to teach her to read, i was implying that wasn't on the top of my list. Right now i'd like to help her (if that's at all possible) to start talking. she is trying so hard and doesn't stop. So far excep for 'hello', 'outside' (in french) and 'banana' ('ba') there is nothing else i can understand. The Montessori website is great, thank you so much: is there an activity in particular that you do with your daughter ?
She is fascinated with pens atm. My brother had me notice that she knows which end of the pen is the proper one to use.

Jekaida: Interesting post, thanks. i am unable to open the sample excel sheet given by Octaviorca though :-( (the page won't load)

Mother of faith: you have given me great advice last month about labelling and i am very grateful. today i have started showing her sentences. she is now very interested everytime i put some new words up the wall. a trick which might help other parents: to have the 'animal hallways' and to do the animal sound once you've pointed at it and read it. a great success with my daughter!
I think your younger one will learn by looking at your older one.

Yesterday i celebrated my first reading success with DD sitting on my lap and turning a few pages of a book together. it might sound silly but when your child won't sit still for a second it is great to be able to have her attention and points at the images, even if it didn't last long!

IsaSV: physical activities is all we do. she is outside most of the time walking around, falling and dancing.
last week i had great success by giving her big foam letters. she was rushing towards me to take them and carry them away. in my opinion it is going to take a while for her to really look at them and remember their sound, but is is a good beginning.

I did sign language a lot a few months earlier. these days i only do it for 'sleep', 'eat', 'drink', 'water' and 'milk'. don't know why i've stopped :-(

Quiet cricket: yes yes i am musically inclinded. i am checking the website now, thank you! do you use it yourself?
It is great about your son. i read somewhen that words which 'sound' complicated or unuasual are loved by children.

[Autumn]

Hypatia,

Believe it or not. Even when you feel like you're not actually teaching your daughter, you are!  So don't be too hard on yourself. 
The idea from Mother of Faith sounds great, and using the animals too. Can you tell me how you exactly you play this?
Sounds like something my 2 year old would like!    

Keep up the great work mommies! And don't beat yourselves up over not having a schedule.    In advance, normally the night before, I like writing down all my goals for the day and trying to get it acomplished before lunch time. Then if you need, use the meal times to finish up what you didn't get done! And don't forget to mark off something once you acomplish it.  Then you can just use this same schedule for the following days.   

I also like using a cute bag to hold all my teaching materials. Believe it or not, I buy most of my materials at the dollar tree, and last time I was there I found a very nice bag that was large enough to hold the reading cards. ( And you'd never know it only cost me a buck by looking at it LOL!  ) I try keep it with me. So whenever there's an opportunity to teach, I can do so quite easily. I was given these pieces of advice from the IAHP.
Hope this helps some!  

Happy Teachings!
Autumn

[Quiet Cricket]

In answer to your question regarding Music Together, yes, I do use it, although lately not really in formal sessions.  We attended three Music Together classes and now listen to the CDs on our own, in the car or at home.  One thing I really love about the songs is that I don't get sick of them, even when listening to them for the umpteenth time!  They appeal to kids, yet are musically sophisticated, so for example on the ones that have an unusual meter (i.e. 5/4), I find myself having to concentrate pretty hard to model the suggested actions.  On the 5/4 songs, they suggest beating out the rhythm with an accent on a different beat of the measure in each verse, i.e. ONE, two, three, four, five; then the next verse: one, TWO, three four five; etc., or counting 1,2, 1,2,3 for each measure instead of counting 1,2,3,4,5.  There is also at least one song in Spanish on every CD.

[hypatia]

The idea from Mother of Faith sounds great, and using the animals too. Can you tell me how you exactly you play this?
Sounds like something my 2 year old would like!    

Well I wrote many cards with animals on it (either red or black), laminated them, and taped them along the hallway, at the right height so my daughter can see the words when i carry her. I try not to put them to close. she's used to it now so points to the animals as we walk by.
Me: Ok let's start with the.. lion! this is the lion! (pointing at the word, underneath). What sound does the lion make? ggggrrrrrrr! the lion growls, grrrrrrr!
(baby, smiling, sometimes tries to imitate the sound, or simply points at the next word)

[hypatia]

In answer to your question regarding Music Together, yes, I do use it, although lately not really in formal sessions.  We attended three Music Together classes and now listen to the CDs on our own, in the car or at home. 

The cds sound interesting indeed, although i couldn't find much detail on their websites about the actual content. I've just splurged on some PC software for kids (in French, to teach how to read & count), plus some parenting books. i've blown up my budget for many weeks to come :-)
But i will get them for Christmas!! 

[Autumn]

I get it! LOL!
 
Thanks Hypatia!

[hypatia]

Would anyone have a schedule (on excel) to give me an idea of what you do on an average day? Thx !

[Isabeau]

Hi there!

I don't have a schedule made up because our days follow a pretty consistent routine (with variation), but I can just type out what we do here if that's interesting to you at all.  It might SOUND like a lot, but it's really not that much.  Most of it happens in the morning, so the afternoons are generally free for napping and doing other fun activities (baking, swimming, outings, etc.).  I generally find trying to do much of any of it in the afternoon is a waste of time, usually.  I actually only really started this routine because I get SO bored playing cars or trains all day long.  I was going crazy.  This way we're BOTH having fun.  It does take some prep time, but i generally enjoy it.

We start flashing Doman math cards generally at breakfast and carry that on at random times throughout the day and of course we TRY to do it every day.

After breakfast we go to the learning centre where we start our home preschooling -- we've recently started a new "curriculum" which is that each week we're focussing on a new letter. We find rhymes, songs, poems and books that go with the letter. I post them up on the wall.  Usually for the song i'll make a visual aid to go with it (like for the farmer in the dell I'll print pictures of a Dell, farmer, wife, child, nurse, etc., and put double sided tape on the back -- as we sing, he'll peel the character off and stick it in the dell - he really enjoyed that!).  This week we're doing letter I.  I always choose two themes for the week (one for Monday one for Thursday) -- this week: insects and instruments. 

Monday I introduce the letter, the sound it makes, and we figure out several words together that start with that sound.  We'll say the poem and the rhyme and sing the song (more often than not has these memorized by Wednesday or Thursday).  Then I flash the cards for that theme -- insect, ladybug, spider, mosquito, fly, inch worm, grasshopper.  Then we put them up on the wall and do matching with pictures. We then spend anywhere from half an hour to an hour and a half reading books (usually based on the theme) in our "Reading Bus" (a big huge school bus that I created and painted from a big long cardboard box, filled it with blankets and pillows and we lay in there and get cozy and read).  I order a list of books from the library to make sure we have plenty based on the letter and the theme each week. After that we usually do geography (though sometimes this happens later in the day).  My three year old knows about 90 countries on the map (I say the name and he points it out).  We've been playing that game for a couple years now.  I'm now introducing new countries that he doesn't know based on the letter of the week.  This week Israel (he already knows Iran, Iraq, India, Iceland and Indonesia, so Israel was all that was left for I) so I make a big card with Israel on it and put a ribbon from the card to the country.  After that we'll generally do a few activities on the computer while the baby is asleep.  someone mentioned the reading eggs website and we checked it out, and that's great so we've been doing that lately!  We also try to do French (Rosetta Stone software) but i've not been terribly consistent. I'm trying to resolve to do better with that this year.   Even the few times i've done it with him, i've been really surprised by how fast they pick it up!

Tuesday we'll do a different activity based on those same words (like hide the words around the house and do a scavenger hunt, or make a book with the pictures, and then go on a scavenger hunt outside to find real versions of our words for the week (insects).  Then we do the same repetition -- stories in the reading bus, geography, computer time, with math thrown in all day long.

Wednesday we usually go into town to a rhyme and song program.  He loves that.  At some point on Wednesday we try to do science, which is picking two things from the letter theme -- like animals (Iguana and Ibix), plants, sea creatures, whatever it may be, and we download pictures for him to colour while I read to him some facts about it.  Or if we're doing something found locally, we'll find real life examples (found a bison farm for bison, etc). Or if we're doing a plant, we'll look outside and try to find one.  If it's an animal or plant from another country, we'll print a little picture and tape it up to our world map for the week, on the place where it can be found (gorillas on Uganda, etc).  We try to do math at various points in the day again.

On Thursday I'll introduce the second theme of the week (while still flashing the first theme).  This week our second theme is instruments -- and we'll basically do the same thing with the instrument cards -- flash, match, and some activities (like trying out the real instruments, etc.). Then the same old books, geography, computer time, math cards.  Starting this week a friend and I are going to try to do every thursday together, joint activities etc.

Friday we flash the first theme words, and do a different activity with the second theme words (or the same activity if it was a hit).  Then we usually do the same: reading, geography, computer, math.

Aside from trying to continue flashing math cards, we take the weekend off.

That's about it, I think. 

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