A LOUD School Project

The boys and I are still doing school projects on Amelia's school days. We've done all kinds of things: made fish bowls and pattern turkeys, had shape hunts, exercised our alphabet and crafted helicopters and kittens. One of our most recent projects was a big hit: jellyfish.

Alex shows off his jellyfish.

It's half a paper plate and the boys glued on tissue paper "tentacles." I drew a little face on each with a 'J' for a nose. (Aren't I just the Martha Stewart of the preschool set?) We talked about jellyfish as we made them. They have seen jellyfish at the zoo, so they knew a little bit about them.

The boys loved this project. After they were done making their jellyfish they raced around the house with them "stinging" each other and me. I made lunch with three boys all stinging me in the legs.

I've had to repair the tentacles twice since we made these a week ago.

Only three boys could take a project involving a paper plate and tissue paper and make it so LOUD!

© Trippin' Mama 2012

School Days Continue

I'm still doing little lessons with the boys when Amelia heads off to school. We're working on the letter 'H' now, but I haven't posted any pics in a while, so here are a few of the things we did in our 'D' and 'E' lesson plans.

 Dinosaurs, doughnuts and elephants, oh my!

Daddy did the 'D' is for Doughnut lesson with them, which was a huge hit because the kids got to use scissors. (Arming the three boys with scissors still makes me shudder.) And afterwards he took them all out for a doughnut. Yep, he was a hero.

We got a little out of hand gluing eyes onto the dinosaurs, but I hated to squash their creativity. I just peeled the eyes off later and recycled them.

I get most of my lesson/craft ideas online, and I am amazed at the number of things you can make out of a cheap, white paper plate. And I do enjoy doing something creative with my kids and seeing them get a kick out of making something.

I must say I have no idea how preschool teachers do this in a classroom of a dozen or more kids. I have my hands full with just three of them!

Sam, Isaac and Alex aren't going to skip a grade thanks to my stellar homeschooling, but they are learning their letters and numbers, and they love, love, love to "do a project." They have learned to sit for 15 minutes while we work on a project, read a related book or talk about the letter sounds and the craft we're making. And that's a major accomplishment in and of itself!

© Trippin' Mama 2011

The Things They Learn At School

The other evening Jeff and I were having a rather serious conversation with Amelia.

At the end I said, "Got it?"

The usual response to that in our house is, "Got it!"

But Amelia looked up at both of us and said, "Capice."

Jeff and I looked at each other and burst out laughing.

After a round of "Did you teach her that? I didn't teach her that," Amelia piped up. "You know 'capice.' It means "Got it."

Thanks, child. We know that. We want to know where you learned it!

So I asked her, wondering if I should pay more attention to the occasional kids' show she watches.

"I learned it at school," she said matter-of-factly.

Well OK. Apparently we were unaware of the heavy Italian influence at her school. Maybe she'll also learn to make a decent lasagne.

© Trippin' Mama 2011