7 weeks, 22 Skill School activity days, 30 posts . . . done!
If you’ve been following our Skill School Series this summer, thank you so much for joining us! And for those of you who have NOT been Skill Schooling, thank you so much for sticking around through the onslaught of emails all summer long 😆 !
It’s been a really fun summer. I’m a little sad to see it go, but all good things must come to an end. And all in all, we are ready for fall. Our summer days have been packed with adventures and skill-building activities, and I am thankful for all our kids have seen, and done, and learned. But we are a wee-bit tired and a lot-a-bit ready for school.
We’re ready for lessons with a pot of hot tea.
We’re ready for tray days, game days, and unit study days.
We’re ready for extra long, wool-sock-wearin’ Cozy Corner days.
We’re ready for earlier bedtimes and more productive mornings.
We’re ready to WELCOME FALL, Y’ALL!!!
But before we trade in our flip flops for those boots with the furrrr, I have a sort of bridge post today to help us transition from Summer Skill School, and Toy Week specifically, to Back-to-Homeschool 2021. We’re taking all the hands-on playfulness of the past Skill School week and putting it to practice for academic lessons! This school year, let’s infuse some extra fun into our lessons and TEACH WITH TOYS!
To get started, click here: TEACH WITH TOYS; the teaching manipulatives lurking in the toy box!
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I need to preface this post by being up-front: we have quite the collection of teaching manipulatives in our home—mostly wooden and Montessori-inspired that I’ve splurged on here and there over the years. Some of them have earned their keep on delivering amazing and ongoing learning, and others have proven to be a whole lot prettier than they are useful. Sometimes, the simplest most humble of resources have delivered the most bang for their buck. So I want to be clear, I am in no way condemning the purchasing of all teaching manipulatives and resources! In fact, in a future post, I will share our family’s top-picks for beautiful and quality teaching manipulatives you can buy online. “BUT NOT TODAY, ZURG!!!”
For playful math lessons, click here: MATH MANIPULATIVES lurking in your home!
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Remember these joyous word problems for probability? Well, here’s an idea: let’s introduce the concept with actual marbles like my mom did! Marbles are math magic; you can teach so many lessons with the humble, classic marble!
Some of these lessons will involve your child actually getting to shoot the marbles across the floor or send them down a marble run! Serious PARENT POINTS.
For playful reading/writing lessons, click here: READING & WRITING RESOURCES lurking in your home!
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I simply love teaching reading and writing with toys. For starters, the toys and household items you will assemble for these activities are things that your child sees, handles, and plays with regularly, or even daily. That familiarity works in their (and your) favor three ways. First, your child will be very motivated to work with these items. Second, your child will have a jump start or upper hand in that he or she already will verbally know most of the names of the items. And third, your child will go on seeing and handling these items after discovering their short or long vowel/ beginning or ending consonants. In other words, they will learn the lesson and then be reminded of that lesson daily upon encountering each item.
Thank you so much for reading and following this blog!
HELLO BACK-TO-HOMESCHOOL 2021! HAPPY FALL, Y’ALL!
Love, ~Our Holistic Homeschool~
