- Graduated Blocks
- Mopping
We're almost two months into homeschooling now. We've spent the entire time thus far concentrating solely on practical life skills, and here's the result (a progress report, of sorts): my son seems to have increased dexterity, focus, independence, perseverance, inquisitiveness and responsibility. He does at times still struggle with the structure of school (following through with an activity, putting materials away, using materials in the manner intended), but he's three; I'd be absolutely shocked if he began to really consistently toe the line. Though the practical life materials will stay on the school shelves--available for Parker to revisit during school time--I'm going to start presenting sensorial activities to him in the coming weeks. Whereas the practical life activities were designed to help my son function in his own environment by teaching him how to handle the objects in and around our home, the sensorial activities we do will help develop and refine his five senses. This will not only enable him to use his senses fully to interact with and expand his knowledge of the world, but will also enhance his intellect and control, thereby preparing him for more advanced activities.
This morning I presented the graduated blocks activity to Parker, which is designed to develop visual and tactile perception of dimension. It also introduces ordering/sequencing. The aim is to build a tower with blocks of gradated size, starting with the largest at the bottom and ending with the smallest at the top. This activity was a favorite of Parker's both times we visited the local Montessori school, so I knew he'd have fun with it. Montessori schools use unpatterned blocks, usually all the same color. With the blocks looking exactly the same except for their size, the child can easily focus on the lesson in question--perception of dimension. When I bought graduated blocks for our homeschool (this was over two months ago), I went with the cheapest and easiest route: Melissa & Doug Wooden Animal Nesting Blocks from Amazon. Now I kind of wish I'd either sprung for the real kind (though Montessori teaching materials are awfully expensive), or spent some time (not that I have a lot to spare) making my own monochromatic blocks. It's not that the activity went poorly today; it's just that the more I homeschool, the more serious I feel about this enterprise. The perfectionist in me feels like if I'm going to homeschool, I should homeschool the "right way." And I wonder whether all those brightly colored animals distracted Parker's brain from the main purpose of the activity.
Speaking of brightly colored school supplies, I've been giving my son pages from a Kumon activity book to practice cutting in school. This partly because I bought the activity book ages ago and it has just been lying around, collecting dust (I hate waste!), and partly because I'm too lazy to draw straight lines on a piece of paper (the straight lines are meant to guide the child as he cuts). While doing a school activity, my son should be focused on the aim of the activity--in this case, cutting. The first few pages we used out of the book were minimally decorated, and Parker definitely didn't seem very distracted by the cute little animals or cars. The page he used on Thursday, however, was different. After cutting along the lines, we ended up with pieces of a paper train that the instructions told us to tape together. My son has a deep and abiding love of trains, so he was overjoyed with the fruits of his labors. I would have been happy, too, except that we had to have an impromptu 20-minute recess while Parker played with his "new train." It was pretty short-sighted of me not to save the create-a-play-toy activity for the end of school. We had literally only just begun.
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