One of the things the hubs and I have talked about for a while now has been the subject of homeschooling.
We were 95% sure that this was what we wanted for our children’s education for a number of reasons. This past month however, sealed it for us.
For almost 6 months Nicholas received speech and occupational therapy services through an Early Intervention program geared towards children under the age of 3. After those 6 months had passed and we were seeing minimal (if any) progress we decided to remove him from those services and begin our newest adventure at home: Tot School.
So what exactly is Tot School? Well, in a nutshell, we play. A lot.
Essentially everything we cover in a day of Tot School are things we’ve done forever. Music, art, puzzles, reading, playing outside. The only difference is that now we structure our play a little more and, with Nicholas, focus on trying to learn one concept each week.
We’ve found that Nicholas works, learns, and plays much better in a slightly more structured environment. He thrives with planned activities rather than just going with the flow. His day is a much better one when he has something to concentrate on and fewer distractions. With all of that said, you may have noticed that I have taken an unexpected little blogging break over the past 2 weeks or so. It definitely wasn’t planned but we have a lot to show for our time off.
The hubs and I have spent the past few weeks scraping, sanding and painting and let me tell you, it was exhausting! But, we took a small bedroom at the back of our house and converted it to our very own little homeschooling tot school room!
So, without further ado, I welcome you to our brand new Teeny Tiny Tot School!
First up is our circle time corner with the calendar, weather, colors, and our little number train (which Nicholas is obsessed with).
We have a cozy little reading corner which happens to be one of Nicholas’ favorite parts of the room! (I couldn’t keep him away from the books long enough to take a picture so there are a ton of books missing from the shelves and scattered all over the room while he looked at them.)
He even has his own little table and chair that are just his size!
Next up we added some shapes to the wall. These hang up above our bins of cars and trucks, building blocks and other manipulatives.
As you can tell, it is still a work in progress but I am loving the way it is all coming together. Not only that but we had our first official week of Tot School in here this past week and Nicholas seems to be in heaven. As far as our decision to homeschool, well, I have no regrets. In the 6 months he spent in speech and occupational therapy he managed to pick up 2-3 words and some not so nice habits from a few of the other kids.
In the past month that I have been working with him at home and now with his first week of Tot School in the books, we are up to 10-12 words and much better listening skills.
Make sure to stay tuned for all of the fun coming out of our Teeny Tiny Tot School!
