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!
Where did you get the ideas for curriculum? My son is 22 months. He’s advanced as far as speech goes and loves reading but still hasn’t grasped shapes, colors, numbers, or days of the week.
Honestly Britt, I just find things that my son is interested in and create themes around those. I try to create at least one activity for each skill that he needs to work on and we just go from there. Some things hold his attention a bit longer than others obviously but eventually we cover everything 🙂
This is such a cute school room. I love it!
Our son will be 15 months on the 7th. We have not made any decisions yet about schooling. However it is never to early to start planning do I am looking forward to your progess. Best of luck 🙂
I love this! My son will be two next month and still has no words. We just started speech therapy with the early intervention program about a month ago. He has some red flags for autism, but his ST thinks he has childhood apraxia of speech. So we’re just (im)patiently waiting for our developmental pediatrician appointment to try to get some answers.
We still have no words here, but are doing good with signs…sort of…I know what he’s saying with them, but no one else would haha. So I’ve made him a lot of flash cards and things to use. I love your idea of tot school! I hope things continue to go so well!!
–Michelle @The MaMade Diaries
I know how that feels Michelle. We waited for just about 4 months for our appointment before he was diagnosed. Our main issue was communication in any form. Nicholas up until just a few months ago had no words and would not use signs, I’m not really sure why he just refused to use any of them more than once or twice.
The few things we have been doing at home for the past month and then adding Tot School to that has made a huge difference and you can already understand quite a few of the words that he tries to say. Hopefully you guys will get your appointment and some answers soon.
So many great things and you use the wall, I love that!! Thank you for linking up to Super Sunday Sync.
Thank you and thanks for hosting the Sunday blog hop! It is always a lot of fun meeting other fellow bloggers!
My son is in three different therapies right now. I love all your ideas, they would be helpful for him!
http://thediaryofarealhousewife.blogspot.com
Thanks Jennie! I plan on posting the activities we are doing each week in Tot School on Tuesdays so I would love for you to check back each week to see what we have been up to.
Exciting 🙂 🙂 🙂