Math with Mixed Ages

Hi! I'm Leslie- a homeschooling momma to an almost 5 year old girl and 19 month old boy.  The 2 are as different as night and day.  I share our adventures here to both inspire learning at home and chronicle our lives, because honestly, I never started the baby books and my kids will just have to look back on their childhood through this blog... ha! #keepinitreal

Homeschooling is tough with toddlers.
They're into all the things.  All of them.
I've tried to do our schooling when he naps, but it's hard when that is the time to get dinner, chores, and a few moments to reheat the morning cup of coffee...again.

I have loved how active our Mother Goose Time games are and how easy it is to incorporate my 19 month old rambunctious son with my cautious and studious little girl.  Flexibility. 
Teaching is always about flexibility.

As we observed Monet's Haystacks, we did an animal search and match math game.

I layed out 6 animal cards face down, and folded their matches placing them in a basket filled with "hay."  My son's task was to pull a card from the hay, and my preschooler had the task to find its' match from the upside down cards.  It challenged her memory and built up his sensory experiences. 

Our Pointillism day was inspired by A Sunday on La Grande Jatte by Georges Seurat.

While observing the painting, I asked my girl:

"What stands out to you?' "How did the artist make this painting?" 

"What kind of weather are they experiencing?"

She pointed out the umbrellas as something that stood out to her.  Our math game suggested a parachute or sheet to hide button on, but with just the 3 of us, I used an actual umbrella to make this game work.

My son threw the foam die with pictures of our monthly manipulatives, buttons, on them.  He loves to throw all the things, so he threw the die, and my preschooler would climb under the umbrella to find the corresponding buttons.

We counted all the buttons she gathered (21) and then I let her create pictures with her buttons, just like Seurat used dots to make his masterpiece.

So thankful for Mother Goose Time and the ease I have to play and learn with my kiddos.
Hoping next school year will be just as easy as we venture more towards Kindergarten


Happy Learning!