Homeschool life - Toddler Edition
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I am officially the mother of a toddler and she just turned a year and a half this past Saturday. My baby is lively, curious (has been since day one) and entertaining. She loves to explore and get into things and I’m constantly running after her to clean up something she took out of a shelf or off the coffee table.
She also loves books. Her dad and I are bonafide bibliophiles so she can’t help it. When settled in her designated play space, can keep herself occupied and entertained until she’s ready to eat or take a nap.
Now, sometime in February, as life was starting to settle in place and my need for a little daily structure came into full focus, I decided to crack open my numerous planners.
My goal was to revisit the brainstorming sessions found in masterful planners like Passion Planner, etc (see my full review of said planners here).
In doing this, I realized I wanted to dedicate time to teaching my child the basics. Nothing technical or complex. She does have a short attention span and gets tired of being confined to her high chair for too long.
So, I crafted a little toddler-appropriate lesson plan that we've been using since then, and I thought I would share it.
This tool has come in handy as I’m no longer certain as to when I’ll be able to register her for some group activities like swim lessons, Kindermusik and part-time daycare.
Also, because I am pregnant and due in August of this year, I’m not entirely sure I’ll find a job that will hire me, with maternity leave benefits and enough income to exceed the cost of childcare for two (heavy sigh).
While I’d like to think that option is out there (I hear public health departments are hiring and I do have an MPH) I am perfectly content with focusing on being present and actively involved in my daughter’s early development and I’m grateful for this privilege.
That said, here’s what my little toddler lesson plan looks like thus far.
*Disclaimer, I am not a certified teacher, but I do love planning, education and I know my child. In my last job, I oversaw the children’s ministry, including the curriculum. I have worked in the classroom as a teaching assistant and in a teaching capacity with children and adults.
I have written a training curriculum and facilitated trainings.
Finally, my mom, who is my mentor and friend, has been an elementary school educator for over 20 years (she was even my teacher in preschool).
So, in case anyone is wondering, those factors feed into and inform all iterations of this toddler lesson plan and how I do this.
THE BASICS
First things first. I can’t speak for all toddlers, but I get the impression that they pay attention but for so long. So, I don’t ever do anything for too long and I don’t try to do too much in one day with Lavender.
Each day is a designated lesson to make sure I’m exposing my child to a variety of things. This is stuff you can easily start doing before your child becomes a toddler, BUT everything depends on how well you can hold your child’s attention and what season of life you’re in.
You modify it to the needs of your child and family and HAVE FUN WITH IT. It may seem like a lot depending on how you slice it, but it’s really all about exposure.
I wanted to give my child dedicated and somewhat structured exposure to a few things, but all in all, I don’t force her to get it nor do I care to be uptight and impatient if she doesn’t want to do this.
If she stops paying attention or shows signs of boredom, we stop the lesson then and there. I follow her cues, and that’s important. She won’t enjoy it if it’s a forced activity and I just want to make learning fun.
SETTING & DELIVERY
We have the lesson in the morning, at the breakfast bar, right after breakfast. She is fed, still in her high chair and fully alert and can’t run away.
TIME
I keep lessons under 20 minutes and average 15 minutes depending on what we’re doing. Again, my goal is exposure. I’m not quizzing my child. I’m not trying to get her into an elite prep school or valedictorian status.
If that’s her calling, so be it. My goal is to introduce, expose and lay down the foundation and joy of learning. I don’t do positive reinforcement with a rewards system.
In many ways, this is another version of dedicated mommy-and-me time, with an educational twist.
CURRICULUM & SCHEDULE
As I said before, this isn’t extensive. Look around your house and gather the most basic items to create activities for each of the days. Here’s an example of my lesson plan and how I do it.
Mondays: ABCs
Tuesdays: History
Wednesday: Math
Thursday: Music and Art
Friday: Spanish
Saturday: Science
This is what I’ve come up with for March - May
MARCH
My goal for March was consistency and repetition. Again, nothing too detailed, just basic, fun things to introduce my child to something each day.
Mondays: ABCs
Materials:
ABC book of some type. I use Dr. Seuss’s ABC Book (the board book version)
Bilingual wooden blocks. These are GREAT they have Upper and Lower case letters and numbers from 0 to 1 and images featuring the English and Spanish words under each.
YouTube video featuring an ABC song. I usually play one Dave and Ava or Sesame Street song
Time: 15-20 minutes. You can decide which order is best for you. Now that she’s older, my toddler likes to play with the blocks, so I’ve decided to make that the final activity after the song and reading the book.
Tuesdays: History
Materials:
Book about a historical figure(s) or period(s). I used a Toddler Board Book Bible with little flaps on the pages for March. I also have Vashti Harrison’s “Brave Little Leaders” board book version for both African American women and women from all over the world.
YouTube video featuring toddler appropriate version of the story. I usually play Veggie Tales for no more than 5 minutes. I’m still looking for a simple example
Time: 15-20 minutes. You can decide which order is best for you. With the Bible story, I usually read the entire book or let her flip through the little peek-a-boo flaps. If I can only get through one of the short stories, I’ll find that one story on Veggie Tales if available, or resume where I left off with the previous one.
Wednesday: Math
Materials:
Number book of some type. I use Eric Carl’s The Very Hungry Caterpillar. Even though it counts up to 5 (with specific fruit) there are actually 10 total items on the day when the caterpillar eats a lot of random food.
Bilingual wooden blocks. Again, these are GREAT and I use them to go through the numbers from 0 to 9
YouTube video featuring a counting song. I usually play a Sesame Street tune or Dave and Ava’s version of “Once I caught a fish alive”. There’s also a cute animated version of The Very Hungry Caterpillar that I found on YouTube that Lavender LOVES.
Time: 15-20 minutes. You can decide which order is best for you.
Now that she’s older, Lavender likes to play with the blocks, so I’ve decided to make that the final activity after the song and reading the book.
Thursday: Music and Art
Materials:
For art, I have a book that features numbers, colors and shapes. So I make sure to read that to close the lesson at the end. We haven’t done music yet. Once we can go back to group socializing, I plan to put my child in Kindermusik classes for both the music and social piece.
Fischer-Price Rainbow stack and connect balls. These are really helpful. They come in the primary colors of the rainbow and a range of sizes so that when taken apart or stacked, they increase or decrease in diameter. You can display them as half moons, stack them within each other, or match the hemispheres to make balls.
YouTube video featuring color song. I usually play a Dave and Ava or Sesame Street song (1 song)
Time: 15-20 minutes. I usually start with the video, then transition to either the book or the plastic balls. Now that she’s older and likes to stack things, I moved the little plastic balls to the later part of our lesson
Friday: Spanish
Materials:
Bilingual book of some type. I use the indestructible brand book “Bebe, vamos a comer!/ Baby, let’s eat”. It’s awesome because it features various fruits and veggies organized by color on each page.
It’s bilingual and colorful. I also have a few other bilingual books that I’ll read to her that have fewer words and pages but still hold her attention.
Bilingual wooden blocks. While I haven’t gotten into using the bilingual portion of the block, I do recommend having them on hand
YouTube video featuring an Spanish songs. I usually play Dave and Ava’s live Spanish song videos
Time: 15-20 minutes. We used to live in Spain and I’ve spoken Spanish for over 15 years, though it’s not my first language. That said, in an effort to stay fresh, I’ll solely speak to my daughter in Spanish during this period.
As she gets older, I might stretch out the time to speak with her in Spanish for a full hour or for the full day. We’ll see.
Saturday: Science
Materials:
I keep this day super simple. My husband is off from work on Saturdays, so I get him involved. We usually go outside and play and point out a few things like the plants or animals. She’ll pick up pine needles or pine cones.
I do have and read books that feature different animals. Baby Einstein’s Animal book is pretty good for this.
I also decided to create a garden and let her dig around in the soil. Real fun and basic and lends itself to awareness of plants.
Time: However much time you think is appropriate for outdoor play. This isn’t restricted to morning. It’s whenever we go outside.
APRIL
I made a few changes for this month
Mondays: ABCs
Materials:
Same books and blocks, but for the ABC song, we’re introducing sounds. So instead of hearing and seeing the letters, she’s also getting a little intro to phonics by learning the sounds produced by each letter.
Time: 15-20 minutes. Same order - song, book, blocks
Tuesdays: History
Same as above. No new books or lessons
Wednesday: Math
Materials:
Same books and blocks, but for the songs, I’m focusing on videos that introduce her to one new number per week.
So for the first full week in April, she heard a song about numbers and possibly one other, like a Sesame Street song, about the number 1.
Time: 15-20 minutes. Same as above, song, books and block(s)
Thursday: Music and Art
Materials:
For April, I’m switching it up. I’ve decided to focus on one color each week. Starting with Red. I gathered all her toys that have the color of the week, so that she can see and identify each color.
I also bought a new book, DK Colors that features each color on its own page with a lot of different things in that color too.
YouTube video featuring a color song. I like the Dave and Ava color song.
Time: 15-20 minutes. Book, song and stackable color bowl/balls
Friday: Spanish
Materials:
Same as above. Continual use of Spanish in the morning
Time: 15-20 minutes. I’ll probably throw in the blocks since I know she loves them, but they’ll be the last activity of the lesson.
Saturday: Science
Materials: Nothing new or different. We’ll watch our plants grow.
Time: however long you want.
MAY
We repeat everything for April with a few changes
My mom gave me access to her ABC Mouse account (shout out to the teachers!), so sometimes I’ll do 5 -10 minutes of ABC Mouse Toddler level activities with Lavender in the afternoon.
Mondays: ABCs
Materials:
Same books and blocks and continuing with songs that introduce phonics.
Time: 15-20 minutes. Same order - song, book, blocks
Tuesday: History
I’ll play one kid worship song before the start of the lesson.
She has a new Toddler Bible and we continue to read stories
We’ll watch a 5 minute cartoon on a Bible lesson if it can hold her attention
Wednesday: Math
Continuing to focus on one new number per week
Thursday: Music and Art
Continuing to focus on one new color per week and say that color a lot throughout the week when referring to other objects
Friday: Spanish
Leyendo con Lavanda: Reading with Lavender. For May, I’ll be reading one or two Spanish language books each week and sharing it on Social Media (Instagram: @Rhymeswith_Acasia).
And that’s where I am for now.
A few things to note.
This is merely an example and potential framework. Make this work for YOU and your season of life! If you only want to do this every other week, a few days a week, etc. that’s fine. The beauty of homeschooling a toddler is that you go at your own pace and don’t have to follow a set schedule if you don’t want to.
Take breaks. I’ve decided to take one this week. May 4-8 was National Teacher Appreciation week, yesterday was Mother’s Day. Soooo…I’m taking a break. And though it’s only 20 minutes/day and my baby is now used to the routine, I’m giving myself permission to pause, reflect and take a break.
Whenever it’s safe to go back out and socialize, I’ll probably enroll Lavender in a Kindermusik group so she can start doing music on her music and art days and also socialize with other toddlers.
And call me an overachiever, and maybe I’m THAT mom. But I really want to get my child into swimming. God willing, she’ll start swim lessons this summer before her sibling arrives.
My goal has always been to include a library day. So I’ll also take her to the local public library once a week so we can go to any of the story hours and or check out children’s books.
Do any of you enjoy or do semi-structured lessons with your children? How has the COVID-19 pandemic influenced how you’ve been able to homeschool? Let me know if you have any questions!