MIXED AGES AT HOME How do I keep the baby happy while I help Suzi with her math and get James start on his geometry lesson? Dinner needs to get started early and I need some time to dust, do the laundry, vacuum, and iron. I am hoping to get some cookies baked today and call to make some appointments. I still need to make the beds and get the breakfast dishes done. Also, James does have a diorama to get started and will need some one-on-one assistance. The baby wants to be held constantly. When the baby finally lays down for a nap and I get a chance to start on the housework, Suzi and James really want my attention. *You aren't going to find something to keep the little ones busily and happily occupied for all the time that you need for both homeschooling AND housework. Most homeschooling parents need to learn this rule FAST to stay sane. The housework needs to be greatly curtailed until the young ones are also school-agers. It's just the way it has to be. Let the dust accumulate or carry baby around with you in a back pack. Give baby his/her own little duster to help. Let baby help throw clothes into the washer and dryer. Yes, it goes slower, but ALL of the housework can be a game. And what can't be done WITH baby, can be done later when daddy is home or an older child is done with schooling and can either assist you or keep watch over babykins. *Whether you dust daily or only on the last day of each month, all surfaces will look the SAME on the first day of the month!* *Clean out a kitchen drawer for the babies or save a box to collect baby-safe items that are used ONLY during the homeschooling time. This is an important time to be available to the school kiddos. Do not have this drawer or box accessible at other times or the novelty will not last throughout the lesson time you need! Put in the box clean and safe used grocery containers .. the plastic yogurt cups and lids (several), a small sieve, measuring cups and spoons, canning rings, cottage cheese/sour cream containers with lids, wooden spoons, a baster, etc. You don't have to buy seconds of these for the drawer. Use what you have available in the kitchen. You'll need to quickly wash them before actual kitchen use again, but you'll know where to look for them. Periodically, add something else from the kitchen or elsewhere ... an empty makeup bag or coin purse that opens and closes, a small plastic mirror, a small brush ... keep your eyes open as you go through the house for new shapes, sizes and colors of things that might interest baby. Do not introduce them. Just place them quietly into the drawer/box to be *discovered*. *School-agers: My favorites are, of course, open-ended art materials, available in abundance. The rules are that they are used appropriately (on the art table) and that everyone helps to clean up. Having a small bucket with sponges and wastepaper baskets ready nearby for them helps facilitate the clean-up. Make an art box with magazines, milk jug caps, juice can lids (the kind that do not have any sharp edges), ribbon scraps, papers of all kinds, including paper bags, scissors and hole punches, lots of glue, markers, and crayons, fabric scraps. *Schoolagers - boxes and tape and markers and paint to design forts, big or small. Small garages and dollhouses can be created from shoe boxes. Larger forts for meetings or private reading with a flashlight can be created from the bigger boxes. *preschoolers through schoolagers - my very favorite busy activity is to buy huge amounts of masking tape from salvage outlets and let the kids design roads, houses, rooms, hopscotch, beanbag tosses, tic-tac-toes, scenic pictures all over the carpeted floors. Do not use on hardwood floors or lineoleum - can leave a sticky outline that will need to be scrubbed - but on carpeting all you have to do (though we leave and build onto it for several days) is have the kids have a race to clean in up by ripping it off the floor and winding it into the hugest balls possible! See who gets the hugest ball! See how much they can all get off the floor before the timer goes off! (Actually I join in this one because it is fun!) But let them press and design to their hearts content. We've made the outlines of lily pads and pretended we are frogs and all the rest of the carpet is the water and filled with frog-eating sharks and we 've hopped around for days from lily pad to lily pad. *have the older kids start a business, short-term or ongoing ~a kids' garage sale (items subject to your approval, of course!) but let them price, sort, display, create signs, flyers, advertise, attend the sale, plan purchases with the profits... ~canvas neighbors for pinecone pickups (at appropriate times of the year). They can offer to pick up pinecones for a penny a piece. My 9 year old makes about $5.00 a week doing this for just one neighbor. ~Start a neighborhood newsletter. Find out where the new kids came from; where the old kids are moving; who has a new baby sister; who just learned to ride a bike; have them collect a special cookie recipe from a different family each week or two for the issue. There are soooo many wonderful home publishing programs with easy to use templates for printing this. Have them figure costs involved and set a reasonable price per issue. ~Or a non-profitable family newsletter to be sent out to your extended family featuring progress in homeschooling, current subjects of study, highlights of field trips and family outings, clever sayings or poems or essays; baby's new words or first tooth.... ~These can lead into creating advertising flyers and business cards as well. ~Have them start collections! Coins and stamps and pressed flowers are marvelously time-consuming and fun! Learn a little together about proper removal of used postage stamps (it's easy) and display. Have them collect used envelopes from family and friends. Sometimes at a hobby shop you can buy a giant bag of unsorted stamps for a very inexpensive amount to get them started. Give them a magnifying glass ... help them learn to upgrade (store duplicates for trading or discard ones in poorer condition for a better find!). Show them the dates and mint marks of coins. Learn a little about coin collecting at the library together. Help them initially by stocking some pennies for them to sort. Figure out ways they can earn more. Have them start a savings bank (even better have them create a bank from a can or jar or box and decorate...) to keep the unneeded pennies in to take to the bank for their savings accounts or to trade for other pennies.... Pressed flowers ... learn a little about pressing flowers together and then, with some guidelines about your prize flowers remaining intact and the need to observe neighbors' possessions, let them collect wild samples from the field and limited samples from your yard according to your wishes ... press them (you can make a press by using newspapers and heavy books). Give them abundant paper to create display books where they can learn the names of the flowers and label them, use them to decorate stationary, or to make pictures .. leaves are great to sort, press, and use in the same ways... create some flower people or leaf creatures! ~And another favorite, but you have to be a really understanding parent for this one, is to find a spot in your yard where the kids can DIG. Give them shovels, buckets, watering cans, trucks, small pieces of wood to create bridges, rakes, small pieces of pipe ... oh are they going to get dirty. They will work on it at every opportunity from dawn til dusk for days. Their clothes will be grimy and filthy. And they will be tired at the end of the day. The holes of abandoned work sites can be later filled in, if necessary. But this is not only a busy activity, but a great gift to children, I promise you! Have a bathtub ready for the first one as you call them in and allow plenty of soaking time to get clean at the end of the day for each child. Add a can of non-metholated shaving cream and a pastry brush and let them decorate themselves and the bathtub for a while. ~My mother used to let us use old retired cloth diapers to skate with all around the hardwood floors. She’d put on all sorts of upbeat music to really get us going. This was, of course, after she had washed the floor, applied fresh wax and it had dried! The final product? A beautifully shined floor needing just a bit more polishing up in the corners and three happy, tuckered out kids at the end of the day! ~Schoolagers usually LOVE to help make the cookies! Make some molasses crinkles, for instance. You make up the dough. Have your son roll them into walnut sized balls and your daughter dip the balls in a bowl of sugar and set them on the pan. You won’t believe how much faster the whole process goes this way! AND, you can visit with them or sing some silly songs all the while. After the kitchen is clean, you can sit down with baby and the kids and enjoy some samples of your work with a glass of milk or juice. ~Invest in some colorful dusters ... several of them ... get some big colorful sponges eventually too. Have the kids (and baby, too!) help dust the house while you vacuum. Or they can help clean the kitchen floor while you are doing the dishes. Have the mop right in the kitchen so when you are all done, you can mop up the excess just before you all exit the kitchen. Yes, this has the potential for being a little messy.... the deal is you are getting some *time* to do your dishes while you can keep a close eye on the kids and visit too. You can’t always get this kind of a deal without a little *mess*! lol! All for now.... Wiggy : ) *Looper comment: When my three year olds are going wild, I just stop and put paper plates on the floor and turn on some music and we skate for a while to use up the energy. The paper plates slide across the carpeting in skate like fashion and they love it >> --------------------- Forwarded message: Subj: Curric: Topical: Mixed Ages AT Home Date: 97-09-19 01:55:09 EDT From: Wiggy516 To: AMOM Chryl,AMOM Wanda,LindaFDC To: Shmissteri,Thregr8kdz,Wiggy516 To: ANewHeart,Ariel 610,BobbieFDC To: CBDBree,CGFGFREEE,Dizee70 To: Dkelkins,Eibbil,Fishkissy To: GIBBYGGG,HTWHLZ,Jeanet3814 To: Kenisons6,Kjjt,KJP40,Lea098 To: Lorris4,LOSTN 78,Luv3kids,Mandap To: Mlori1,MrciaJones,Nan1003 To: Nancy235,Nunflying,PBeach3040 To: PObrien788,PRO CALIF,PScml To: Queenbe352,Rckably,Su F 4 To: The4mitchs,TOcon41865,TRACODAND To: UCrawf123,WHansen1,ZRJ,AnneW1 To: Arlc1,AuntGill,BECKYLEM,Bedon1 To: Bethsmom1,BHuhtala,BROWN893 To: BunniePtch,CA55IE,CANTfam To: Cath no1,CBlac113,CCPPIN,CDA Jen To: Cechs,Cia0,CTharion,Cyn4kids To: DAYCMOM,DENCRE,DKnow624,DSinVA49 To: ECook58656,Elegantmom,FBercaw To: FDC Fun,FIREWIFE25,Flannel63 To: GnBGras,GOSColleen,HERR0728 To: Himies4me,Holcombcj,HUGSKISS2 To: Im1031bb,Ivegotkids,JEAN4KIDS To: JFoga143,Jkel110,JoyD RN To: JThomas610,JUDYMULLER,KallieS To: KGWolek,KShadow4U MIXED AGES AT HOME How do I keep the baby happy while I help Suzi with her math and get James start on his geometry lesson? Dinner needs to get started early and I need some time to dust, do the laundry, vacuum, and iron. I am hoping to get some cookies baked today and call to make some appointments. I still need to make the beds and get the breakfast dishes done. Also, James does have a diorama to get started and will need some one-on-one assistance. The baby wants to be held constantly. When the baby finally lays down for a nap and I get a chance to start on the housework, Suzi and James really want my attention. *You aren't going to find something to keep the little ones busily and happily occupied for all the time that you need for both homeschooling AND housework. Most homeschooling parents need to learn this rule FAST to stay sane. The housework needs to be greatly curtailed until the young ones are also school-agers. It's just the way it has to be. Let the dust accumulate or carry baby around with you in a back pack. Give baby his/her own little duster to help. Let baby help throw clothes into the washer and dryer. Yes, it goes slower, but ALL of the housework can be a game. And what can't be done WITH baby, can be done later when daddy is home or an older child is done with schooling and can either assist you or keep watch over babykins. *Whether you dust daily or only on the last day of each month, all surfaces will look the SAME on the first day of the month!* *Clean out a kitchen drawer for the babies or save a box to collect baby-safe items that are used ONLY during the homeschooling time. This is an important time to be available to the school kiddos. Do not have this drawer or box accessible at other times or the novelty will not last throughout the lesson time you need! Put in the box clean and safe used grocery containers ... the plastic yogurt cups and lids (several), a small sieve, measuring cups and spoons, canning rings, cottage cheese/sour cream containers with lids, wooden spoons, a baster, etc. You don't have to buy seconds of these for the drawer. Use what you have available in the kitchen. You'll need to quickly wash them before actual kitchen use again, but you'll know where to look for them. Periodically, add something else from the kitchen or elsewhere ... an empty makeup bag or coin purse that opens and closes, a small plastic mirror, a small brush ... keep your eyes open as you go through the house for new shapes, sizes and colors of things that might interest baby. Do not introduce them. Just place them quietly into the drawer/box to be *discovered*. *School-agers: My favorites are, of course, open-ended art materials, available in abundance. The rules are that they are used appropriately (on the art table) and that everyone helps to clean up. Having a small bucket with sponges and wastepaper baskets ready nearby for them helps facilitate the clean-up. Make an art box with magazines, milk jug caps, juice can lids (the kind that do not have any sharp edges), ribbon scraps, papers of all kinds, including paper bags, scissors and hole punches, lots of glue, markers, and crayons, fabric scraps. *Schoolagers - boxes and tape and markers and paint to design forts, big or small. Small garages and dollhouses can be created from shoe boxes. Larger forts for meetings or private reading with a flashlight can be created from the bigger boxes. *preschoolers through schoolagers - my very favorite busy activity is to buy huge amounts of masking tape from salvage outlets and let the kids design roads, houses, rooms, hopscotch, beanbag tosses, tic-tac-toes, scenic pictures all over the carpeted floors. Do not use on hardwood floors or lineoleum - can leave a sticky outline that will need to be scrubbed - but on carpeting all you have to do (though we leave and build onto it for several days) is have the kids have a race to clean in up by ripping it off the floor and winding it into the hugest balls possible! See who gets the hugest ball! See how much they can all get off the floor before the timer goes off! (Actually I join in this one because it is fun!) But let them press and design to their hearts content. We've made the outlines of lily pads and pretended we are frogs and all the rest of the carpet is the water and filled with frog-eating sharks and we 've hopped around for days from lily pad to lily pad. *have the older kids start a business, short-term or ongoing ~a kids' garage sale (items subject to your approval, of course!) but let them price, sort, display, create signs, flyers, advertise, attend the sale, plan purchases with the profits... ~canvas neighbors for pinecone pickups (at appropriate times of the year). They can offer to pick up pinecones for a penny a piece. My 9 year old makes about $5.00 a week doing this for just one neighbor. ~Start a neighborhood newsletter. Find out where the new kids came from; where the old kids are moving; who has a new baby sister; who just learned to ride a bike; have them collect a special cookie recipe from a different family each week or two for the issue. There are soooo many wonderful home publishing programs with easy to use templates for printing this. Have them figure costs involved and set a reasonable price per issue. ~Or a non-profitable family newsletter to be sent out to your extended family featuring progress in homeschooling, current subjects of study, highlights of field trips and family outings, clever sayings or poems or essays; baby's new words or first tooth.... ~These can lead into creating advertising flyers and business cards as well. ~Have them start collections! Coins and stamps and pressed flowers are marvelously time-consuming and fun! Learn a little together about proper removal of used postage stamps (it's easy) and display. Have them collect used envelopes from family and friends. Sometimes at a hobby shop you can buy a giant bag of unsorted stamps for a very inexpensive amount to get them started. Give them a magnifying glass ... help them learn to upgrade (store duplicates for trading or discard ones in poorer condition for a better find!). Show them the dates and mint marks of coins. Learn a little about coin collecting at the library together. Help them initially by stocking some pennies for them to sort. Figure out ways they can earn more. Have them start a savings bank (even better have them create a bank from a can or jar or box and decorate...) to keep the unneeded pennies in to take to the bank for their savings accounts or to trade for other pennies.... Pressed flowers ... learn a little about pressing flowers together and then, with some guidelines about your prize flowers remaining intact and the need to observe neighbors' possessions, let them collect wild samples from the field and limited samples from your yard according to your wishes ... press them (you can make a press by using newspapers and heavy books). Give them abundant paper to create display books where they can learn the names of the flowers and label them, use them to decorate stationary, or to make pictures .. leaves are great to sort, press, and use in the same ways... create some flower people or leaf creatures! ~And another favorite, but you have to be a really understanding parent for this one, is to find a spot in your yard where the kids can DIG. Give them shovels, buckets, watering cans, trucks, small pieces of wood to create bridges, rakes, small pieces of pipe ... oh are they going to get dirty. They will work on it at every opportunity from dawn til dusk for days. Their clothes will be grimy and filthy. And they will be tired at the end of the day. The holes of abandoned work sites can be later filled in, if necessary. But this is not only a busy activity, but a great gift to children, I promise you! Have a bathtub ready for the first one as you call them in and allow plenty of soaking time to get clean at the end of the day for each child. Add a can of non-metholated shaving cream and a pastry brush and let them decorate themselves and the bathtub for a while. ~My mother used to let us use old retired cloth diapers to skate with all around the hardwood floors. She'd put on all sorts of upbeat music to really get us going. This was, of course, after she had washed the floor, applied fresh wax and it had dried! The final product? A beautifully shined floor need ing just a bit more polishing up in the corners and three happy, tuckered out kids at the end of the day! ~Schoolagers usually LOVE to help make the cookies! Make some molasses crinkles, for instance. You make up the dough. Have your son roll them into walnut sized balls and your daughter dip the balls in a bowl of sugar and set them on the pan. You won't believe how much faster the whole process goes this way! AND, you can visit with them or sing some silly songs all the while. After the kitchen is clean, you can sit down with baby and the kids and enjoy some samples of your work with a glass of milk or juice. ~Invest in some colorful dusters ... several of them ... get some big colorful sponges eventually too. Have the kids (and baby, too!) help dust the house while you vacuum. Or they can help clean the kitchen floor while you are doing the dishes. Have the mop right in the kitchen so when you are all done, you can mop up the excess just before you all exit the kitchen. Yes, this has the potential for being a little messy.... the deal is you are getting some *time* to do your dishes while you can keep a close eye on the kids and visit too. You can't always get this kind of a deal without a little *mess*! lol! *Looper comment: When my three year olds are going wild, I just stop and put paper plates on the floor and turn on some music and we skate for a while to use up the energy. The paper plates slide across the carpeting in skate like fashion and they love it.