I have come across this eternal question of home school mom's many times-
What do you do with a two-year-old while you home school?
Well I for one vote for child labor. Why not make them keep house, while mom teaches school?
Just think you could have hot, gooey cookies for mid-morning snack. Or...
You can have your laundry all folded before lunch. Or...
You could have your floors vacuumed spotless while you teach math.
All kidding aside! Here are some things I do with Lauren while I work with the boys:
- Lauren has her own pencil box and access to paper and coloring books. She gets those out when the boys first sit down to do school. This entertains her any where from 10-20 minutes
- I don't restrict her on how many toys she gets out or where she places them. Most days my house looks like a disaster area by lunch time, but it keeps her busy and quiet enough for the boys to concentrate.
- If she is being particularly ornery and disruptive (if you read my blog you know all about the pampered princess and her wishes) I give one of the boys a break from school and have them go play with her.
- Until recently she never watched T.V. not even for 2 minutes. But now that she is showing interest, I am stooping low and blatantly disobeying the American Academy of Pediatrics T.V. viewing guidelines for toddlers! Little Bear videos have become my best friend!
- Snack time is always a good distraction. Nothing keeps a toddler quiet like a cracker shoved into the mouth and a sippy cup full of milk.
- Finally if she gets into meltdown mode, I just simply give the boys a 10 minute break, pull my distressed baby into my lap and read a couple of her favorite story books.
How about you? If you homeschool what do you do with you little ones while you teach your older children?
Aww, what a sweet post! I have a 2 year old too! I do the majority of homeschooling while my little tyke takes a nap. He can take like three hour naps at a time! I also give him coloring books at other times, Baby Einstein videos or baby floor puzzles to keep him entertained. Sometimes he goes right ahead and pulls out all the bowls and pots to make his own little kitchen band ;)
ReplyDeleteCUTE picture of your little girl vacuuming!
what a good little helper!
ReplyDeleteIt was the hardest thing to do when teaching, keeping the younger ones busy, glad this works for you.
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ReplyDeleteHilarious, this post definitely cracked me up!! I have a playroom just for my son and I tell him he can play with all the toys he want... in that room. I've tripped over too many toys in the house so I limit it to 1 (maybe 3, depending on the toys) outside of the playroom at a time. It works!! Also, my son watches NO Cartoon Network!! Too many cartoons are violent and offensive nowadays. But he loves Sprout and PBS, oh he adores "Little Bear" too. Along with "Dora, Diego, Little Einsteins, Little Bill, etc."
ReplyDeleteHe is now speaking in three languages; English, Sign Language, and Spanish! For those who says kids don't learn from TV is wrong my dear, while there are better learning tools... tv does help, my son knows more Spanish than I do :o)
But I try to reduce his TV time and I lay out coloring books for him. I tell him to do "homework" and he loves it. My son loves to help me clean up, sing songs, count, and pray to Jesus.
It's lovely having toddlers isn't it?!?
(Sorry I deleted my first comment because of multiple errors, I blame that on my coffee :o)
ReplyDeleteThis is a wonderful post as I too have a 2 year old. AND...... have been asked this numerous times.
ReplyDeleteLOVE it! :)
This is a great post! You do a great job, Jenn! You continue to amaze me with all the things you fit into your day!
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