Purposeful and Deliberate Homemaking
For our second book in December we read Prayer for a Child. And gained more than I anticipated from our experience. In Prayer for a Child, a little girl says a prayer of blessing for all the important things in her life. I was impressed with how quickly Micah began blessing all his favorite things!
Ready for change, Angus breaks free from his mundane life to explore the world. We read Angus Lost as we adventured across America to our new home.
Goodnight Moon is a classic in our home. We read Goodnight Moon to Micah almost every night for his first two years! So, he was super excited when I busted out our Goodnight Moon book for our next study!
There’s one word that captures our entire Corduroy experience: Buttons! Oh, buttons, buttons everywhere… We enjoyed reading about Corduroy’s journey in search of his
missing button together. In the end, though, we discover it wasn’t the button he longed for, it was a friend.
Reading We’re Going on a Bear Hunt was so much fun! This is a perfect book to reenact, which was wonderful for us because Micah is super kinetic and such a physical learner. We went on a bear hunt every day! We were also able to easily transition from our habitat studies to different types of environments. I mean, what two-year-old doesn’t like splashing through water, squelching through mud, and crawling through cardboard caves! The most exciting part, however, was screaming and running frantically through the house to jump on mom’s bed! (Over and over again…) From splashing through rain puddles to exploring the forest, We’re Going on a Bear Hunt kept us active and engaged!
For our Fall Nature Study, we walked around our neighborhood taking note of all the different trees and their characteristics, observed and talked about the changing leaves, and discovered animals and discussed what they do during Fall. We created a few Fall crafts, experimented with Fall foods, and explored our local Fall festivities. It was a very relaxed week of natural learning.
We read Katy No Pocket for our next book in the Five In A Row curriculum. I arbitrarily chose this book for October because there were so many opportunities for habitat research (as in… petting zoos and zoo, zoo, zoo!!!). We seriously cannot get enough of our zoo and thanks to our membership, we can…
We studied Caps for Sale after Ask Mr. Bear, which ended up working out nicely. We mostly focused on farm animal studies with Ask Mr. Bear, so for Caps for Sale we were able to transition to more zoo animals and focus on counting and emotions. That’s what I really enjoyed with Caps for Sale- all the emotional studies possible! In the story, the cap peddler reached a point where he became really frustrated and angry with the monkeys because they wouldn’t give back his caps. Well, his anger grew and grew until he threw a tantrum, which served as a great opportunity to address emotional regulation! We enjoyed reading through the book together, acting out the story, and playing and discovering all types of hats!
Transition activities serve to prepare children for an upcoming change. They allow your children to understand what is expected of them and anticipate what’s to come, which in turn allows them to gain a sense of control over their situation and autonomy to respond. Children respond best when they can predict what’s coming next, when nothing is left a mystery. That way, they are not confused by their environment and know what’s expected of them. And that’s what eliminates tantrums.
It is finally September and time to start transitioning into fall! For our first fall book, we “rowed” Ask Mr. Bear by Marjorie Flack. It was such a fun transition from our ocean and beach themed studies to more woodland and farm themes- perfect for 4-H! And made all the more special because Baby Skye…