Ramblings of a Mommy: Creation

Today, we conclude our unit about Creation.

We've had a ton of fun and Charlotte has gotten really invested in "doing school".

I've found already that repetition of procedures is something Charlotte really hooks onto and takes off independently. That is exactly what I think I want for her as a homeschooled girl.

This morning, she came downstairs and began coloring her 7 before we had eaten breakfast or even gotten her juice. I wasn't even in the room when she began. Gotta love that motivation :)

After reading some Charlotte Mason, I've been working on having Charlotte "Narrate" or re-tell stories to me in her own words. This is sort of a mix between narrating and just reading her finished Creation Book.

Video Here

One thing that I've found (and also from listening from other moms) is that sometimes a 3 year old isn't going to want to be invested in the "lesson" the whole time. No big deal, but I have to have some things for her (some go-to activities) that are completely age-appropriate.

This (Sort & Snap) is something I bought Adelyn about a year ago and Charlotte has been holding hostage in her room :) I pulled it out and she was engaged! I've found that Adelyn doesn't have as much perseverance as her sister. So, to keep her rolling: she would do 2 snaps, and then I would do one. This kept her happy!

Meanwhile, Charlotte worked on some sequencing. First, I had her put the cards with the events of creation in order from first to last. Sequencing is a big early-childhood skill that is worked on in a ton of different areas. It seemed to be the perfect place in the unit!

This video is for Grandma Manke :) Adelyn was having a moment to herself during this video, but as you can hear later in the video, she was singing from her room :)

Here is the entire song from Day 1 to Day 7

Then, I had Charlotte match the day #s to the pictures. Both of those can be found here.

Later, we'll be using it like a memory game, as they describe on the website.

We talked about how God created the world in 7 "days" and how our calendar is based on God's creation. Each week is made of 7 days, the first being the Sabbath.

We sang our "days of the week" song a few times.

Here's the video if you've never heard it!

Then, Charlotte used the cards from our calendar to try to sequence the days of the week correctly!

I used a slightly easier set of sequencing cards (click here) for Adelyn so that she was still doing the same activity, but with focusing on putting the numbers in order (because the numbers and pictures were connected).

We did some ten-frame fun ("Can I eat them now?")

Some Rainbowing!

As I mentioned, Adelyn doesn't always finish what she starts, so we're going to work on that. Before she could start the fun craft, she had to finish her picture. We worked together (all 3 of us) taking turns putting a snap in until it was full.

The BIGGEST hit of the day was our craft!

Because God rested on Day 7, I found a cute idea online to make pillows.

Of course, I found this idea last night when I was alone in the house with my sleeping children, so I couldn't run out to get cuter fleece or poly-fill so as usual, I improvised :)

Instead of making pillows for themselves, I thought it would be fun to make little pillows (and blankets) for their dollies (Plus, I didn't have big enough pieces of fleece for them!).

I found some leftover fleece from last year's Halloween costumes and cut each of them a blanket for their dolls (see them resting beside them?)

Then, I sent my kids to town creating their own filling for their pillows. They took a bunch of scrap fleece and started cutting it into strips and little pieces

Then, I cut two small rectangles to make them each a pillow.

I cut strips on the sides (and holes) like described at this website.

I was troubled at how small the strips and holes were and worried that the girls wouldn't be able to push the strips through, so I pulled some paint brushes out of a paint box and let them use the back to push the strips through each hole. It worked perfectly.

Charlotte LOVED this!

She is a Grandma Manke kind of girl - crafty, crafty!