{"id":15506,"date":"2013-10-31T00:30:52","date_gmt":"2013-10-31T05:30:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/?p=15506"},"modified":"2013-10-30T22:01:55","modified_gmt":"2013-10-31T03:01:55","slug":"5-ways-keep-littlest-homeschoolers-busy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/2013\/10\/31\/5-ways-keep-littlest-homeschoolers-busy\/","title":{"rendered":"5 Ways to Keep Your Littlest Homeschoolers Busy"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Homeschooling can be a challenge any day of the week. Add in a toddler or preschooler (or both!), and it can become downright difficult if you don&#8217;t have a plan for keeping them busy! Today I have some ideas for you that are engaging as well as educational, and should help corral those younger ones while you read aloud, help their sibling with math, or try to prepare a meal.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-15514\" alt=\"5 Ways to Keep your Littlest Homeschoolers Busy www.girlfriendscoffeehour.com #homeschool\" src=\"http:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/GCH-Charlotte-Mason-Fie-Senses-Quote.jpg\" width=\"400\" height=\"400\" srcset=\"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/GCH-Charlotte-Mason-Fie-Senses-Quote.jpg 400w, https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/GCH-Charlotte-Mason-Fie-Senses-Quote-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/GCH-Charlotte-Mason-Fie-Senses-Quote-300x300.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"color: #99ccff;\">5 Ways to Keep Your Littlest Homeschoolers Busy<\/span><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Utilize blanket time (or room time\/playpen time) while you read to older siblings.<\/strong> Place a blanket on the floor for each child; choose, or have your child help you choose, a few select toys to play with during this time (2 to 3 at most); set the timer for prescribed amount of time, 5 to 45 minutes (training will be needed, but you can teach your child to stay in one place for the full 45 minutes, perhaps longer, with a little practice). \u00a0During the learning phase, don&#8217;t expect to be able to get alot done, but after a few days to a week for most children, you will be able to get some good learning time in. Try this several times a day in short amounts, or a couple of times per day for a longer stretch of time!<\/li>\n<li><strong>Give your child his or her own &#8216;work&#8217; to complete during your learning time.<\/strong> Find fun coloring or tracing pages, easy sorting activities, or books for your child to look at while you work with a sibling.\u00a0 Have him sit right next to you while doing this to ensure that he stays engaged and you remain aware of what he is doing.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Take your lessons outside. <\/strong>\u00a0Set up for reading or doing math problems at a table near an area where your smaller children can safely play.\u00a0 This is a great time during warmer months to introduce water or sand play, pull out the Play Dough and paints, or experiment with other messy play like shaving cream painting, tracing letters in cornmeal, or pushing trucks through a bin of corn kernels.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Have older children play with the younger children while you work with their sibling. <\/strong>If you have older children, you may find a way to schedule times for each of them to play with your younger children while you teach another sibling his English lesson or practice reading. Then switch and work with the other child. \u00a0Even younger children can be put &#8216;in charge&#8217; of a sibling who is younger than them, if they are in a nearby room and have access to mama as needed.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Spend time with your youngest children first. <\/strong>\u00a0You may find it easier and more productive to take your smallest children outside, or to spend some time doing a special activity, first thing in the morning. \u00a0Your older children can use this time to complete chores and any independent work they may have (handwriting, silent reading, essays, research, typing, etc.). \u00a0This often helps the younger children be in a better frame of mind to play on their own for a bit while you spend some time with their older siblings. Their &#8216;tank&#8217; has been filled and they are ready to get started with their day!<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Still need some fun and practical ideas? Here are a few blog posts on the topic that you may find helpful.<\/p>\n<p><a title=\"How Do I Keep My Preschooler Busy?\" href=\"http:\/\/preschoolersandpeace.com\/blog\/how-do-i-keep-my-preschooler-busy.html\" target=\"_blank\">How Do I Keep My Preschooler Busy?<\/a>\u00a0by Kendra over at <a title=\"Preschoolers and Peace\" href=\"http:\/\/preschoolersandpeace.com\" target=\"_blank\">Prechoolers and Peace<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><a title=\"Keeping Toddlers Busy During Homeschool\" href=\"http:\/\/teachbesideme.com\/keeping-toddlers-busy-during-homeschool\/\" target=\"_blank\">Keeping Toddlers Busy During Homeschool<\/a>\u00a0&amp; <a title=\"Baby &amp; Toddler Busy Ideas\" href=\"http:\/\/teachbesideme.com\/share-it-saturday-baby-and-toddler-busy-ideas\/\" target=\"_blank\">Baby and Toddler Busy Ideas<\/a> by Karen over at <a title=\"Teach Beside Me\" href=\"http:\/\/teachbesideme.com\" target=\"_blank\">Teach Beside Me<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><a title=\"Planning Busy Activities for Toddlers During Homeschool\" href=\"http:\/\/www.meetpenny.com\/2012\/12\/planning-busy-activities-for-toddlers-during-homeschool\/\" target=\"_blank\">Planning Busy Activities for Toddlers During Homeschool<\/a>\u00a0from Tabitha of <a title=\"Meet Penny\" href=\"http:\/\/www.meetpenny.com\" target=\"_blank\">Meet Penny<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><a title=\"Sensory Bottle Fun\" href=\"http:\/\/www.larasplaceandacupofgrace.com\/2013\/03\/sensory-bottle-fun.html\" target=\"_blank\">Sensory Bottle Fun<\/a> by Lara at <a title=\"Lara's Place and a Cup of Grace\" href=\"http:\/\/www.larasplaceandacupofgrace.com\" target=\"_blank\">Lara&#8217;s Place and a Cup of Grace<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><a title=\"Great Preschool Activities\" href=\"http:\/\/www.livinglifeandlearning.com\/preschool-activities.html\" target=\"_blank\">Great Preschool Activities<\/a> from Monique at <a title=\"Living Life and Learning\" href=\"http:\/\/www.livinglifeandlearning.com\" target=\"_blank\">Living Life and Learning<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Homeschooling can be a challenge any day of the week. Add in a toddler or preschooler (or both!), and it can become downright difficult if you don&#8217;t have a plan for keeping them busy! Today I have some ideas for you that are engaging as well as educational, and should help corral those younger ones [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":126,"featured_media":15514,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[15,3253],"tags":[4316,3038,423,3571,9299,4318,4317,4320,4319,3257],"class_list":["post-15506","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-at-home-with-gch","category-homeschooling","tag-5-ways-to-keep-your-littlest-homeschoolers-busy","tag-at-home-w-gch","tag-girflriends-coffee-hour","tag-homeschool","tag-homeschooling","tag-keeping-preschoolers-busy","tag-keeping-toddlers-busy","tag-preschool-activities","tag-toddler-activities","tag-wendy-woerner","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/GCH-Charlotte-Mason-Fie-Senses-Quote.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p39pHp-426","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15506","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/126"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15506"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15506\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15530,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15506\/revisions\/15530"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15514"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15506"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15506"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15506"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}