A Productive Summer Vacation
This is my first time being a Stay-At-Home Mommy during Summer Break. So, like most, I kind of panicked. What was I going to do with a 5 year old and a 5 month old all Summer?!? So the rush to get my son involved in as much as I could for the Summer began. Through this process I realized that it can get pretty pricey getting him involved in EVERYTHING and most things are only for an hour or half the day. So the quest to figure out what to do for the rest of those sunny days began...and then it hit me. My son loves structure and hates change. So why not try to keep him abreast on everything he learned this past year in VPK and also try to teach him some new things as well to give him a step up.
I didn't do a whole lot of research because the lessons a VPK student learns I pretty much have a handle on :) So, here is a schedule I came up with.
9:00 Letter Review
Each day is a different letter. I make a worksheet that has words on it that he has to trace. Then next to the word he draws a picture of the word. (This also helps with word recognition)
Then I have him go and find something in his room that starts with that letter. When he brings it to me he has to do a little show and tell. I also ask him some questions about it as well.
After all that we talk about all the different words/things that start with that letter. We even go around the house and try to find things that start with that letter as well.
9:15 Play Time
My sons attention span only lasts about 10-15 minutes, so play time is important for him to be able to pay attention to the next activity.
9:30 Bible Study
At Sunday School they always give us a handout on what the kids learned about that day. So for the rest of that week we elaborate on that subject. This involves a little research. Luckily our church just started handing out a 4 day review for the kids so I followed that this week and it works great. Ex. This week we are talking about Loving and Trusting the Lord. One of the activities was drawing a map of where you hid a toy in your room. The map represents the Lords word directing you in the right path in life.
Sometimes I even find a song that goes with the verse we are talking about and we dance around the room while we worship.
Because this activity has him doing different things I can usually keep his attention for 30 minutes.
10:00 Play Time & Snack
10:15 Number/Math Review
I usually have him write out the numbers in order and count out loud as far as we can go :) Each day I try to get him to go a little farther on his own. Then I do some word problems. Ex. Mommy had a pizza that had 8 pieces. Brandon ate 4 pieces. How many pieces are left for Mommy. (He uses his hand to figure it out and we also draw it out as well.)
10:30 Play Time
10:45 Activity
Each day I do something different. Sidewalk chalk, finger painting, science project, play dough...anything I know he loves. I do try to incorporate what he has learned that day into the activity. Ex. Today we did finger painting. I had a big piece of paper and made 4 sections. One Section he painted the letters we reviewed so far. The Next Section he drew a picture of the Bible Study we did. The third section was numbers, and the fourth section was anything he wanted to paint.
11:00 Play Time
I usually prepare lunch while he plays.
11:15/11:30 Lunch
11:45/12:00 Rest
My son only takes naps on rare occasions so I usually pop in a movie in my bedroom and close the blinds while he lays in bed. It is a way to recharge his batteries so he isn't Mr. Grumpy.
1:00 Read
I have some learn to read books that I use. I don't force the matter I just let him try to sound out the words if he wants and I read to him. I want reading to be something he enjoys. So if he doesn't want to read then he doesn't have to. It is not expected of him at this age.
So there you have it. Our day in a nut shell. Remember that this is Summer Break. So if you want to go to Lego Land for the day instead of doing this...do it! This is just a great way to keep your day occupied as well as keep them up on their schooling when you have nothing else going on. Hope everyone has a great and productive Summer Break!
I didn't do a whole lot of research because the lessons a VPK student learns I pretty much have a handle on :) So, here is a schedule I came up with.
Each day is a different letter. I make a worksheet that has words on it that he has to trace. Then next to the word he draws a picture of the word. (This also helps with word recognition)
Then I have him go and find something in his room that starts with that letter. When he brings it to me he has to do a little show and tell. I also ask him some questions about it as well.
After all that we talk about all the different words/things that start with that letter. We even go around the house and try to find things that start with that letter as well.
9:15 Play Time
My sons attention span only lasts about 10-15 minutes, so play time is important for him to be able to pay attention to the next activity.
9:30 Bible Study
At Sunday School they always give us a handout on what the kids learned about that day. So for the rest of that week we elaborate on that subject. This involves a little research. Luckily our church just started handing out a 4 day review for the kids so I followed that this week and it works great. Ex. This week we are talking about Loving and Trusting the Lord. One of the activities was drawing a map of where you hid a toy in your room. The map represents the Lords word directing you in the right path in life.
Sometimes I even find a song that goes with the verse we are talking about and we dance around the room while we worship.
Because this activity has him doing different things I can usually keep his attention for 30 minutes.
10:00 Play Time & Snack
10:15 Number/Math Review
I usually have him write out the numbers in order and count out loud as far as we can go :) Each day I try to get him to go a little farther on his own. Then I do some word problems. Ex. Mommy had a pizza that had 8 pieces. Brandon ate 4 pieces. How many pieces are left for Mommy. (He uses his hand to figure it out and we also draw it out as well.)
10:30 Play Time
10:45 Activity
Each day I do something different. Sidewalk chalk, finger painting, science project, play dough...anything I know he loves. I do try to incorporate what he has learned that day into the activity. Ex. Today we did finger painting. I had a big piece of paper and made 4 sections. One Section he painted the letters we reviewed so far. The Next Section he drew a picture of the Bible Study we did. The third section was numbers, and the fourth section was anything he wanted to paint.
11:00 Play Time
I usually prepare lunch while he plays.
11:15/11:30 Lunch
11:45/12:00 Rest
My son only takes naps on rare occasions so I usually pop in a movie in my bedroom and close the blinds while he lays in bed. It is a way to recharge his batteries so he isn't Mr. Grumpy.
1:00 Read
I have some learn to read books that I use. I don't force the matter I just let him try to sound out the words if he wants and I read to him. I want reading to be something he enjoys. So if he doesn't want to read then he doesn't have to. It is not expected of him at this age.
So there you have it. Our day in a nut shell. Remember that this is Summer Break. So if you want to go to Lego Land for the day instead of doing this...do it! This is just a great way to keep your day occupied as well as keep them up on their schooling when you have nothing else going on. Hope everyone has a great and productive Summer Break!
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