Between all the sickness in this house, doctor and dentist appointments, and a husband abruptly call out of town on work, we have been doing mostly school-on-the-go...
What school-on-the-go??? Well, really it's anything that encourages learning when we are on the road... and life skills.
For us that means:
In the van: I-Spy (colors, ABCs, numbers, etc.) or an occasional educational or theme related video if we won't be getting in and out a lot. I have seen some cool I-Spy bottles and bags on other blogs and plan to make and post about them soon.
In the waiting room: (or anywhere I am capable of helping and we will be waiting a while)--School folder containing review worksheets or the occasional handwriting practice. We don't do many worksheets at home, so these are great for assessment of what they have retained...and also for charting progress in their binders. (I keep one binder per child with well completed worksheets, and assessment sheets...sounds like a post for another day!)
We also play file folder games, or anything fun that can be played with on their lap or standing and using their chair for a table. I make my own...we have a local resource center that is open for teachers and parents to make die cuts, games, copy fun ideas from books, make posters, and laminate. We also love
File Folder Fun. You can search by grade or subject...and Valerie has sister sites for Bible printables and much more!!
In the grocery store: (I try to go as little as possible, so we fill at least two buggies on every grocery trip.) Beautiful Agate (7) has her own "grocery list", and pushes a buggy with either Emerald (11 months) or Diamond (2) and lighter items, so it's not too heavy. Ruby (4) and Topaz (3) are the "strong" helpers...I LOVE having boys!!! They help get really heavy items like milk or canned goods, etc. They also have to pick one letter on the package (usually the first letter) and tell me the name and sound. Diamond finds colors she knows, and helps by dropping some items in the buggy (boxed items, marshmallows, etc.) Emerald just gets to enjoy the beautiful energy of it all!!
If we will be having a long errand day, I try to plan a library trip "break", or we'll go to a local park for a picnic. These parts are planned on days when errands don't include cold groceries already in the van or sick/cranky kiddos...and they are kept secret so there is no disappointment with the older
ones if it just doesn't work out.
Oh...It hasn't been all misery around here...but the few days that all are well, we have been on field trips. Living American History and Civil War reenactment...local park fun...water park play...and strawberry picking. Now that's school-on-the-go!! Hope to post pics of all of it soon!!!
Until next time,
Alicia
