Unschooling with my toddler daughter
Linda Siemsen
Hello!
Here are some of the activities that my daughter does (and how I aid and abet her).
I have a craft book and had chosen and purchased the materials to make a crown. I had put all the supplies out for the craft and I was starting to cut the zigzags to make the crown and my daughter (K) says. TRIANGLES. So instead of making a crown I cut out triangles and more triangles and we glued them onto construction paper which had zigzags (for the crowns they were going to be.) We did it a couple more times too. Next time, I think I'll still start the same way, with a group of materials, and then see what happens.
We go to the library often and I am often told that she wants a rabbit book or a Pooh book or a bear book or an ABCB book or..... So we've been going to see the librarian and asking her for books on a particular subject. It's worked out great. She wants to listen to the books when we get home (usually) and so the percentage of books I actually read to her is much higher than it was.
I have magazine files for her books. One magazine file is for Pooh books, one for Beauty and the Beast books, one for Usborne puzzle books, one for rabbit books. So K can find the magazine file with that subject in and then pick out a book. She has a couple of shelves she can reach too with all the rest of her books. But she often wants to see all the books we have on a subject or in a series.
I have songbooks she can reach so when she wants to sing a particular song, especially when she was younger, she could just find the picture and bring it to me. Now she can usually sing part of the song to me.
I'm still struggling with how to satisfy her need to have all the pieces in a set, all the markers, etc. She is just driven to have complete sets of whatever. So it is a constant battle to find all the pieces. Especially when they have been carried all over the house!
Food isn't an issue around here. I have a minimum of junk food in the house, lots of fresh fruit and vegetables. She does adore to eat vegetables that are not green - orange (carrots, sweet potatoes), and red (tomatoes, red bell pepper, beets). She eats some greens, lots of fruit especially blueberries, blackberries, raspberries. I follow a modified Atkins diet so larger servings of meat, some fat, lots of fruit and vegetables, whole grain bread and crackers, brown rice, lots of noodles. She is free to eat whatever she wants that is in the house. I won't cook anything special for her. I will stop her, usually, after three servings of 'healthy' food and two servings of sweets at any given time. At other people's houses I just let her eat whatever they're having and just don't fuss about it. She drinks water and milk exclusively. I don't have any fruit juice in the house and just a bit of diet soda. We do have some delicious cookies around - usually European style with the dark chocolate and sometimes dark chocolate straight.
Linda
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Here are some of the activities that my daughter does (and how I aid and abet her).
I have a craft book and had chosen and purchased the materials to make a crown. I had put all the supplies out for the craft and I was starting to cut the zigzags to make the crown and my daughter (K) says. TRIANGLES. So instead of making a crown I cut out triangles and more triangles and we glued them onto construction paper which had zigzags (for the crowns they were going to be.) We did it a couple more times too. Next time, I think I'll still start the same way, with a group of materials, and then see what happens.
We go to the library often and I am often told that she wants a rabbit book or a Pooh book or a bear book or an ABCB book or..... So we've been going to see the librarian and asking her for books on a particular subject. It's worked out great. She wants to listen to the books when we get home (usually) and so the percentage of books I actually read to her is much higher than it was.
I have magazine files for her books. One magazine file is for Pooh books, one for Beauty and the Beast books, one for Usborne puzzle books, one for rabbit books. So K can find the magazine file with that subject in and then pick out a book. She has a couple of shelves she can reach too with all the rest of her books. But she often wants to see all the books we have on a subject or in a series.
I have songbooks she can reach so when she wants to sing a particular song, especially when she was younger, she could just find the picture and bring it to me. Now she can usually sing part of the song to me.
I'm still struggling with how to satisfy her need to have all the pieces in a set, all the markers, etc. She is just driven to have complete sets of whatever. So it is a constant battle to find all the pieces. Especially when they have been carried all over the house!
Food isn't an issue around here. I have a minimum of junk food in the house, lots of fresh fruit and vegetables. She does adore to eat vegetables that are not green - orange (carrots, sweet potatoes), and red (tomatoes, red bell pepper, beets). She eats some greens, lots of fruit especially blueberries, blackberries, raspberries. I follow a modified Atkins diet so larger servings of meat, some fat, lots of fruit and vegetables, whole grain bread and crackers, brown rice, lots of noodles. She is free to eat whatever she wants that is in the house. I won't cook anything special for her. I will stop her, usually, after three servings of 'healthy' food and two servings of sweets at any given time. At other people's houses I just let her eat whatever they're having and just don't fuss about it. She drinks water and milk exclusively. I don't have any fruit juice in the house and just a bit of diet soda. We do have some delicious cookies around - usually European style with the dark chocolate and sometimes dark chocolate straight.
Linda
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]