Playing Shops

Cosmo had a good grasp of money from a very young age. We have given him small amounts from the age of two and allowed him to manage it in various ways, and he picked it up fast. The children's Granny took them on a shopping spree and gave each of the children £10 and he was very careful to work out what he could buy to ensure he spent to his budget exactly. It's something we've done before for Christmas/birthday money and he really enjoys it.

I like this approach. We use YNAB's budgeting software and  one of the first four rules is to 'give every dollar (pound) a job'. Even if that means allocating it to savings or emergency funds.

Lychee has had little interest in money, and despite being given the same amount as her brother on a shopping trip, she will choose one small item and show no interest in budgeting and doesn't want the rest of the money.

It hasn't really bothered me, but maths wise I think she should at least be able to recognize coins.

Enter the shop.

We have built a little shop area in her room, and initially play involved paper money that the children made themselves - mostly £99 or £10000000000000 notes. Recently though we have given her a little purse with some spare coins and she has been having so much fun with it.

Playing shops today I realized she is now recognizing 20p, 5p and 1p fairly consistently. She still has no idea about 2p, 50p or a £1 coin, but we are getting somewhere.

Plus we are having fun.
  

Brain Quest

Cosmo was lucky enough to be bought a gift from one of the boys we live with, all the way from the United States!

The gift is a set of flash cards called 'Brain Quest' which I had never heard of, but they are brilliant. Each little pack is a notebook full of strips with different categories of questions on and answers on the card behind.

Cosmo was bought a grade 3 pack, bearing in mind that he is pre-K age, I was a little skeptical, but actually he really likes them. The math and science sections are still easy, but language arts, social studies and miscellany are all brand new to him.

Actually, it turns out brain quest have a huge website with downloadable resources and apps for the iphone/ipad too. It's only £2.99 so I've bought it and we'll be playing it later on today.

These sets are a great way to build encyclopedic knowledge, which is perfect for the developmental stage we are currently at.

***Update***

The app is AMAZING! It allows up to three users, so the kids can work at their own level each time they come back and not miss any stages/have to start again.

It's easy, multiple choice style means that even Lychee can play as I read the questions and she has to choose an answer. It's great for reading practice as I ask 'Which describes a girl? He or She?' and she has to look at the two answers to work out which one says 'she'.

Obviously Cosmo has zoomed through to level 24 in just half an hour, but he's enjoying it and building knowledge, so I'm really pleased. I also have no idea how many levels there are, but it hasn't shown any signs of being completed any time soon.

£2.99 well spent :0)

Art and maths

Yesterday was sunny and my kids got excited about having an 'art' lesson outside.

The only problem is, I had planned to do maths. 

Problem was easily solved though, because it turns out, if you think about it carefully enough, art and maths overlap quite a lot. 

First lesson was pattern recognition. Cosmo loves patterns, but lychee has struggled with being able to repeat a pattern in the past. 

With a bit of help though, we coloured in a huge area of paving slabs using chalks in a repeated rainbow pattern and talked a bit about colour theory (primary colours blending through secondary colours... etc...)

Cosmo helpfully brought up colour temperature too, so we discussed that briefly, because this term our co op is focussing on light, so I figure wavelengths will be worth knowing a little about. 

Then we made a giant number line, by writing one number on each paving slab of our path. I used our 'mathematical reasoning' book and had the kids work out exercises by running along the line instead of drawing arcs on a page. 

It all went pretty well, and there was also some fun naughty and crosses, pictures of hearts and people's names scribbled around. 

Who knew you could fill an entire day, just playing with chalk? 

Managing Money: A learning opportunity almost missed!

Pocket money has been something that has come and gone several times in the Gracie household. We always tie it to some form of responsibility, and initially it goes well, but Cosmo gets bored. Currently pocket money is tied to him independently completing a set number of worksheets each day from our Timberdoodle curriculum, without complaining. 

We have always had 'spend', 'save' and 'give' jars, and he must put a little of his money into each jar, although the ratio is determined by him. He has historically been very generous with giving, kept  enough to spend on 99p toys from poundland, but not really been motivated to save beyond putting a small random coin in... until he had something to save for. 

Saving with a goal in mind has inspired him. He recently told me that he wanted to save up enough money to take the whole family to Gulliver's land (family ticket = £90). I had laughed it off and explained that it was a lot of money and would take far too long to save up his pocket money. He worked out that it would take just under two years, and that he felt he could wait that long.

A little later I read this blog about a four year old who saved up to buy herself, and her baby brother, iPads. I realised that we had a fantastic teaching opportunity, which I was missing by assuming he was incapable. 

So we had a chat about how to raise extra money for his goal. He has donated some toys to a local charity shop which pays him £2 a bag. He has also discovered ebay and listed his duplo set there (three days to go if you want to bid!) and is planning on selling his 'Swim fin' too. Grandma has been paying him 'a penny a pine cone' to collect kindling for her fire and a small amount for watering her plants. Even little Lychee got in on the action, attempting to sweep the Grandma's kitchen after a BBQ so she could earn some 'Gulliver money' to give to Cosmo.  

What I love most is his little determined character isn't undermining his giving attitude. He still puts money in his give jar. He still took the best bits of duplo (in his opinion) to save for his cousin Jonathon, and most notably, as well as saving £90 for our family ticket, he now also wants to save £180 so that he can take his cousins with him. 

We've created a spreadsheet for him so he can add to it when he earns money and watch his goal drop down. He's so excited and I nearly missed all this because I assumed he couldn't do it. 

Let your kids dream big.

*Update is available here*

Maths, Maths, Maths!!

We have a current maths obsession in our house. Cosmo has always loved numbers, even as a small baby, but recently I discovered a website called Dadsworksheets.com, which has the most ridiculous amount of practice papers for maths as free printables. 

Cosmo has fallen in love with the 1 minute Math Facts section and completed over twenty of these in one sitting. Still unsure of the concept of a test though, he handed me a paper to mark declaring proudly 'there are two mistakes on this one'. 

'Well if you know that already, why don't you correct them before I mark it?'

'No Mummy! You have to try and guess which ones they are!'

Hmmmm.........

Still, once I pointed out that getting 100% would earn him a gold star sticker, we had perfect score sheets every time. 

I also found a little app for Lychee's maths skills, which I think I may be too late with, but I'm going to try anyway. It works on the same principles that I teach reading with, that by flashing the cards quickly to a child under two years they learn to associate the image (word) with the sound and it's unconsciously learned. 

photo credit

This app claims that babies don't count. They just know how many are there (to a certain degree), but haven't learned to associate that number with a name or symbol. The app flashes up randomly placed red dots on a white background and tells you how many there are. The lessons start with numbers 1-5. They then build up in difficulty. In one minute a day, the developer tells us, you train your baby to recognise numbers without counting. This makes them faster processors of information over all as adults (because really, if the only benefit was not having to count stuff, it's probably not worth bothering with - just count).

I'm not sure it will work, but for one minute a day I'm willing to give it a go. 

You can do it!

Cannot believe my boy is really five years old!

As he is a really big boy now, we decided to get him his very own tool kit.

Not toys, but real tools made to fit a child's hands. I found a montessori seller on eBay who sources real quality tools that are just the right size, so that little hands can wield them without too much trouble.

I have some great wood work projects for him planned. He is really into gardening at the moment, so we HAVE to make a dibber like Martha Stewart's for easy, even, seed sowing.

It's simply achieved and will involve measuring, drilling, sawing and hammering practice.

Along the gardening theme we'd also make ourselves a veggie harvesting basket like this one that I discovered on Pinterest.

And finally I intend to help him make his own Geo board, which will involve measuring, drilling and screwing. He's so excited by these big 'man' tools (tools that aren't made of plastic) and cannot wait to get started at building something exciting. I love encouraging him to feel like he can achieve, as he is so fearful of trying things he thinks he might fail at (I believe it's an ASD trait of perfectionism).

Plus, every child should own some safety specs, whether it's for DIY or chemistry fun!

Half term

So we've just had half-term, but with this being a homeschool the learning never stops!!

This holidays we signed Cosmo up for his first ever holiday-club with Wilstead evangelical church and he had a fantastic time. It was for two hours every morning and he came home having learned new songs and games, as well as a memory verse.

There were some competitions, including boat building, for homework and he worked so hard to create a boat that actually floated - experimenting with gluing coins and pebbles to counter weight his beautiful sail (those are ants that he drew on it), and covering the whole base in cling film to make sure no water would get in it.

There were also homework sheets, with word searches and crosswords and he won gold medals for completing those too.

At the end of the week there was a medal ceremony and he was presented with a certificate and a sticker book which he is very proud of.

He did miss two days of holiday club as we went to stay at my mothers to spend a little time with my sister who is about to emigrate half-way around the world :o(


We had a great time and celebrated a cousins birthday with a family trip to gulliver's land which was obviously a huge hit.

My aunt also stopped by on the second day with a box load of Math resources and games for us and we've been excitedly sorting through them, looking at which ones we'd like to play now and which ones to put in our 'soon' shelf in the school room.

And finally I've spent some time with Lychee on the new iPad (yes! I've finally got one!) and been working on the Montessori pre-language opposites app and starfall ABCs. Both are excellent and I highly recommend them, although it can make it hard to limit screen time as the children get really into the 'work' they are doing.

So that's been our half-term. Did you do anything exciting? 

Mr Bloom's Nursery

As we are studying plants and trees in honour of Tu Bishvat, we have started looking out for all things gardening related.

Yesterday we went to the garden centre to buy pots and compost for our new fruit trees which will arrive at some point next week. We are getting two apples (braeburn and golden delicious), a plum, a pear and a cherry, with a blackcurrant and a redcurrant bush too. Cosmo chose which pots we wanted and worked out which compost was the cheapest (not by weight, just by packet - but there wasn't much in it so I let it slide).

Then we came home and it was time for everyone to nap. Cosmo has been a little unwell recently (in large part down to the fact that he hates swimming and the stress of the lessons is wearing him out for the next few days - we are evaluating whether to continue) so we have been having more 'cuddle time' in a blanket on the sofa whilst Lychee naps. He doesn't like to admit to needing a nap, but often drifts off if I put something on iPlayer.

That's when I discovered Mr Blooms Nursery.

We've seen it before, but only ever one episode (weirdly iplayer just had one about ladybugs that was on all the time and nothing else) but when we clicked on to it yesterday, there were LOADS of episodes, and they're pretty educational too, especially for someone studying plants and trees.

Cosmo learned how to make 'nettle tea' as a treat for his plants, and that horse manure helps give them the nutrients to grow properly, as well as that they need sunlight for energy. None of these are entirely new concepts, but it helps with reinforcement of learning, and repetition at this age is key to absorbing information.

So if you want to watch a couple too, in no particular order, here are our favourites:

Grand Veggie Fete

Secret friends

Thank You Compo

Board games

Since discovering snakes and ladders a while back, Cosmo has really got into board games, and as a preschooler these are massively challenging, but at the same time educational.

A game like Ludo is simple enough for a four year old to play, but gives him plenty of practise at counting and quick number recognition. In a few games he went from counting the dots on the dice to knowing what it said instantly. Within a few days he was able to very quickly work out things like 'I'm going to throw two sixes and a three so I can get you!' without any counting out, but just recognising how to make up numbers with divisions of 6 and remainders.

We also played upwords for the first time this morning. I was dubious, but he had seen it in the cupboard and really wanted to try. If you haven't played before, it's kind of like scrabble, but you can stack letters up on top of each other to change words.

We simplified it by allowing players to 'borrow' letters from each other and replace them with ones from the bag. This game is a great vocabulary builder, because every time you play a word we added a rule where you have to explain what it means. It meant we spent a lot of time looking things up in the dictionary, but Cosmo loved it.

So, board games for toddlers, do you have any other suggestions?

The Joy of Duplo

We've always loved duplo, and Cosmo got a ton of it for his birthday. Any toy that can be enjoyed by a 15 month old and four year old at the same time is always good, but one that can be used in so many different ways is an absolute God send.



Here are some of the uses we have found for it:

1. Building towers (obviously)


2. Sorting (by size and or colour)


3. Following instructions to build a specific item


4. Social stories (using the characters to act out situations we might encounter)


5. Counting/multiplication/subtraction/division


6. Pattern recognition


7. Building words (use dry wipe marker to write letters on blocks)


8. Building sentences (use dry wipe marker to write words on the blocks)

And I'm sure there are many more too. Please comment if you think of any I've missed.

Making Fifteens

Today we had some friends over to help us make fifteens. They are great because they require no oven (it's like a fridge cookie) and only minimal adult supervision. The only thing you need to measure is the condensed milk, everything else is counted.



So the recipe for those who'd like to try it goes like this:

15 digestive biscuits, crushed
15 chocolate buttons, smashed up
15 marshmallows, chopped up
15 glace cherries, chopped up
150ml of condensed milk
A few handfuls of shredded coconut
Mix everything but the coconut together to form a dough.
Roll it into a sausage shape.
Roll the sausage in the coconut.
Wrap and place in the fridge until firm, then slice.

I find the best way to let a preschooler chop things is to place them in a mug and use big scissors. The cherries/marshmallows can't escape and the blades are nowhere near fingers. However, if you have friends over, sometimes it's best to just let the mummies do the chopping!



This recipe is great for encouraging counting, and will probably be the first recipe I allow Will to make unsupervised in the future, as there is no heat and not a lot can go wrong.

Breakfast, starfall and the numberjacks

YBCR comes with a book to teach you child about shapes, that when we first looked at I nearly cried laughing. It seemed completely ridiculous to expect my baby to recognize 'special quadrilaterals' and 'irregular polygons', let alone the difference between a rhombus and a trapezoid.

We decided that an easier way to teach shapes would be to cut his toast into simple shapes (square, triangle, rectangle) and explain it to him that way.

How wrong was I.

Within a week Cosmo was asking me if his toast could be a hexagon or an oval. In fact he even knew that my 'diamond' shape offering was a trapezoid. Turns out kids are much more capable than I have previously given them credit for.

This was proven to me again when we introduced the 'starfall' website to our playtime (www.starfall.com). Cosmo very quickly picked up not only the names of the letters and whether they were 'big' letters or 'small' letters, as well as the sound they make. Starfall is a fun interactive website that I can't recommend highly enough if you haven't tried it. My neices love it too.

The numberjacks is also a fun and educational program. We don't let Cosmo watch much TV, but he loves the numberjacks.
It can be watched free on the cbeebies website. It explains things in such a simple and fun way. After watching one episode Cosmo understood simple fractions (halves, thirds and quarters) and asks for his toast to be cut in this way. Amazing.

By the way, if you want to go down the toast cutting route, scissors are the way forward. There is no way you can accurately cut shapes with a knife, no matter how sharp it is. Believe me I've tried. Cosmo's look of disgust at the mangled toast was really enough to make me get the scissors out next time.