To those of you who have young ones (under 5) and are only "sorta" homeschooling (not

[urban_mom]

doing much formal stuff yet)...what do you do at home all day? I'm struggling with what to do with these crazy kids (5 and 3) when we aren't "homeschooling" (which is only when 3 y/o is napping). Anyone?

[Laurel T.]

I am right there with you! We do alot of art and crafts stuff. DS woke me up very early this morning. We read a book about seeds and then put some seeds in a ziploc bag with a paper towel. It is supposed to grow. As long as they are playing together well I do not interrupt them. But, if they seem to be getting bored and want something to do we play with manipulatives from the MFW Pre-K pack. They are fun. I pull out one of those activity books and try something from that. Sing! Play! Create! is one of our favorites. We also like Preschool Art. I have found that turning on some good music helps them to get creative. We play dress-up and play preschool games.

Oh and that is all before 9:00 (now what to do for the rest of the day).

I can't wait to see the other suggestions that you get.

Laurel T.

[Valerie in Chicago]

better weather is coming soon. Then it's off to the parks and playgrounds. In the meantime, we go to the gym a few times a week. Our gym has a phenomenal child care facility, with tons to play with, the grown-ups actually PLAY WITH the kids, rather than just watch them like lifeguards, there's a computer room and a climbing room for the 4+ crowd, and classes they can take too (ballet, tap, etc.)

I'll be honest. This winter has been so rotten that we've probably seen a little more tv than we will at other times of the year. Spanish has been Dora DVD's switched to the Spanish setting, DD1 loves Rachel Ray, that kind of thing. She has also discovered Nickjr.com, but I try to cap that at 30 minutes a day.

Hey, I Private Message'd you a while back. Did you get it? It took me a while to figure out PM-ing on this board, so that's why I ask.

[WTMindy]

I found that a structure really helped. I always gave them "room time" in the morning for 30-45 minutes where they had to entertain themselves alone in their room. I started this skill when they were toddlers and found it invaluable! After that, we would do some type of "school" whatever that might look like. I read to them a TON! They would have a nap (or reading time) in the afternnoon. If you can think of the day in chunks it might help. This hour they can play together. This hour we will do some educational activities. We did puzzles, letter games, map games, reading, simple math counting games, board games (like the dreaded Chutes and Ladders!)

[JudoMom]

doing much formal stuff yet)...what do you do at home all day? I'm struggling with what to do with these crazy kids (5 and 3) when we aren't "homeschooling" (which is only when 3 y/o is napping). Anyone?

use the Preschooler's Busy Book (http://www.amazon.com/Preschoolers-Busy-Book-Activities-6-Year-Old/dp/0881663514) for ideas when they were driving each other or myself nuts. Most often I just let them play and play some more. They've always been really good at entertaining themselves and each other, though.

[Brenda in FL]

I let them play by themselves - while I got to do whatever I wanted to do around the house. :)

Enjoy this somewhat "free time." Because once they are 6 and 8 and if you add more children to the mix - You won't have this wonderful situation you now have!! You might feel that the whole day is spent in schooling and preparing meals and running them to activities (where is my mommy time?):auto:

Besides lots of playtime - we went to the library - had play dates with other moms - went to the playground - but my kids didn't have alot of structured activities to keep them busy. We did what we wanted when we wanted - Have fun!

[Closeacademy]

Back in those days we would go to the park a couple times a week in the mornings, in the summer it would be the pool instead of the park.

Once a month, I had a la leche league lunchtime meeting where all the kids would play and the moms would talk and eat (you know nursing moms--hungry all the time).

I really just let them play a lot. In the late summer, I spent time canning, baking and freezing. We tried to get outside quite a bit.

We had a library day sometimes with story time there, a grocery day, park days, etc. We took it easy and just enjoyed ourselves. I did schoolwork with my oldest while the youngest was napping or doing something else.

Good luck to you.:)

[Valerie in Chicago]

If you need to get out of the house, check out The Chicago Park District website. Tons of activities for various ages at very cheap prices. Also, I enforce "quiet time" when DD2 naps. DD1 gets to go to Mommy & Daddy's bed so that she doesn't wake up DD2. Also, is there a library handy? Some of them have storytimes. Borders and/or B&N have storytimes too.

Also, is the Lincoln Park Zoo handy for you? Since it's the off-season, I've found parking to be easier over there. And there are enough indoor things to make it worth a trip. The Children's Zoo has space to run around a climb. Nice big bathrooms, too! =-)

[MySerenity]

With my three year old, I've been doing the Letter of the Week preparatory work. It has a weekly theme and recommendations for children's books to read. And I love it because it's the perfect price... it's free on the internet. (And apparently my oldest, who's a five year old know-it-all just found a mistake I made on this weeks learning poster). The website is www.letteroftheweek.com if you want to take a look at it.

[Alice]

:lol:
Totally laughing at the title as that sounds like the disclaimer I always use..I'm "sorta" homeschooling since my oldest is only 4 1/2. I also have a 16 month old.

I'm guessing you mean what do you do when your kids want to do something with you or when they are bored and looking to you for guidance. If my boys are happy playing together (or playing alone separately) I leave them alone and let them have fun. I think it's great for them to learn how to play without me. My older one is really into Legos and Playmobil Knights right now and can do that sometimes for a long time alone.

For when they need my help with what to do...

Puzzles
Coloring (my older son loves making pictures to send to friends or Grandma)
Swimming at the rec center
Walks in the neighborhood/Bike rides around the block
Playing in the sandbox
Special games that they can only take out with me (Marble Run, microscope)
Obstacle courses using our furniture
Drawing with chalk on the sidewalk
Lots of field trips to parks, nature centers, museums, etc.
Playdoh or Modeling clay
Painting

In desparate times:
Computer games (my son really likes starfall.com and we just discovered rainforestmaths.com which are online, we have a handful of others that are semi-educational like Reader Rabbit)
Taking a bath in the winter or any water activity outdoors in the summer.

I got tired of hearing "I'm bored" last summer and so made my son a "boredom cup". I just wrote a lot of things on pieces of paper and he could choose one of them. The rule was we both had to abide by whatever was on the paper (some of them required me to do it with him like "bake cookies".)

I also use FIAR for our "school". That's helped me a lot. I'm a very schedule-driven, list-making kind of person. It helps me to plan a book of the week and then use that to guide me in getting many other books that go along out of the library. I then save a few new ones for each day so we always have something new to read. (We read other books too, but this way I always have something special for the day.) I also use the book of the week to plan field trips, etc. I try not to be inflexible about it but it has helped prompt me to go to those places I "always mean to" or to go to new places. For example, we are doing a book that takes place in Russia this week so on Monday we went to a Russian grocery store. Kind of interesting for ds, especially since he got to pick out Russian candy to try. :) I also use this to prompt me to think of art projects etc (like this week we'll do some painting of patterns to go along with our book).

I know others are more relaxed. That is more difficult for me naturally. I find it easier if I have a plan and then can be flexible. I'm ok if we do nothing I've planned because ds was really into Legos one day or he wanted to play outside all day.

Hope that helps.

Just as I finished typing this, ds came in from outside and said "Mommy, I don't know what to do!" That's easy right now...it's lunchtime. ;)

[Tonia]

My dd's day basically looks like this -
wake up and watch tv til mom has taken her shower
breakfast, chores
wake up dad (he works afternoons/evenings)
school time - reading lesson, fun workbooks, color, 5 drawer tower full of craft supplies to mess around with, piles of books to read, etc.
play/read with dad while mom makes dinner
dinner, clean up
reading time
quiet time
by now it is about 4 pm and dd can watch a tv show, play, do something with art supplies, her "fun" workbooks or go visit grandparents upstairs.
supper and bedtime

I find things run much more smoothly when I can have lots of things ready for dd to just grab and go - arts and crafts supplies are always accessible, puzzles, games, etc.

[Whisperlily]

We do laundry, grocery shopping, running errands...

Lots and lots of playtime. My DD who just turned 3 is an art fanatic. She's been trying to write and draw since she could pick up a pencil. We have an art easel with a dry erase board, chalkboard and paper roll for her to draw on. She loves dress-up and imaginary play.

We don't "sit down" to do school but we're always talking about letters, numbers, etc. I point them out wherever we go, and she loves them. I talk to them NON-STOP. I remember a dear friend of mine with a son the same age as mine. Before I ever started homeschooling, or even thinking about homeschooling she turned to me one day in awe. She said... "You're always teaching your kids something." I didn't even think about it... it's just what I do as a Mom.

"Do you see that door over there? Where do you think it goes?" "What color are your shoes?" "How many cookies are on that plate... let's count them." "Did you know that those ants live under the ground? The dig tunnels. Look at the anthill, that's their door..."

She just didn't even think about those things.

The kids help me with laundry... not very well when they're little, but they try to fold wash cloths, or put away a towel or two. They work alongside me when I'm wiping the table or washing the windows. We sing songs together, and just... well... *live.*

I give them things to do, but most of the time if they're not right next to me, they're playing with toys, looking at books, etc.

I've also got some built in distractions for the youngest two... their older siblings. ;) But we stay quite busy with the daily tasks of life, and we tend to be on the go quite a lot... Even when the older two were younger and had no siblings for distraction. They just did whatever I did for the most part. :)

[StephanieZ]

When my first two were those ages, I was able to do a lot of crafts (clays, doughs, painting, etc.) and we also spent a lot of time outside with a huge sandbox, swing, etc. And gardening is fun. And taking walks . . . "Nature walks" can be a nice way to focus on something mentally while enjoying being outside. (Looking for all types of leaves; scavenger hunt style; etc.) We also did a lot of outside activities at that point. We lived in N VA where there were tons of hs'er activities during the day -- ballet, iceskating lessons, gymnastics. . . I started a hs Daisy Girl Scout troop, etc, etc. Also, we started team sports at age 4. . . Swim lessons in the summer and daily pool adventures. . . We had at least 4 or 5 things every week out of the house. Kept us busy and active. We went to the local nature center's preschooler hour each week. . . etc etc. Oh, so fun. I loved that time! Enjoy!!!

[Laurel]

We don't stay home! We run errands (grocery shopping, post office), go to the zoo/science museum/natural history museum/art museum, go see plays or movies (we have a great children's theatre here), go for walks to the park, ride our bikes outside, go to gymnastics lessons, library story time, have a treat at Starbucks, etc. We go to the Farmer's market every week, and go pick berries in the summer.

When we are home, if I make a point to busy myself doing things around the house (cooking or laundry, for example), they play really well together or by themselves. (If I am reading or on the computer, however, they will not leave me alone, but if I am "productive" they continue to play happily.)

We have a nice stocked art cupboard that they have free reign of. They play with their toy kitchen, and the train table, and legos and toy cars.

We cook together and play lots of board games, and we spend quite a bit of time tickling each other and rolling around on the floor. (Seriously, I spend a lot of time on the floor, with the two crawling all over me.) We sing songs and dance, and read books. We plant seeds in the spring, and carve pumpkins in the fall.

I do have what I call my "rainy day" box, which is usually pulled out when I am sick or tired. In it I have: bean bags, lacing beads, pony beads with pipe cleaners, pattern block puzzles, a bowling game, lacing shapes, and some other odds and ends. (It's just stuff that needs little adult supervision, but that I don't want them having free reign over, as they would lose the pieces. It's just random stuff I liked and thus, bought, not a hard and fast list of "good things" to have.)

(BTW - kids are 2 1/2 y.o. boy and 4 1/2 y.o. girl)

[iquilt]

We were just there last year only with 3 ages 5 and under; we still planned certain things everyday so that we didn't go stir crazy by lunchtime. Lots of crafts, lots of down on the floor games, lots of read-alouds (we spend at least 2 hours a day reading stories out loud still, only now my oldest can read some of them for me) and we spent lots of time in the kitchen. baking a loaf of bread turned into a whole morning of activity for us, taking turns kneading, eating fresh bread for lunch! We attended storytimes at the library, checked out new books every week. HTH