After the hustle and bustle of the holidays, we are going to get back on track with our weekly curriculum. This past week, we didn’t get to all of our activities. In fact, we only got to one – the wreaths. And honestly, it was a complete bust.
Next week, even with New Year’s in the middle of the week, I’m hopeful that we will get to those activities as well as a few below.
Math Activity
In addition to the cribbage activity, we are going to get more familiar with shapes. As I’ve mentioned before, Joe knows most of the shapes on sight, but when he names them he says, “It has four sides.” No matter what shape it is.
I found this activity on The Measured Mom, a fun new blog I started following. Using shapes cut from construction paper rather than the foam the blog suggests, Joe and I will build trucks, trains, houses and anything else our imaginations come up with.
Language Activity
We are going to do the Christmas trees with ornament letters. I don’t care that Christmas is technically over. This is a cool activity.
Joe also got quite a few letter tracing books and Ray and I got him a Kindle and loaded it up with all kinds of educational apps that Joe loves.
Before you get too up in arms about the Kindle, let me just say that we are using it as a tool and not letting Joe just sit all day and play on it. One of the best things about it is the parental controls. We can limit how long Joe can play games, watch videos and “read” books.
So far, I’m happy to report that Joe gets bored easily and wants to switch activities quite often so he hasn’t spent a ton of time on the Kindle.
Science Activity
We are going to do the firework in a glass because it looks like fun, and it will be a hit with Joe. We’ll also play with the magnet set that Joe got for Christmas.
My mom got us a winter garden kit. All of the materials came in an egg carton and there is a chart for observing and recording your plant growth. It’s going to be such a fun activity!
Reading Activities
Joe got a TON of books for Christmas so we will be spending a lot of time reading.
Craft Activity
Trying a simpler craft this week. A paper frog puppet. It’s short, easy and Joe and Jake will both have fun playing with it.
And that’s it. I’m sure we won’t get to some of these, but that’s ok. Joe has plenty of educational toys to play with.
a pinch of homestead 
Sounds like there’ll be a lot of fun at your house this week. When I was little, I got a “grow a crystal garden” for Christmas one year and I loved watching the crystal shapes grow. We got a kit when our kids were little too and they also loved it. I think we got it in a museum store–probably the Muesum of Scinece and Indusrty or the Burpee Museum as those were the ones we most frequented. Food for a future science project. Have fun! (And liturgically, you’re still in the Christmas season until Epiphany! ;o)