First Post and Why

School is out and that means Summer Vacation is here! If you are looking for some ideas on how to keep your toddler or preschooler's mind active during the summer, you are in the right place. This is my first attempt at a blog for the most part, so here's to learning and first attempts at blogging, home schooling a toddler and preschooler and keeping it simple!

Why take time for circle time to engage and challenge your kids, especially, during the summer? 
As a nanny and educator, I have found the best plan to beat the "I am bored's" or stopping a good day from melting into a grumpy or shouting chaos is a schedule. I have noticed through the kids I nanny for and the students in my sunday school class have thrived when I have given structure (and I am a better nanny and teacher when I use a schedule).

(Some data for the research oriented.)
          In the New York Time's bestseller, Drive: the Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us, Pink (2009) described over 40 years of research that supported humans favor and thrive on intrinsic motivation over extrinsic motivation and that the old carrot-and-stick approach does not work. Using the following three elements: autonomy, mastery and purpose, Pink explained humans desire to direct their own lives. By have a structure and schedule, children are more free to make decisions and choose to be challenged. (Two year olds are very good at demonstrating autonomy!) A schedule creates the atmosphere for creativity and challenges to thrive. By age two, your child has doubled in size and has twice as many connections as your adult brain (Stamm, 2007). Dr. Stamm discussed the three important needs of a toddler with the ABC's: Attention, Bonding and Communication. It is giving a child the tools to unlock the greatness of their brains abilities, such as the belief behind the constructionist, Montessori school standards and beliefs that a child can flourish through structured independence. 
         In 1868, the great education reformer, Horace Mann said, "Education then, beyond all other devices of human origin is a great equalizer of the conditions of men." Supported by data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Kindergarten Cohort of 1998-99, Downey, von Hippel and Broh (2004) found that the schools were in fact the great equalizer and noted that the achievement gap widened after summer break. Also, Downey et al. concluded that non-school factors account for over 90% of inequalities. Brownell (1986) showed how cognitive skills are related to peer relations, thus education can close achievement gap not only academically, but also socially. To give your kids the best opportunities and chance to succeed, continue the learning through the summer, plus, you'll have fun connecting with your little ones and have plenty to do. 

Background...

I have been a nanny to a 5 year old and a 2 year old since March 2009. I am off for the summer before I finish my masters program in the arts of teaching at Kennesaw State University in the fall. Three times a week I will update with our circle time happenings and few post here and there with other tips to keep busy during the summer. The curriculum is scaffolded for both kids. Jackson (2 years old) is working on counting, colors , shapes and his ABC's. Skye is working on story comprehension, reading, writing and math. As a science teacher, I have to include science. We will have a music, bible and science day.
The music day will introduce our theme of the week(s). The bible day will be pieced together from my eight years of experience as a Catholic Pre-school Religious Education Program Educator and from a book called ESP Character Training (Explain, Show, Practice) by Kim S. Doebler that simplifies a model for teaching character and discipline based on scripture. For the science days, our theme this summer is the very appropriate "WATER." I am using my prior experience as a teacher and student, along with curriculum outlined here, called the Water Cycle. Only nannying three days a week and knowing how the summer opens up the opportunity for field trips, we will spend two weeks as opposed the to the listed one week. I know the KISS method works best for me, so in my attempt to keep this summer simple I have set some individual curriculum goals based on Skye and Jack's age and needs.


We are having a trial and error week to see what works and I still have to make our calendar board, but see the next post to see how our first circle time went.

Thanks for reading! Comments and questions encouraged!