Tot School Christmas Activities

December means Christmas themed tot school activities. While we didn't prepare as much as I would have liked, she still had plenty to do.

Pipecleaner tree with pony beads to string. This got used multiple times, until she pulled it apart.

We used magnetic bingo chips on these emotion matching cards from Tot Schooling.

We also used the magnetic bingo chips on this tree counting activity from Tot Schooling.

Sight words matching activity. She didn't feel like matching many, but read the words.

Christmas measuring activity. This is really the first time I'd introduced the idea to her, but she did great.

Making some ornaments

I pulled out some paper gingerbread men and had her draw a number tile. Then she would put the corresponding number of buttons on the gingerbread man.

She did lots and lots of play dough. I made some gingerbread play dough and had out little plastic candies and some gingerbread people I painted last year. She really enjoyed dressing them up "to go to a party."

We did a few pattern block pages from PreKinders. I like using the magnetic pattern blocks on a small white board to help them stay in place.

We got out the skip counting trees from when her big brother was younger. She's not as in to numbers as he was, so isn't ready for skip counting. However, it was a great size sorting activity for her.

Christmas vocabulary cards were pretty easy for her this year.

Decorating trees on the light table. I just cut the triangles out of a binder divider and used the magnetic bingo chips. She loved picking them all up.

Pattern making from Tot Schooling

Tree decorating with small plastic ornaments on a tree made of a floral cone and toothpicks.

Cookie decorating toy for lots of pretend play.

 

What's The Best Way To Educate Your Child When Living Abroad?

 

Image Credit

Many children grow up in foreign countries because their parents decide to move. Whether this is something you always wanted to do or a choice forced by you or your partner's job, the fact remains that your child is growing up abroad. 

This can present different challenges, especially regarding their education. They’re living in a foreign country and may not speak the language—what’s the best way to educate them? The answer tends to come down to three options, which we’ll examine in more detail in this post. 

Homeschooling

The immediate benefit of homeschooling is that it’s inexpensive. You also have more control over your child’s education, which means you can support them from a close distance. You control the curriculum and ensure they’re taught the most valuable lessons and skills. 

The downside is that you might not be able to do this. Maybe you and your partner need to work and don’t have enough time to school your child. Also, do you have the patience or skills to teach a child? Some parents do, but others don’t. 

International Schools

Local schools are likely to be out of the question due to language barriers, but have you considered enrolling your child in an international school? Looking at www.kisrp.com, you can see that international schools are usually English-speaking schools designed for kids from various countries. It lets your child grow up without a language barrier while being in a proper school environment. 

A big benefit of international schooling is that your child gets to meet other kids and develop social skills. These schools also give children access to more educational resources and proper teachers, which they miss out on when you school them from home. The only drawback is finding a school in your local area, which can be easier said than done in some locations. 

Tutors

Hiring a tutor is something of a middle-ground between the two previous ideas. Your child still learns from home; only they get a professional tutor to run all their lessons. It takes the pressure and stress away from the parents while ensuring the child gets the help they need. 

Moreover, tutoring can be excellent when your child doesn’t work well in group environments. Perhaps their learning style is unique, and they’d benefit from more one-on-one tutoring. This approach still comes with a couple of drawbacks: your child may struggle to be sociable, and tutors are pretty darn expensive. 

In conclusion, all three approaches will help your child receive education when living abroad. Some children and families will prefer one method over the other two. If there are some good international schools in your area, then this makes the most amount of sense. It gives your child a more conventional educational experience and helps them make friends. However, if you can’t find these schools - or believe your child will benefit from one-on-one teaching - then homeschooling or tutoring will be fine choices. Homeschool if you have the time and patience; pay for tutoring if your budget allows it or you’re too busy to teach. 

***This is a contributed post

Rolling Realms Game Review

 

Rolling Realms Redux
Players: 1-6
Play Time: 30 min

Age: 14+

Some of my favorite games include roll and writes, plus ,I obviously have a thing for board games, so I immediately loved the idea of combining a whole bunch of games into one in Rolling Realms. I recently added Rolling Realms Redux to our collection. 

Gameplay: Rolling Realms is a roll and write game where you select 3 cards, “realms” per round, over three rounds. These realms are mini games based on real board games. The goal is to earn as many stars as possible from each realm, gaining and using resources along the way to help get them. The original game comes with 11 realms and the Redux version comes with 12 new ones, plus enough room in the box to fit the original 11 and all current and planned promo realms. The Redux version can be purchased as a standalone, giving you everything you need to play and still have some variety between games.

Thoughts:

I LOVE that the new box can hold everything and save shelf space. I also love the new, huge pink and purple marbled dice! The markers for the Redux version worked much better for us than the markers from the original game. It is also nice that it comes with a compendium of rules covering all of the realms in existence, so that you don’t have to look between multiple rule books. The cards also summarize the rule right on them for once you know them and just need a refresher between games.

Overall, I enjoy the game and seem to enjoy it more each time I play. At first, it is a little annoying to have to look up how each realm works for each round, especially because some are more straightforward than others. I have had to look up clarification online for a couple of realms (looking at you Charterstone). My husband initially found the resources a bit tedious, but after more plays he was able to utilize them better and like the game better overall.  

As with any game with variable goals, some combinations of realms per round work better than others. I think I enjoy the realms from Redux a little better, probably just because I am familiar with more of the inspiration games than in the original realms. They also included some "classics" like rock-paper-scissors and poker!

Now, I wouldn't suggest this roll and write for someone brand new to the hobby, but it's great for a more regular gamer. I’d suggest looking at which realms are included in each version and get the one that includes more games you’re familiar with. Or just get both for maximum variety.

Next I want to try pulling out just the cards needed for one game, the dice and the markers and see how easy it is to take on the go.

Expansion gifted by publisher for review purposes, but thoughts are my own.

Check out my board game section of the blog:

Tot School: Thanksgiving Theme

November means celebrating time with family and good food, plus focusing on gratitude. Here are the Thanksgiving related activities we've been doing for Tot School (Juniper is 29 months)

We have lots of Thanksgiving books. I just pulled a few from Juniper's shelf to share:

There was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Turkey

Happy Thanksgiving, Biscuit!

Olaf Gives Thanks

Bear Says Thanks

Peyton Picks the Perfect Pie

How to Hide a Turkey

Thank You, Thanksgiving

10 Fat Turkeys

Pie Love You

We also read my printable Thanksgiving book

I printed and colored a turkey body and gave her some shapes to use with it on the light table.

Color sorting and fine motor with the Super Sorting Pie

We sorted on a larger scale with her color sorting food

To add some variety to her Acorn Soup game, I put the wooden pieces into a sensory bin.

Play dough tray had several thanksgiving cookie cutters. Mostly, she used the apple.

Big brother was making a Color Wheel Turkey from Deep Space Sparkle, so I helped her make her own. She used chalk crayons to decorate the leaves.

Top the Pie counting activity from Confessions of a Homeschooler (couldn't find direct link)

We did several printable activities from 3Dinosaurs

We also did several of the Thanksgiving Busy Book pages from LittleLadoo

 

Stamp Swap Board Game Review

Stamp Swap

Players: 1-5
Play Time: 30-60 min

Age: 14+

While I've never considered myself a stamp collector, I’ve heard nothing but positive things about Jamey Stegmaier games and we love tile placement, so I jumped at the chance to try Stamp Swap! (Game kindly gifted by publisher, but all thoughts are my own).

Overview:

In Stamp Swap, you and your competitors are stamp collectors attending a stamp convention. The game takes place over three days (rounds) and on each day you will collect, swap and show your stamps. First, each player will take turns collecting stamps and exhibitor cards from a given pool. Then they will split their collection into two stacks and swap with other players. Finally, they will arrange their collected stamps into their albums trying to score as many points as possible. Each player has a particular type of stamp for which they score points as well as a particular goal (contest) they can choose to score each round. Exhibitor cards can also help score points during the rounds. At the end of the game, players get points for the value of each stamp in their album as well as a final stamp placement goal.

Thoughts:

We have several tile placement games, but one feels unique. While in most games you have some sort of placement constraints, in Stamp Swap you can pretty much place your stamps anywhere in your album, as long as they do not overlap. For some goals, you will want things clumped and for others you will want things spaced far apart (which feels weird to me). There are four possible contests, but you can only pick three. Balancing all of the various goals and choosing when to enter each contest definitely takes some thought, it’s impossible to maximize everything. It is a great puzzle, without feeling heavy.

This is our first “I cut, you choose,” which added an interesting element. While the swapping felt more significant with three players, it still worked just fine at two. My son even preferred it that way.

The components of the game are fantastic! Everything feels thick and sturdy, and even the rulebook is made on durable material. I LOVE the shiny gold rare stamps! Other than that, the art is a little lackluster, but it fits the theme well. While I haven’t used it, I also appreciate that there is a solo mode for the game. My only real complaint is that setting up each round and scoring at the end often feel like they take a lot longer than actually “playing” the rounds.

All in all, we enjoy the game quite a bit. My teen said it is probably one of his top five for the year. I don’t know that I’d go that far, but it is definitely one we will hang on to and play again!

Check out my board game section of the blog:

Homeschool Science: Light

This year for homeschool we are doing units for science rather than a purchased curriculum. I looked at the Next Generation Science Standards and divided the standards into units that made sense together. Then I broke those down even farther into units that made sense for my learner.

Books used throughout:

Light Waves

Dogs Do Science Light

How It Works Light

Light Makes a Rainbow

What's Faster than a Speeding Cheetah

All About Light

Vampires and Light

Transparent and Opaque

Why it Works Light and Dark

Light with Max Axiom

Shadows

What Makes a Shadow?

Standards:

1-PS4-2 Make observations to construct an evidence-based account that objects in darkness can be seen only when illuminated

1-PS4-3 Plan and conduct investigations to determine the effect of placing objects made with different materials in the path of a beam of light.

• Video Activity from The Wonders of Science
• Will the Light Shine Lab (adapted from Ward’s Science)

• Play with mirrors
• Look around corners with mirrors
• Play Laser Maze Game

• Shadows

 

1-PS4-4 - Use tools and materials to design and build a device that uses light or sound to solve the problem of communicating over a distance.

• Communication over distances lab from UVU SEEdPods (pages 26-29)

Bill Nye the Science Guy: Light & Color

Bill Nye the Science Guy: Light Optics

• Writing messages with UV pens.

Bioluminescence

When we finished all the standard related things, we spent some time learning about bioluminescence. 

Nature's Light Spectacular

Glow: The Wild Wonders of Bioluminescence

Luminous: Living Things That Light Up the Night

The Glow Show

Glowing Animals

Who's Afraid of the Light?

We found this great video from Soul Sparklette's for a blacklight art project.

These neon oil pastels looked amazing under black light.