Keeping little ones busy during homeschool

This is a constant topic of discussion amongst homeschool moms. These are the ways I keep Isaac busy when I am working with the girls. I have only had a 2 year old and 3 year old, so younger than that will be new to me. All of these things I will be working towards with the new baby, but it will be a learning process for them and, therefore, take more of my time and make us a little less efficient for a while.

#1 Room time or "Blanket time" (where you give them a blanket and a basket of toys/books of your choosing, then set the timer and do not let them get off the blanket until the timer buzzes. This takes time to learn and you have to start small, like 5 minutes at first. If they get off, you put them back on and explain that they can't get off for any reason until the buzzer goes off, not even to get a runaway toy.) or "Highchair time"(This helps them learn to sit till and do an activity, and the best part is they are trapped for a time.) Room time is just once they are bigger and have mastered blanket time, it is a bigger area to play in and the time can be longer. My 3 yr old has been doing an hour in his room every morning that we do school since he turned two. YOU CAN GET A LOT DONE IN ONE UNINTERRUPTED HOUR! We usually do Math, Handwriting and Grammar in this chunk of time. To help with this since it is not a choice for the child, I set a timer and make it at the same time everyday after an activity that is not hard to stop. If they are having super fun, they will not want to go to room time. For us it is either right after we get home from Mass or right after breakfast if we don't make it to Mass. That way Isaac knows what to expect and after a habit is developed, there are rarely arguments about it.

#2 The occasional 30 min learning DVD will buy you some time. I like Leap Frog and some Sesame Street DVDs. These actually help review concepts and letters that the little ones are learning.

#3 Montessori bins/activities: It is best if these can be independent activities after you show them how to do it initially.
1. pipe cleaners and a water bottle to put them in (Isaac loved this at a year and still does.)
2. sensory buckets (rice/beans and other random toys to play in- a favorite in our house, even with my 1st grader)
3. Felt board
4. Pom pom balls and plastic tweezers to transfer them from one container to the next or sort
5. Sticker activities
6. Magnetic trays- I also have one with letters.
7. Ice cubes and tongs
8. Scissors and paper-at first just let them cut it however they want. If they are older, try teaching them to cut in straight lines or zig zags by drawing the lines on strips of scrap paper.
9. Lacing/Beading-this can be a purchased item or you can make a lacing activity out of cardboard and shoe laces or make a beading activity with pasta tubes and shoe laces. Or, even easier for a younger child, use shoe laces and cut up toilet paper/paper towel rolls.
10. Buttoning practice-I plan to make this this week.
11. Roads and ramps for cars- I am hoping to finish the roads made out of blue jeans this week too. I can't find the blog that I found the idea on since I accidentally lost all of my bookmarks this summer.
12. Puzzles- Put a spin on this and hide the pieces in a sensory bin to make it harder/more interesting for a puzzle pro.

This is all I can think of right now, but you can get lots of ideas on the internet here for minimal prep activities.

#4 Include the younger children in any reading part of the homeschool. My two year old sat still and learned about whales, butterflies, and other random things we studied last year during Science. I also would throw in a book just for him in the middle of the books I was reading to the older two relating to the topic we were studying. My older kids will listen to any book anywhere, even if it is for younger children or the same book they have heard a million times before. Look and Find Books for toddlers can be something you can multitask and do with her at the same time as teaching and eventually they can do them on their own.

#5 It is always an option to send an older child to do something with the younger one while you are working with another child.

I am not a proponent of doing school during nap time b/c I think that I need a break at some point or I might loose it. I know a lot of people who do that though. It is just not something I can do right now with so very little time for myself available. I am more for teaching my young children how to develop their attention span and independent playtime abilities. Obviously there are times when this just isn't going to happen, especially with very young ones, and that is when flexibility comes into play.