Homeschooling with a one year old in tow

Since, as I mentioned before, this exact situation (newly walking 1 year old at the beginning of the homeschool year) is new to me but I am going to share my plan.  For the beginning of the school year, Drew will be taking a morning nap.  That will give us between 1 to 2 hours of good schooling.  I'll definitely need more time than that though.  I am hoping that these Montessori bins will buy me some more time.

This was an old purse of mine when I was a kid that I just found again.  It has an assortment of fabrics with different textures in it.

The "Lunch" bin has a plate, bowl, baby utensils, a straw, and a cup.  Eventually I may add a place mat that has the correct placement of dishes and utensils for setting the table drawn on it and a hand-sewn napkin.

Since Drew lloves balls so much, I included a bin of random balls on the shelf he will have access to.  There is a giant slinky to explore, and a musical basket.  The musical basket has a couple of baby musical toys, a water bottle of lentils (duct taped lid), a flute, and a Sing-a-ma-jig (a stuffed animal that makes musical notes each time his tummy is pushed, not something you want to run out and get, but it is a popular toy around here unfortunately.)

These football eggs and egg crate are to practice one to one correspondence by placing them in each spot.

Treasure boxes are something I found on some Montessori sites.  I made two of them and have one partially finished.

Here is a Treasure Box.  It has a spatula, a coozie, a medicine cup, a baby spoon, a jar lid, a satin fabric piece, a pacifier (he just likes to play with them, he never would suck on one), and a plastic short straw.

Here is another Treasure Box.  I have a stop watch, a strainer, honey spoon, wooden spatula, a mesh toddler thing, a roll of packing tape, a crocheted washcloth, a swatch of fabric, a plastic bendy straw, and a miniature colander.

These are two more treasure boxes.  In the top basket, I have an ice tray, silicone baker, a box that slides open, a plastic container with a smaller container inside it, tulle piece, a sponge, a small gift bag, and a ball of yarn.  I have a bubble wand, a soft baby brush, two different fabric swatches, and a tin pencil container.  I have since added a plastic spool and something else I can't remember.

Not pictured is a "Dress up" bin.  I am putting a bath mitt, a hat, a sleeve with 2 open ends, some big kid slipper, and a handkerchief.  The goal here is to have one of the children work with him on where these items go on his body (teaching him his body parts) and then eventually teaching him how to put them on himself.  Also, not shown, is a shoe box with tissue paper in it for tearing.  Yes, I am sure it will be a mess, but a mess worth making if we can get something done.

Also, not pictured are all the things that are just a tad too old for him right now or are to be rotated in through out the year.  For example, the bottles with pipe cleaners, chopsticks, spaghetti, etc are to teach him to put them into the small spaces.  The pom poms and small containers to sort them, lacing of all different levels, the button snake, the road made of old blue jeans for cars, sensory bins, and different kinds of blocks.  That's all I can think of right now!

Isaac's schooling will not take up too much time, so he will be available to help me with Drew also.  I'll report back in a few weeks to let you know what worked and what didn't.