Object permanence

Object permanence if you have heard of this term and you have older children, you probably know how important this can be for children to develop. If you are a new parent and just wondering what this is and just confused about the whole thing, I am here to help. Object permanence is the understanding that things continue to exist even after you can no longer see, hear, or touch. So if you put a toy in a box and you know that the toy still exists, then you have object permanence. you might want to seek a professional If you do not know that the toy still exists, because this is a skill that is typically developed between 7 and 12 months of age.

 
 

So why should you care about whether your child develops this skill? Well there are lots of reasons. Does your child scream uncontrollably when everyone leaves the room, or even leaves line of sight. Well I must confess that I have one of them and I must say that it is very annoying to say the least … I just can't wait till she is not doing that anymore. There is another practical reason why you should care if this skill is developed. Around the age of 9 months a child (with help … depending on the child's motor development) can learn to "put their toys away". Now you can not tell me that having your child picking up their own toys would not help you keeping your house clean.

 
 

Now you are probably a little intrigued, and want to know what you can do to help your child develop these skills. Well I am going to tell you, but there is two parts to Object permanence. First when you put an object on the floor, it is going to typically stay there till you pick it up and move it. The second is if an object is put in a box or under a blanket, it will remain there till it is removed.

 
 

To help with the first part you have a rule to follow. If your child leaves a room with toys on the floor, the toys must remain on the floor. If the toys need to be picked up before you expect the child to return to the room, pick up the toys before the child leaves the room.

 
 

To help with learning to pick up toys, you may want to pick up the toys with the child before naps and bed time. This will help the child learn that this needs to be done, and learn where toys go. Major rule here is "everything has a place, and everything in its place.".

 
 

To help with the second part you get to have fun and play some games!!! Yes really exciting right. Don't you just love playing games. What you will need for the many games are buckets or boxes (different sizes and some with lids), a blanket, and some of your child's favorite toys.

 
 

Drop in the bucket game

You will need a bucket or a box (no lid) and some toys that will not break (if thrown in bucket). The object is to pick up the toys and put them in the bucket, then you can take your child over to the bucket and show them that the toys are still there. At this point you can dump the toys back out onto the floor and play with them for a little bit (spreading them back over the floor). This has a duel role in it also teaches the child how to pick up toys and put them in the bucket.

 
 

Where did it go? Is it in the box?

This game requires a box or bucket with a lid (make sure it is easy to remove), and some toys. Show the child the toy, place it in the box, and put the lid on the box. You will then ask where did it go? Is it in the BOX? Then you help the child open the box to find the toy.

 
 

Where did it go?

To play this game you will need a blanket, and some toys (ones that make noise are good for this). Lay the blanket out and show the toy to the child. Place the toy under the blanket and ask the child where the toy is. Pull the blanket back to reviel the toy … this game is like peek-a-boo and you can use the blanket to play that as well.

 
 

Peek-a-boo

 
 

Where is thumbkin (song)

 
 

Well I appreciate you listening (reading) my little speech here, and I hope that it has helped you out a lot. I am the mother of a 3 1/2 year old and a 7 1/2 month old. I am trying to open a non-profit org. to help under privileged families have access to homeschooling. So stay tuned to my blog for further details on how you can help this dream come true.

 
 

Learning through life

Emily April 2012

This is my online photo album enjoy!

Free Games and Curriculum update

Dear Followers,

Thank you very much for following my Blog. I wanted to let you know that I am going to start selling my curriculum on a site called Currclick.com. I am going to use the money that I get from selling my curriculum to start a non-profit organization in order to help homeschool parents in need. I have a set of game pieces, game mats, and printing instructions for you to buy (for free) and use with my lessons. Please spread the word about these lessons so that I can do lots and lots of good. J

 

Just download my free games and then look forward to buying my lessons each week. I hope that you have lots and lots of fun.

 

"Link to free games to come"

 

In order to buy these games you will have to sign up for a FREE account with currclick. Have fun and enjoy!!!

Scheduling for age 0+

When scheduling you have a few things to take into consideration. Until a child is about 3 months old they really can't do most of the things that I will be doing, let alone there attention span is not really developed enough to start broadening it. After they have reached this age there is several things they can do. They can watch the TV (educational video or PowerPoint), they will start to grasp things and really start to interact with you. At this age each child is a little different and activities will need to be modified to your child's talents (can they grasp or not, do they watch the TV/ computer screen). For instance if your child is not yet grasping objects, this might me something that you would want to work on, you would do this by replacing activities where grasping is needed with activities that would practice this skill (i.e. replace play do activity with a rattle or some links). Another thing to consider is the fact that children this age have a very short attention span. This is nothing that you really need to worry about because it is normal, but when scheduling you have to keep this in mind. At this age 15 min at an activity at one time is a really good goal. If you schedule an activity for 15 min and your child loses interest after 2 just try to get their attention back on the activity. If your child decides that they do not want the activity and just want to cuddle, just cuddle, and maybe you can just talk in a nice, calm voice. One of the most important things you can do is keep working at it. At this age children are a sponge and if all you do is talk about a subject, they will get that information and you will know that you have exposed them to vocabulary that you normally (on a daily basis) would not be exposing them to. You are also teaching them the learning routine. Eventually your child will love the activities, extend his/ her attention span. This is when you will be grateful that you stuck with this. Happy learning

Age 0; Morning Circle

Age or grade Group: Age 0
Date: 05/20/2012
Subject: Moring circle
Description: this is my Morning Circle PowerPoint for babies. they will love the music and videos. Please play any time you would like and sing along.
Link: http://youtu.be/VA2Ff5YOxIQ

Communication - the family meeting

Well due to events of the last week I am going to go out on a slight tangent this week for my blog post. Something that I feel is very important even in a family setting is communication. Communication allows us to one get our point across and two get feedback to learn where we might be wrong. So this week I am going to talk about my views of communication and why I think that it is one of the most important things that you can teach your children.

Communication has many aspects to it, and many ways that it can be done. Let’s first talk about the ways you can communicate. With all the technology today there are so many ways to communicate, so many more then there was when I was younger. There is Facebook, twitter, Instant messenger, e-mail, blogs, hand written/ type written letters, phone, person to person, text, Skype, and so many more that I might not even know. With all of these options communication should never be a problem, but in some families it still seems to be an issue (more on this later).

The aspects of communication are very simple. You have a sender who sends the message and a messenger who receives the message and sends feedback. In my opinion the most important part of this process if the feedback, the reason that I think this is the most important part is because without feedback you cannot learn and we should all be “learning through life”. From a parent to a child, feedback can be as simple as a pat on a back for a good job or it can be the response to a cry. From a child to a parent, it can be a simple understanding of a rule or chore or it can be a child stating how they feel about something said. Without this information, we go on doing things wrong and hence never learn.

We are always learning. The learning process is something that should never end and that is why I see it as a very important part of a family. So many people are so busy with their own lives that they cannot see that there children are struggling to see the meaning of things that you say and do. When children fail to see the meaning of these things, the kids move away from their families and feel left behind or abandoned by their families. If parents would take the time to teach their children to communicate properly, then if something is misunderstood it can be created. This is also a great tool to prevent mom and dad from getting so involved in themselves that they do not understand each other anymore.

The family meeting is designed to be a safe place to show emotions, ask for clarification, and plain have a say in your daily life. Once a week everyone in the family should sit down to a nice meal (as long as your all there, it does not matter what you eat). At this nice meal each person is going to have a chance to talk (baby would be there to experience the conversation). This is a time for you to talk about your day/week, what your good and bad points of the week were, what your schedule for next week is, and if you need any help anything. As your children get older they can have a say on their weekly chores and what they would like to do during the week, also if a child has opinion this is a “safe time” for them to express it without being yelled or laughed at. Remember this is a “safe time” for everyone, so no getting mad when someone says they do not like something. Also I know that there are something’s that you do not want to discuss in front of the kids, and after the kids are in bed, that is when mom and dad will discuss those things.

I hope that this helps any families who are struggling with this aspect to see that this is important. I also hope that some of you take a look at my idea and make your own “family meetings” because this tool is very important. The nice thing about this idea is that you can modify it in a way that will work with your family, for instance let’s say that your family is growing up, and some of your kids have moved away… well in this instance you can have a meeting once a week for everyone that is living at home, and maybe one once a month (even if someone  has to be via phone or Skype) for everyone in the family, that keeps everyone in the loop and no one person feels left out.

Dear Followers

Dear followers,

I know that I have not posted anything in several months; I have had some personal family issues. I have moved, and started school. In the time that I have not posted I have also found out that I have another child on the way and I am due in the beginning of March. Little Emily should be born around 3 other birthdays: Christopher’s (my son’s) – February 26^th, Mine – March 3^rd, and Steven’s (her daddy) – March 4^th. The week she is born I will post all about it including integrating Christopher with his little sister. Meanwhile I will post once a week explaining changes that have been made and how things are going. After Emily is born and things are back to normal I will probably Post Daily with Daily themes. Getting back to this blogging thing is one of my New Year Resolutions.

Daily blog posts may or may not include the following:

·         PowerPoint Video for the day

·         Notes for the day

·         Video/pictures from the day

·         Today’s positives and negatives

·         Any updates

Daily Blog Themes:

·         Milestone Monday- the day that we test knowledge and development milestones

·         Reading Tuesday – the day we go to the library to get books and story time

·         Wonderful Wednesdays – just a day of learning

·         Though Thursday– just a day of learning

·         Fantastic Friday– just a day of learning

·         Family and friends Saturday- a day for family fun and a family meeting

Spiritual Sunday – attend church and time with familly