I really think the longer you can truly wait for formal education the better. The more I research it and am living it out with Blue Rock, the more important I find free-time and play to be. That, however, doesn't mean you don't teach anything to your child(ren). A few months ago, I started bringing out basic puzzles and showing Princess how to do them. She obviously cannot do them herself, but she loves watching and listening to me talk about them. We read daily, which I believe, is the most important thing you can do for your child's future education.
So what do I do when I'm teaching Blue Rock? I have started making treasure baskets for Princess to explore. I keep two different type of containers with different objects in my bathroom. While I'm getting ready I give her a bucket with random household items such as a velvet jewelry box, links, rollers for hair, and big clips. I also have a box with various size boxes, such as a tooth paste box, contact solution box, empty toilet paper roll, and what ever other random boxes I can find. I let her explore these boxes and then will talk to her about the items but mostly just let her explore the feel and look of them, even taste, if she chooses.
Last week I started making treasure boxes for during our school time. It takes more planning when you're homeschooling a big kid and a baby. My plan is to set-up part of our school room as a mini Montessori Room for toddler/preschoolers. I'll rotate different activities and lessons. We're starting off with colors. Since it's October, orange is a great color to start with. I'll be gathering common household items for Here are a few of the simple baskets I have made and combinations of items and activities.
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| Orange Basket: cup, pipe cleaner, mini pumpkin, holey ball, squish ball, and sponge |
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| Her favorite item was the cup. |
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| Matching the ball to the block. |
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| Matching like items or like colors. Match pumpkins or colors. |
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| I made her a mini light table |
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| Exploring kid sunglasses |
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| The exersaucer is always helpful during school time as well |
I love Fall and all the fun activities there are. The weather in Texas is still pretty hot, but it's cooler than it has been. Last weekend we went to the Japanese Festival. We are just starting to study Asia as part of our homeschool, so this was a fun outing. The festival was a lot of fun and there were several fun activities for the kids to do. Blue Rock loved learning more origami. He's gotten really good at it and it was neat to show him a bunch of different things people have done. They even got their names written in Japanese. He also liked feeding the fish and even made a little fishing pole out of a tall piece of grass. He picked up a dead dragon fly and tried putting it on his fishing line as bait to catch a fish. When that wasn't working he reached in the pond to try and grab a fish that way. He's so much fun! Princess loves being outside and she has fun anywhere we go. 
