Alphabet Sensory Tub

I finally got our Alphabet Sensory Tub put together today! I was held back by not being able to find the alphabet pasta I really wanted. So, we are already on the letter C in our letter of the Week, but since I have planned to do a tub every four weeks that features the letters we will be covering those four weeks, we are still good. 

I love how bright and colorful it is!

I started by coloring lots of alphabet macaroni in the same fashion I colored pasta last year. The only difference is that I didn't soak it as long since they aren't very big and I had to keep mixing them up as they dried to prevent them from being a big pasta pancake. I still had to spend a little time breaking them apart after they were dry.  Once dry, I put them in lines in the tub.

Next, I sprinkled letter beads & charms over the pasta. The circular beads glow in the dark! Fun!

Then came all the goodies! We are focusing on the letters A, B, C & D. We have various wood & plastic magnetic letters, large foam letters, tiny foam sticker letters, wooden letter blocks, letter cookie cutters, letter beads and charms on chenille stems, a Bb book and finally items beginning with the letters. A: apple, acorn, alligator, and ant; B: bowl, butterfly, button & bell; C: caterpillar, cross, car and coin; and D: dolphin, dragonfly, dice and dinosaur.

I am also including a small pail & scoop on the side for the kids to play with in their tub.

 

I don't have any action shots yet since I got this done a little late in the day. They've seen it though and are anxiously awaiting their chance to have at it. I also laid down the law in regard to the tubs - they each get to play at one of the tubs and not together. After a certain amount of time (not sure how long yet) we will switch off. I'd like to say that my kiddos are perfect angels and play sweetly side by side, but I cannot tell a lie. When it comes to the "choice" items in the tubs - like plastic jewel acorns - it's just plain hard to share!

Homeschool Today

We didn't start school last week like we had planned. I made a last minute decision (mostly because I was behind on getting things ready) to wait until after labor day. Laural is going to be doing Heart of Dakota - Little Hearts for His Glory. We actually started this last year but then I got ill at the beginning of October, spent 3 months dealing with that and then another 2 to 3 months recovering. School was put on hold during that time and while I recovered, our school year did not. Even though we didn't follow the curriculum very well, we still managed to squeeze a lot of learning in. So this year, we are picking up where we left off with Heart of Dakota. Since she is already ahead in much of what is covered, we will sort of be rushing through just to make sure there are no gaps. Then we will move directly into Beyond Little Hearts for His Glory. 

Micah is doing Letter of the Week from Confessions of a Homeschooler. He gets very excited when I say that it's time for school! Today, when I announced it was time for school, he ran over & jumped into my arms and shouted "Yay! I love this!" I hope he continues this enthusiasm as he gets older.

Here is a little of what we did today.

Micah made an Alligator A for his ABC book and he also colored and traced the letter A and a.

Laural & I reviewed some of her reading and then she did some copy work & drew a picture to go with it.

Later, she did several pages in her miniLUK books.

We did lots of other things but I didn't think to grab the camera until near the end of our school time. Now, it's time for me to go get a little better organized for tomorrow!