Monday, September 5, 2011

The Learning Lifestyle - Practice Counting

One of the things I love about homeschooling is the lifestyle.  Almost anything can become a learning opportunity.

We took an excursion to the auto parts store, and I spent a lot of time standing around with the kids, waiting for my hubby to pick out exactly what he needed (no complaining here!  The man has the patience of a saint when I insist on trying on every style of jeans that Old Navy has on sale).  Sophie's been getting better at waiting in stores in the past year, but Xander is a different story.  He's a wiggle worm and gets bored very easily.  BUT.  He loves anything that has to do with tools (oftentimes of a morning I hear strains of 'Booooob the Builder, yes I can!!' coming from his room), so I decided to turn what could have ended in me pulling my hair out in frustration, into a learning experience.

Lesson:  Counting Practice

Objective:  Child will practice counting items, building a grasp of one-to-one correspondence (identify that each number corresponds with each single item counted)

Materials:  Any store!

Process:
  1. Find a set of like items (a display of wrenches, for example)
  2. Instruct child to point to (or touch), each item as he counts them
  3. Repeat!
The boy was a counting machine!  He didn't want to stop!  He counted for 15 minutes straight!  He counted:
screwdrivers

oil jugs

baskets

oil pan thingies

floor mats

I think we entertained pretty much everyone else in the store.  



1 comment:

  1. Way to be creative! When they get older, you can do what I do. Which one is cheaper, the 2 pack for $5.00 or the single one for $2.56. We talk about how it's sometimes worth it to spend more for one when you don't need two, or when you would spend the $5.00.

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