This year, Wee One #3 would be starting kindergarten if we were still in Canada. We’re all happy to be homeschooling, and we’re all happy to be down here but it feels really weird to not be registering our four year old for kindergarten. So while I can’t officially enroll her in the same homeschooling program our other two are in, I can start formally homeschooling her. I will drone on about that more next week. 🙂
Right now, I’m excited about some of the supplemental activities I’ve pulled together for her. There are a lot of great finds over at Confessions of a Homeschooler, and these wheels are two of them. I find that after kids learn something new, it’s important to make sure they practice it enough that it sticks but not so they are bored with it. These matching wheels are awesome for reaffirming what kids already know, but are not so boring that they’re over them if they know the material already.
Our kindergartener is still working on matching up some of the uppercase / lowercase letters and having the alphabet wheel in my (admittedly huge) purse has been really helpful for her learning some of the lowercase letters in small doses and it has the very pleasant side effect of keeping her engaged and happy while waiting at doctor offices and the like. She uses them at home sometimes too when I am busy with the other kid’s lessons and so far, so good! We have alphabet and number flash cards and worksheets in folders that she will dig out just so she can clip the matching clothespin to them!
If you’ve been homeschooling for any length of time, I’m sure I don’t have to tell you to invest in a good laminating machine! I only mention it because I try to buy things based on recommendations from others who get heavy use out of items I know I’m going to get heavy use out of, and I love my Scotch Laminator!
Huge thank yous go out to Confessions of a Homeschooler for making these printables and making them available free for personal use! All you need is a printer, a laminating machine, wooden clothespins and a marker! I keep each set in gallon-size Ziploc bags.
The number wheel has dots from 1-10 and clothespins with the matching numbers on them. Since there are no dots on the clothespins and no numbers on the wheel, this wheel is wonderful to drive home a lesson on numbers or review the same concepts a few days later. This wheel has helped our kindergartener to have a solid understanding of numbers up to 10. There is another wheel available for the numbers 11-20.
The alphabet wheel follows the same basic idea as the number wheel with the uppercase letters on the wheel and the lowercase letters printed on clothespins. This is a little trickier of course, since there is so much more to remember. Trying to teach a pre schooler or even a kindergartener the entire alphabet at once is overwhelming, but a few letters at a time breaks it down into manageable pieces and teaching aids like this one are perfect for both reviewing and introducing new letters!