Lovely Lulu

Going into this homeschool year, I had a pretty good idea of how things would go with Bug.  I spent a few years being her teacher before she went off to Kindergarten, and even then we did some activities in the afternoons together. I know how she learns, and she is a dream to teach. :)  Lulu was the wild card - partly because she is 3, and I was wondering how that would work, teaching a 2nd grader with a not-quite-a-preschooler underfoot.  But also because she has nuances to her personality that are different than her big sister's, and I knew I would have to get to know her in an educational environment to see what activities work best for her.  That is one of the many reasons we are homeschooling -- tailoring the girls' education to their personal learning styles!  A lovely bonus to just having two students. :)

As I have mentioned before, we are using this Letter of the Week program.  There is a LOT in there, so I printed out the things I thought Lulu might want to try, and we're going from there. So far, she has been a big fan of the Leap Frog Letter  Factory DVD, reading books (this is a newer development, sitting still for a story or two), Play-Doh, and coloring.  She also really enjoys painting, whether it's on paper with watercolors, or with water on the walls.  From the LOTW program, here are some pictures of what she is loving (and asking for each week!):

Circle magnets to fill in the letter of the week

Do-a-Dot markers in the shape of each week's letter...

...which ends up looking like this when she is done :)

Counting something that coordinates with the letter of the week (Apple seeds for A), finding the number, and gluing it to the page next to it.

We have also played some learning games (Memory, Dominoes, Candy Land), and she really enjoys those as well.  So far, so good -- her attention span is obviously shorter than Buggy's, but each week she gets more into it.  Whew!  I'm always looking for ideas on occupying a preschooler while an older sibling is learning -- so please share. :)