How do you occupy a toddler while doing schoolwork with an older child? It’s easy if the older child can read or work independently, but a five-year-old needs help focusing — and that’s two children at once.
I liked this scene from yesterday —so much that I took a picture.
Oscar is studying math. Milo, buckled into a high chair, is stacking blocks. (It’s the Montessori "pink tower" in a non-pink version, from here, for those of you who are interested in manipulatives.)
Typically, I put Milo in the high chair when I start Oscar’s schoolwork, and hand him some materials to work with. This keeps him busy enough that I can help Oscar. When Milo starts to throw the blocks, or whatever, I take them away and give him something else — construction paper and scissors, or a pad and pencil, or a puzzle.
I don’t use the confining high chair at meals — Milo usually sits in a regular chair. But he doesn’t mind this one, and it keeps him where I can see him. (Otherwise, I’m bound to find a dozen eggs broken on the kitchen floor ten minutes after Oscar and I start work.) He likes doing "schoolwork" next to his big brother.
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