Keeping Busy

Homeschooling my big kid has been a little difficult lately.  Besides the fact that he dawdles and sometimes takes forever to get lessons done (which drives me crazy!), I've got my sweet baby girl who wants to do school work, too.  She's a smart little sponge, soaking up everything and she wants to learn.  The problem lies with her wanting to learn while I'm teaching her brother.  I've tried to give her (new) educational toys to play with.  I've tried workbooks.  She always says, "Teach me, Mommy!"  She wants me to teach her the way I'm teaching Cade.

The other day I set up a paint station for her.  It bought me some time.  It also bought me some serious cleaning up! Haha!  She loves painting.  Somehow, it always ends with her finger painting.  Then hand painting.  ;-)

Here's something that kept her busy for awhile: opening a big box!  I ordered a chair and when it came in, Camden wanted to open the box.  She worked for a long time stabbing holes in the box with a pencil and peeling tape.  She finally got it open and pulled the chair out.  I was impressed that she did that all by herself.  She's strong!  It kept her busy and focused.

I'm going to look into preschool curriculum for her pretty soon.  She'll be 4 this summer.  I'm not too big on early schooling--I think kids should learn through play and life, itself--but she's interested in learning.  So something fun is what I want...nothing too formal.  She likes books and she loves hands on projects.  Anything involving paint and glue and cooking is right up her alley.  Any suggestions for me?