It took me almost 7 years of living here before I had the nerve to go out and actually make some good friends. Before I had kids it was never a big deal for me to be overly social and I was content just being home with my hubby and seeing our small group of friends from time to time. Once Aria started getting to point where she wanted to explore more, I knew I needed to find her some good friends her own age. After a few weeks of reaching out I started to make some good mom friends and it was one of the best things I did this year.
As Aria develops more and more into a sweet little girl, the more I see her mind growing, her curiosity getting bigger, and her imagination taking her deep into the magical life around her. Maybe it is because I love to see her learn, but I soon wanted to find a way to use some of the time she spent with friends as an opportunity to learn together. Growing up, I was homeschooled and every Friday for a long time we would join a co-op group to study science, art, and religion together. It was always the day of the week I looked forward to because I got to be with my friends and have fun learning and playing. This is the sort of thing I wanted to find for Aria.
I was quickly disappointed to find that there was not any type of group like that in our area, so I made the decision to start one of my own. Long story short we now have a small little co-op that meets once a week to do a craft and spend time learning about colors, shapes, numbers, letters…and more! It is so cute to watch Aria and her little friends working on projects together! Beyond all of this, I was so excited to get some workbooks from Tinker Active. Because our co-op group is just a week by week thing, I have had the idea of an actual curriculum to follow in the back of my mind for a while. I know, Aria is still very little, but if she loves it why not?
Tinker Active® are workbooks that teach science and math for grades K – 2! The cool thing about these workbooks is that the pages are filled with fun learning exercises that you can then put into practice by using the hands-on tinkering, making, and engineering activities that utilize common household materials and encourage kids to learn through play. The curriculum is made to work well for all learner types (visual, auditory, and kinesthetic), and the lessons are taught with fun and uplifting enthusiasm and humor!
I have been using these work books with Aria already, and even though she is not a Kindergarten student yet, it is still fun for her! I would recommend these workbooks as a guide for a curriculum based learning guide for any at home co-op group. I love the way the lessons grow from the one before and I think it is done in a way that is easy and fun to learn for many age groups because it gives the ability to learn at your own level!
