Back To School

   For the past two years I have ordered Abeka curriculum for my daughter and we have had "school time" in the mornings following a typical school year calendar.  This started when she was two and had a newborn brother.  The newborn took morning naps for the first school year and I was able to focus on my daughter.  The second school year he was a toddler and enjoyed doing puzzles, reading books, and would sometimes join in on the fun of coloring or crafting or singing songs with his big sister.

   She is now four and her brother is two. I have decided to forego buying curriculum this year since the internet has given me plenty of free resources and know-how to put together my own curriculum.  Thank you, all of you bloggers out there!

   We learn throughout the day, but there are some specific things I want to be intentional about teaching them this year.  Here is the skinny of it... By the end of this school year I want my four year old to be a beginning reader and she is super excited about this!  I also want her to be able to recognize #'s 1-20 and count to 100.  She can already write her name and most of the alphabet, but we will be practicing writing.  Year end goals for my two year old include recognizing colors, shapes, letters, and #'s 1-10.  We are going to use the "Letter of the Week" approach and my plan is to share our learning adventure so that other moms may benefit, out-of-town family can know what is going on with us, and in case I have more children I can refer back to these posts later. :)

   Next week I will begin teaching at a Parent's Day Out at a church five minutes from our house.  The kids and I will be going Tuesdays and Thursdays from 8:00-3:00, so they will be learning in that environment as well.  My four year old's teacher happens to be a certified teacher and plans to help her students get ready for Kindergarten.  I think this will be a good opportunity for all of us.

   Here are some of the things we are doing to learn at home. . . .

We are learning the months of the year and days of the week.  My sister, a 4th grade teacher, taught us the "Days of The Week Song" sung to the tune of "The Adams Family."  I got these free printables from Me and Marie Learning.  This is the laminator I got a few years back and it works well for all of our home projects and schooling needs.

Our changing table has turned into our school supplies table.  The blue and pink plastic containers hold our crayons, markers, etc...  There are some posters, worksheets, and games to help us learn.  I bought the American flag at JoAnn's for .99 to teach the Pledge of Allegiance.  The "Numbers" and "Alphabet" posters were purchased at the Dollar Tree for .50 each and the kids love them.  The "What Season Is It?" poster is about to be replaced with a tree that will hold the letters pictured below.  We will read Chicka Chicka Boom Boom each week and put up a new letter.  At the end of the year, they will all fall off the tree just like the end of the book.

Letters for our Chicka Chicka Boom Boom tree - idea from Confessions of A Homeschooler

ABC and 123 shared a great idea of having an ABC staircase.  We've played lots of fun games such as racing to a certain letter and singing the ABC song while hopping up and down the stairs.

     I recently read an article about how important it is for kids to play outside so my new goal is to allow them to play outdoors for at least an hour each day.  I also like to read to them at least 30 minutes a day.  We usually go to the library on Tuesdays for preschool story time and get new books each week.  Now that we will be at Parent's Day Out on Tuesdays we may go on Fridays when they also offer story time.  We memorized a verse each week last year that went along with our letter of the week, so we will be reviewing that verse this year and learning a new one.  Last year we used ABC Memory Verse cards I made from I Can Teach My Child.  This year we are using My ABC Memory Verses by Susan Hunt that I recently found at Goodwill - Oh, yes.  It was a good find!  So, here is how I schooled my children this week...

We took popsicles to the park, but instead of playing on the playground we explored God's creation.

Alivia made a bouquet with the dandelions she found by the tennis courts.

Weston enjoyed running up and down the hill from me to the weeping willow tree and back.

and we found some really cool rocks

We went swimming

Letter of the Week: A

We memorize scripture at the breakfast table -
Review verse: "As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." -Joshua 24:15
Memory verse: "A soft answer turns away wrath." -Proverbs 15:1
  This one has come in quite handy this week while teaching the kids to be kind and love one another. :)

Color the animal alphabet: Alligator - from education.com (2 and 4 yr old)

Alligator "A" craft - from No Time For Flashcards (2 and 4 yr old)

Apple tree craft - from No Time For Flashcards (2 and 4 yr old)

"Apple Poem" (with motions)
Way up high in the apple tree,
Two little apples smiled at me.
I shook that tree as hard as I could,
Down came those apples,
Mmmmmmmm, they were good.

Made Apple Pie and Apple Butter and ate Apple Jack's cereal

Practice printing the Letter "Aa" - from Kids Learning Station (4 yr old)

Number of the Week: 1

Number 1 coloring page - from Kids Learning Station (2 yr old)

Number 1 worksheet - from Kids Learning Station (4 yr old)

Monkeys are Weston's (2 yr old) favorite and this was a fun way to teach him what #'s 1-5 look like while singing "Five Little Monkeys Jumping On The Bed."  I got these from Doodle Bugs.

     Some websites we like to use are ABCya.com and Starfall.com

     Just today I was encouraged by Livi saying, "you have great stuff for me to do.  I love all of your stuff.  It is awesome!"  I'm not making this up. :)  The plan is to give a weekly update of our learning adventure.