Homeschool

After a few weeks of getting settled here, I have decided that the kids and I are ready for a schedule. B leaves for work right after the kids wake up and comes home shortly after D's afternoon nap. I think I have officially finished all errands to get things for the house (baby gates, lamps, pillows, etc), so now I am looking for things to do durning the day to, um, basically...fill the time until B gets home.

MOPS starts next Wednesday and PWOC starts the following week. That will fill at least 1-2 days a week, but for the rest of the days, I decided it is time to begin C's homeschool curriculum. My plan is to use this Sonlight PreK ages 4-5 curriculum each day to assure myself that she is learning what she needs to know in preparation for Kindergarden next year. Which we may or may not homeschool. We will see how this goes.

I will admit that although this program is set up for moms like me (read that as, "have no idea how to teach a child school things"), I was and still am nervous about it. The "parent guide book" is a step by step instruction on which book to use, which page to read, which activity to do, etc. Its pretty dummy proof. But, I can't help to think about how "real" preschool does so many fun activities to go along with the topics. So, I am now trying to think of ways to make each lesson more thorough and more fun.

We started yesterday while D was taking his nap. First we read our weekly bible verse and then read a story and a poem. We also had a brief science story about the seasons. We started learning about Winter. See, here is where I need an activity - about Winter. Maybe make a craft with cotton balls (snowballs) on construction paper? Sounds like a plan for tomorrow. :-)

She then did a few workbook pages learning about things that are "the same" and things that are "different." She was very good at this! To make the end of the day fun, we played a game of Alphabet Bingo which she LOVED! You would have thought it was as exciting as Cranium or something!

The whole "school day" lasted right at an hour long which is very doable for us. We did it again today beginning with the Pledge of Allegiance, a prayer, and a bible story on creation. We read The Pokey Little Puppy and 2 poems and then did an activity to differentiate between sounds that were "the same" and sounds that were "different." She loved today as well as we finished with a Backyardigans game of Memory.

Mostly, I think she loves the one on one time with me :-) She thrives when I sit down with her and spend uninterrupted (well today D was awake and it WAS interrupted many times) time teaching her and reading to her. Really, how many kids get to sit on the teacher's lap when they read the books?

Tomorrow, we will continue in our lessons. I think we will focus some more on writing some letters properly. She can't wait for tomorrow since I told her our activity to conclude school will be finger painting. Oy! We've never attempted that before :-)

On a side note, how do you like the new color scheme? B and I decided to make it look a little more "Fall like." It will take some getting used to, but overall, I think I like it! Thanks, Honey!