Preschool at Home!

Or, in our case, START SCHOOL!

I posted this post almost exactly a year ago.  At the time, I either didn’t know yet, or had just found out I was pregnant with baby #3, (I can’t remember!).  I was in la-la land with my expectations of what I could accomplish while dealing with morning sickness, exhaustion, heartburn, more exhaustion, the uncomfortableness of a big belly, and exhaustion that comes with pregnancy and caring for 2 small children.  We did exactly 1 week of preschool.  Letter L for Ladybug.  We had fun.  But I just couldn’t do it after that. 

So here we are, one year later and I’m determined to make it work this time!  Caleb is almost 4 months old and is sleeping a solid 7-8 hours at night, so I’m feeling more like myself than I have in a year!  Not to mention that we are all going crazy with lack of a routine and constructive things to fill our days.  I’m hoping that preschool and Tot School for Abby will actually make things easier around here.

I’m going to copy and paste a lot of what I wrote last year because a lot of it is staying the same.  The difference is that I’m going to be more relaxed and less structured with the actives that go along with the themes.  Rather than planning which activities to do on which days, I’m just going to fill bins with things to do and let them choose what and when to do them.  Abby is actually going to use a lot of what I had planned for Adam last year, and Adam is getting more advanced work.

We start tomorrow, August 6th!  We are going to start our school time with Circle Time which the kids have really enjoyed in the past.  Then, I’m thinking we’ll probably just spend 30-60 minutes doing activities or art together and, if Abby and Caleb allow, I’m hoping to get either math or handwriting done with Adam.  Then, in the afternoon when the littles are napping, Adam and I will do a reading lesson together before he heads off to quiet time.  When I think about it like that, I can handle 90 minutes of “school” a day!  Especially because most of it is just playing around and reading!

My 3 main goals for Adam this year are learning to read, learning to write, and beginning math skills.

READING

All About Reading Level Pre-1

I’m very excited about our reading program!  We’ve been using All About Reading Level Pre-1 since January and we both love it!  We took a long break when I was on hospital bed rest and then after Caleb was born, but we’ve been doing a few lessons here and there lately and Adam begs for it every day!  We’re about 1/3 of the way through and even in just the past 6 months, Adam has grown so much and we’ll be ready to move right into Level 1 as soon as we finish this level. 

In addition to reading lessons, we’re going to be reading together a lot!  I’ve read the books Read for the Heart: Whole Books for Whole-Hearted Families and The Read-Aloud Handbook and I’m excited to read longer picture books and then short chapter books to Adam.  I’m putting together a train chart to record every book we read for our read-aloud time so we can see just how much we’re reading together!

Adam has also been playing Reading Eggs online.  I got an awesome deal on a yearly membership and he has actually learned how to sight read a bunch of words!

HANDWRITING

Handwriting Without Tears: Get Set For School Pre-K

I am so excited about this program! It’s very hands on and we’ll rotate whether he makes letters with play-doh, uses the Stamp & See Screen (magna-doodle), uses wet sponges and/or chalk on a slate, or practices writing in sand, pudding, shaving cream, etc.  Last year the plan was to do one letter each week, corresponding to the Letter of the Week.  This year, we are just going to work through it from start to finish.  I’m thinking twice a week.  In the past few months, Adam has learned how to write his name and is finally showing a real interest in writing!

MATH

Math-U-See Primer

I’ve been researching homeschooling for a long time now.  One of the things I enjoy is researching different educational philosophies and curriculums.  For Math, the one I have been drawn to over and over again is Math-U-See.  It uses manipulative blocks to teach the physical nature of numbers and math.

As a math-a-phobic (yeah, I made that up…..much like "uncomfortableness” above), I’m hoping my children inherit their Dad’s ease of understanding.  The Math-U-See Primer level is an easy introduction to numbers, place value, and simple addition and subtraction.  Like handwriting, we’re just going to work through this at his own pace, aiming to work on it 2-3 times a week.

 

WEEKLY THEME

Letter of the Week Preschool and K4 Curriculums by Erica at Confessions of a Homeschooler.

Abby will be able to do a lot of the Letter of the Week activities and Adam will be do the more advanced things as well as activities from the K4 curriculum. 

To go along with the letter theme of the week, we will read the corresponding book from,
AlphaTales Box Set: A Set of 26 Irresistible Animal That Build Phonemic Awareness and Teach Each Letter of the Alphabet



We will also read the corresponding poem from the e-book ABC Poem of the Week from Scholastic Teaching Resources.

I have planned a few weeks throughout the year to take a break from Letter of the Week and do a fun Preschool Pack by Jolanthe at Homeschool Creations and Carisa at 1+1+1=1 or to re-do the Before Five in a Row book units that I did with Adam when he was Abby’s age.

Last year I wrote about incorporating Spanish…..I’m giving myself a break here in an effort to simplify!

So there you have it.  Our preschool at home plan!  Juggling a preschooler, toddler, and baby isn’t going to easy but that’s already my life anyway!  

Adam cannot wait to get started….and neither can I!