Along with some blessed and very welcome sunshine, we are making some changes in our house, and it's been a beautiful thing.
--Side note: We are seriously contemplating homeschooling our children and purchasing an RV so we can chase the sun. Wonder Daddy is favoring Southern California for January-March. OK, not seriously...but still...it's a pipe dream.--
We've always filled our days with whatever came along, whether it was alone time, play dates, walks, libraries, or whatever stumbled across our path but this last week I've tried to be a bit more deliberate in what we're doing. Starting Monday, we've spent each day focusing on a letter of the alphabet and working a little bit on math and music concepts. It's been a blast, and Ernie is so much calmer. I'm exhausted at the end of the day, with almost no down time, but it's an HONEST exhaustion. It feels nice to be working so hard. She has such a fantastic memory, it's fun to teach her to read new words every day.
Here are our lesson plans from this last week, so you can see what I mean.
A 4/6/09
- Find A words in books
- Scriptures: I Am A Child of God
- Practice drawing A's (Didn't do)
- I draw, she gives them faces.
- I write words, she adds A and we sound it out
- She makes shapes with chop sticks
- Make playdough
- make letters
- A lunch: strAwberries, grilled cheese sAndwich
- Nature walk: airplane, cAr, etc.
- Math: Manipulating chocolate chips (half, whole, addition, subtraction up to 10)
- A is for Apple accordian book- numbered pages, draw that many seeds on each page.
B 4/7/2009
- Find B words in books
- paper Balloons for Grandpa Don's birthday- we can tacky them to the windows and string them from the chandelier (she drew HAPPY BIRTHDAY on them, by herself! I just told her which letters to write.)
- Nature walk: look for bees, birds, boats
- Help me make Bread
- Boats in the bathtub?? (didn't do)
- Scripture: ABinadi
C 4/8/2009
- Cups: large tupperware of beans, she used her measuring cups
- Cake: Decorating paper cake with candles and blueberries
- playing with "cups" (mini cake tins) and play dough
- C books
- Scriptures: Jesus Christ's resurrection
- Movie: Cinderella
D 4/9/2009
- D books: NumberlanD (her choice)
- craft: drawing Dogs
- Activity: acting like a dog and duck
- Treat: donuts :)
- Cut a Daffodil for her room
- Scriptures: David and Goliath
E 4/10/2009 (we have a playdate, so the plans aren't as firm for today)
- Easter eggs
- dye Easter eggs
- paper easter eggs to hang from chandelier
- Make string eggs (glue, string, small balloon as form)
And finally, here's a project we started tonight that I hope will take up some of Saturday afternoon when the girls are bored and Daddy is still at work (we are SO excited for tax season to end!) I'll post more pictures, and an explanation, when I'm sure that it's going to work!
Do you have any favorite resources for homeschooling/preschool lesson plans or activities? After a week, play dough and markers start to lose their luster and I'm feeling like a one-trick pony :)
9 comments:
What you need are more paints, feathers, glitter, googly eyes and paper plates in your life!
Oh - and Stone Soup. It's not really an education until you've made stone soup.
This was a timely post for me. Thank you. :) This week has been full of tough days and it hit me after reading your post that William needs more. More activities and learning opportunities. I'm going to make some changes today and see if how things go.
I like this blog: http://chasingcheerios.blogspot.com/ it's got some good activities on it.
Casey
I totally agree with the first comment! It seems the more messy and sparkly the craft is the better my four year old likes it! I like the site makeandtakes.com for craft ideas, and flipflopsandapplesauce.com too.
Sometimes when I'm done in with activities I give her free reign with a handful of craft items, it makes a huge mess but it keeps her busy for hours (really, hours!) or I give her a little bit of flour in a big baking dish, some measuring cups, an apron and the kitchen sink. Yes, it's messy but it works for the afternoon boredoms!
Beautiful! Have a glorious Easter weekend!
Hi, Myrnie! I'm a friend of Kim's. Have you checked out Waldorf stuff for homeschooling? My homeschooling friends through in some Montessori tools for a bit more structure. MagicCabin.com is a good source. Take care,
Anne
I miss those kind of days- enjoy. They grow up so fast.
Happy Easter
Sounds like you are doing an amazing job! You might check out www.letteroftheweek.com The site is completely free and she has a lot of really great ideas. I have used it with the boys (not as consistently as I would like, but...) It has worked really well when I actually do it. Good luck!
Also, it was great seeing you guys at PJ's show! Thank you so much for coming!
Thanks, everyone! I am so excited to check out these links!
Wow - no wonder you are tired. Looks like fun = but lots of work for mommy! Oh what we do for our children. Watch out for burnout - that can happen when you are the one-trick pony! LOL
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