After getting really lax and taking almost all of last week off due to daddy being on vacation for 3 days for Thanksgiving... I'm now trying to get us back in the swing of things. I have to admit that over the last 2 weeks I've felt like I've hit a wall. The inner high school senior is me has reared it's ugly head and I'm wondering when the heck this year is going to be over because I'm ready for summer! I'm thinking that's not a good thing when it's not even December yet. I'm also thinking it means I need to restructure our curriculum a bit becuase if I'm getting this bored, then surely they aren't too far behind? Maybe I'm wrong, but this is Preschool after all and I think they need more fun in the mix. Then again, maybe it's just a case of the holiday antsy's? I also know that we'll be on vacation up to Disneyland for the girls birthday all next week, plus getting ready for their b-day party this weekend has me itching to just accomplish things without school in the mix. I know however that this is really good for them (and me) and if I'm more careful with how I prep and organize my time I wouldn't be feeling quite so much of a strain.
Today instead of following our usual curriculum I just grabbed random workbooks, games, and activities that fit into each category of our day: ie: Bible, Writing, Sight Words, Math, Reading, Language, and Art. I'm kinda thinking that's better and less monotonous than just doing the same type of worksheet every day. I will definitely still add those in, but maybe do a lot more mixing up to keep it fun. Because today was actually fun again (for me anyway) and they seemed to really enjoy it so that's a plus.
Monday, November 28, 2011
Monday, November 21, 2011
Finding our Groove
I really feel like the girls and I have found our groove with this whole homeschool thing. At times I feel like our curriculum is a bit repetitive... and I admit I get a bit lazy and don't always add in fun creative things to the daily schedule. The girls really love the bonus activities like workbooks, art, and hands on manipulatives and I really need to be better about including those in our weekly curriculum rather than just the standard worksheets we tend to do each week. The repetitiveness isn't too bad though becuase it really does help them to learn and grow.
I think most days they really enjoy everything we do and I've really enjoyed watching how far they've come in such a short amount of time.
- Our white board contains the letter of the week, and the sight words we're working on. This day we were working on addition. I would put up the magnets and then they would answer by putting the correct number magnets on their board as an answer. They enjoyed it becuase it was different than just writing the numbers like they usually do.
- I'm surprised how much better the girls have gotten with their word ladders in just a few short weeks. They still struggle a bit with blend ladders where they add an ending letter to create a word, but they do really well adding the letters to the beginning of the word family.
- We're still slowly but surely working on our cutting. They are getting much better and having an easier time controlling their cuts, but still have a ways to go to cut accurately.
- Still plugging away at our weekly Cubbies lesson's for Bible time. It's amazing how quickly they can memorize their verses. I just love that they are hiding God's work in their hearts!
- Getting better and better at their handwriting. We've started working on writing their names correctly with a capital and then lowercase... but they have quite loudly voiced that they don't want to do it that way. Hoping it's not too hard of a habit to break, and Brin is already doing better, but the little e gives her trouble almost every time.
- We've start putting together and reading their first sentences. Some days they have more patience than others but I'm amazed at how they can already sound out simple words. I try not to push it though and when I see them getting frustrated we just finish what we are on and move on.
- The girls are doing well with their sight words. It still hasn't quite clicked with them that the sight words are the same ones that are in sentences, but I'm sure it will happen soon. At least they are quick to sound them out if they get stumped.
- They really love these color by number workbooks. They have really found a love for coloring (especially Av) and it's fun to watch their creativity bloom through their artwork.
I think most days they really enjoy everything we do and I've really enjoyed watching how far they've come in such a short amount of time.
- Our white board contains the letter of the week, and the sight words we're working on. This day we were working on addition. I would put up the magnets and then they would answer by putting the correct number magnets on their board as an answer. They enjoyed it becuase it was different than just writing the numbers like they usually do.
- I'm surprised how much better the girls have gotten with their word ladders in just a few short weeks. They still struggle a bit with blend ladders where they add an ending letter to create a word, but they do really well adding the letters to the beginning of the word family.
- We're still slowly but surely working on our cutting. They are getting much better and having an easier time controlling their cuts, but still have a ways to go to cut accurately.
- Still plugging away at our weekly Cubbies lesson's for Bible time. It's amazing how quickly they can memorize their verses. I just love that they are hiding God's work in their hearts!
- Getting better and better at their handwriting. We've started working on writing their names correctly with a capital and then lowercase... but they have quite loudly voiced that they don't want to do it that way. Hoping it's not too hard of a habit to break, and Brin is already doing better, but the little e gives her trouble almost every time.
- We've start putting together and reading their first sentences. Some days they have more patience than others but I'm amazed at how they can already sound out simple words. I try not to push it though and when I see them getting frustrated we just finish what we are on and move on.
- The girls are doing well with their sight words. It still hasn't quite clicked with them that the sight words are the same ones that are in sentences, but I'm sure it will happen soon. At least they are quick to sound them out if they get stumped.
- They really love these color by number workbooks. They have really found a love for coloring (especially Av) and it's fun to watch their creativity bloom through their artwork.
Thursday, November 17, 2011
Life Lessons
Today our school was more of a life lesson... taught & learned by Mommy. That lesson was, "don't procrastinate on your housework or you'll find yourself using school time to clean becuase you forgot about the TV repairman who called and will be arriving in 2.5 hours." Whoops! So right when I found myself getting ready to start our day, and thinking the 4 days of dishes piling up from hubby being out of town, and the disaster downstairs becuase I haven't kept on top of things could just wait a few more hours until after school. I suddenly needed to get it done and school time was the only time left to finish. I spent 2 straight hours doing dishes, vacuuming, dusting, sweeping, washing the floors, scrubbing toilets, putting away laundry, de-cluttering, and cleaning the kitchen. The girls did their part by cleaning up their toys and putting all their shoes and clothes away.
With about 30 minutes of school time to spare we played with our plastic shapes to build pictures, and drew with markers. I plan to give them lunch and then read a few library books after the repairman comes. The bad news is we didn't get to do our lessons for the day, and we didn't do them yesterday becuase they stayed the night at Gama's... but the good news is I now have a clean house and an entire day to spend playing with my girls without any work hanging over my head. So I guess hooray for small blessings!
With about 30 minutes of school time to spare we played with our plastic shapes to build pictures, and drew with markers. I plan to give them lunch and then read a few library books after the repairman comes. The bad news is we didn't get to do our lessons for the day, and we didn't do them yesterday becuase they stayed the night at Gama's... but the good news is I now have a clean house and an entire day to spend playing with my girls without any work hanging over my head. So I guess hooray for small blessings!
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
Elephant & Piggie
The girls already own an Elephant & Piggie book by Mo Willems which was given to them by a dear friend. They love their book and it's such a cute fun story. We've since starting to check them out from the library from time to time and they really are all cute stories. My favorite was "My Friend is Sad" which is all about Piggie doing funny things to cheer up Gerald the Elephant. Piggie disguises himself as all of Garald's favorite things, but it doesn't cheer up Gerald, he only gets more sad. Piggie finally shows up as herself and Gerald is so happy becuase while all these cool things showed up, it wasn't his best friend Piggie so he was so sad. It's such a sweet story about friendship and teaches a really great lesson! So go check it out, you won't regret it!
Monday, November 14, 2011
Giving Thanks!
For the next two weeks leading up to Thanksgiving we are spending time focusing on what we are thankful for. We are talking about giving thanks to God for all he has provided for us, thanking others for things they do, and having a kind and thankful heart. Here are some of the things the girls have been thankful for so far:
Avalyn - The Love her Mommy & Daddy give her, her bed, Nana
Brinley - Her House, Her Mommy, Daddy & Sister, Auntie Stacey & Uncle Matt
It's so fun watching them think really hard and then get excited about something they are thankful for. I truly hope we can ingrain in them from an early age how blessed we are and how thankful we should be for all that God has given us and the freedom he's allowed us to have.
Avalyn - The Love her Mommy & Daddy give her, her bed, Nana
Brinley - Her House, Her Mommy, Daddy & Sister, Auntie Stacey & Uncle Matt
It's so fun watching them think really hard and then get excited about something they are thankful for. I truly hope we can ingrain in them from an early age how blessed we are and how thankful we should be for all that God has given us and the freedom he's allowed us to have.
Thursday, November 10, 2011
Giving In
So this morning after forcing my bleary eyes open and doing my Bible Study I came downstairs to get breakfast. I stayed up way too late last night reading and was truly paying for it by being beyond tired. The girls were happily playing candy-land and my little ponies when I announced it was time to get dressed and pick up for school. They both looked at me and said, "Noooooo, please no school today mommy. We want to play our story and we just started." The tired in me just couldn't resist so I actually gave in and said, "okay... but know we can't do this next year for Kindergarten, we have to have school every day." They both jumped up and down and thanked me over and over so happy to continue playing. I on the other hand made myself some breakfast and then climbed back into my bed with my book. I only felt a liiitle bit guilty, but decided that I was too tired to care.
So yah, I'm a total loser homeschool mom and I know I should have just pushed through... but I took the easy road. I figure I won't be able to take advantage of "days off" next year so I might as well do it now. Booo! Oh well, I'm not gonna lie... it was really nice to just get laundry done, watch a movie with the girls, and relax with my book.
So yah, I'm a total loser homeschool mom and I know I should have just pushed through... but I took the easy road. I figure I won't be able to take advantage of "days off" next year so I might as well do it now. Booo! Oh well, I'm not gonna lie... it was really nice to just get laundry done, watch a movie with the girls, and relax with my book.
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Super Why ABC Letter Game
For our last Funday I thought we should play something educational, so I pulled out our Super Why ABC Letter Game! Not only is it fun, but it teaches letters, phonics, reading and spelling. You move your Super Why character around the board and draw a card that corresponds with the space you land on. There are 4 types of cards that do the following:
Alpha Pig with Alphabet Power: Players point to the uppercase letter on the board that matches the lowercase letter on the card.
Wonder Red with Word Power: Players read the words or look at the pictures on the card and say another word or words that rhyme.
Princess Presto with Spelling Power: Players say the word pictured on the card, then point to the first letter or fist two letters of that word on the center of the board.
Super Why with the Power to Read: Players point to the word on the board that should replace the underlined word on the card to make the silly sentence make sense.
I really recommend it as a fun way to interact with your kids and get them to enjoy basic reading and sounding out words. It also helps them get excited when mommy doesn't know the answer and needs their help. ;-)
Alpha Pig with Alphabet Power: Players point to the uppercase letter on the board that matches the lowercase letter on the card.
Wonder Red with Word Power: Players read the words or look at the pictures on the card and say another word or words that rhyme.
Princess Presto with Spelling Power: Players say the word pictured on the card, then point to the first letter or fist two letters of that word on the center of the board.
Super Why with the Power to Read: Players point to the word on the board that should replace the underlined word on the card to make the silly sentence make sense.
I really recommend it as a fun way to interact with your kids and get them to enjoy basic reading and sounding out words. It also helps them get excited when mommy doesn't know the answer and needs their help. ;-)
Monday, November 7, 2011
Neglect
My poor blog has been neglected for the past few weeks. We unfortunately had our first case of the sickies that knocked us out for an entire week. The girls both got really high fevers (up to 104) for 3 days along with headaches, and a cough. It pretty much kept us from school for the entire week and once Friday rolled around I too was feeling a bit under the weather so we just watched way too much TV and tried to rest. I can't feel guilty about that though becuase I rested enough to keep whatever it was from coming on and I was 100% by Monday! Horray!!!
Last week I decided to do Monday Funday with games and reading since it was Halloween and then do Wednesday through Friday school. Here is a recap of some of our recent activities!
Shhhh! Don't tell anyone I let them stay in the PJ's one day. I'm really good about us getting up and dressed every day before school... but it was our first cold day of fall and they were so warm and cozy in their fleece PJ's so I let it slide! ;-) Activities - Putting their alphabet in the correct order, Lacing Cards, Letter Find, and Making Numbers as I call them out.
Writing worksheets, Missing Numbers, Spelling Recognition, Shape Tracing, Word Ladders, and simple Addition. For our Cubbies lessons we've been going through creation. As an art project I drew up the first 3 days of creation we had learned and they colored them with marker while I read Genesis 1.
Last week I decided to do Monday Funday with games and reading since it was Halloween and then do Wednesday through Friday school. Here is a recap of some of our recent activities!
Shhhh! Don't tell anyone I let them stay in the PJ's one day. I'm really good about us getting up and dressed every day before school... but it was our first cold day of fall and they were so warm and cozy in their fleece PJ's so I let it slide! ;-) Activities - Putting their alphabet in the correct order, Lacing Cards, Letter Find, and Making Numbers as I call them out.
Writing worksheets, Missing Numbers, Spelling Recognition, Shape Tracing, Word Ladders, and simple Addition. For our Cubbies lessons we've been going through creation. As an art project I drew up the first 3 days of creation we had learned and they colored them with marker while I read Genesis 1.
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