Lessons Learned from a Preschooler....

Dear Mama,

I am a born person. I've been listening to your voice and thinking about what you say since conception. I have thoughts and feelings. I can read your mood and disposition. I have intelligence. Give me ideas and I will make relations.

Please be patient with me. I really don't want to be naughty or annoying. Sometimes, I get hungry, tired, or need your attention and don't know how else to show you. Distractions help me to see there are other ways than throwing a fit. I also need discipline and long for structure. It helps me feel safe.

I love to play outside. I am in awe and wonder of nature. I'm interested in birds and trees. Come, go for a walk with me. Rain, snow, or shine, I want to be out-of-doors. Let's go jump off the dock or in a puddle.

Narration is natural as I really want to tell you about what I see and hear. You don't even have to ask me, I just can't wait to share with you everything I am learning.

Read me a story. This is how I develop my speech, vocabulary, and early reading skills. I love to hear your voice. I don't need a curriculum or any fancy bells and whistles. Just put down your electronic device and look me in the eye. I want to have conversation with you.

Playtime is important. You may have noticed that I act out what I see and hear. I enjoy playing dress-up, being a princess, a cowboy, or a puppy. I like to climb, run, jump. I don't need a jungle gym. God's creation is my playground. I can make swords and guns out of sticks. I love to eat stone soup and best of all I can't wait to pick you a handful of wildflowers.

I really want to be your helper! I want to be just like you so give me little jobs where I can show my skills. I like to measure and pour, sweep and dust. I can even match socks, fold laundry, and put my dirty dishes in the sink. Teach me how to work.

This is how I learn.

Love,
Your Preschooler

Thoughts on Preschool and an Update....

At mid year, a few weeks ago, I posted reviews on Riley's Beautiful Feet Ancient History study and Ruben's HOD Creation to Christ study. Today, I'm going to share a bit about what we've been doing for Preschool (4K) with Levi.

The longer I homeschool, parent, and live life in general, the more I've come to realize better late than early is best. I have not read Raymond and Dorothy Moore's book because I've been unable to obtain a copy, but I'm willing to bet I'd be in agreement with much of what they have to say. I can now see areas where I pushed my other kids too early with tragic results, after all, hind sight is 20/20.

Preschool is a time for play. I don't believe in scheduling early childhood. Instead, reading good books, hands on activities, and time in nature are the way we spend our days. Because Levi asked and wanted to participate with the older kids, I did give him new supplies such as colored pencils, crayons, markers, scissors, paper, coloring books, etc, at the beginning of the school year. We keep a stack of scrap paper in our school room, which is basically any one sided page that is no longer needed. This comes in handy for cutting, drawing pictures, math scrap paper, etc. and it is used by all the kids.

In addition, I collected oodles of items at thrift sales in the past to create what I call 'time occupying totes'. We keep these totes off to the side in our school room and Levi can play with them anytime throughout the day, provided he plays quietly if I'm working with one of the other kids. These have been a life saver for me and Levi loves them! The totes contain things like Lauri Dot-2-Dot Lacing Cards; Play-Doh with design supplies; Wikki-Stix; a variety of Lauri and wooden puzzles, including shapes, right/left hand, letters, and numbers; Discovery Toys Playful Patterns; and Lakeshore Craft Scissors.

Aside from the totes, we have many puzzles, flannel board stories and fraction pieces, wooden blocks, an abacus, tangrams, and other math manipulatives that he plays with. Again, these are not scheduled and I don't have lesson plans. Instead, Levi simply chooses something, sits down and quietly explores on his own while I'm working with the other kids.

Over and above this, we read a plethora of picture books and he plays outside pretty much daily.  More recently, Levi has been asking to participate with the other kids in their assignments, particularly Ruben. When Ruben is narrating, Levi asks for a turn to try. When Ruben is coloring, Levi colors. When Ruben illustrates his poetry, Levi creates an illustration, and so on and so forth. It's interesting to see him acquire a desire for learning as he watches us in the day to day.

Preschool shouldn't be structured with busy work and lesson plans. This will lead to burnout for both you and your student. Keep it simple. Create a love of learning by allowing exploration and imagination to happen. There will be a time and place for intentional reading and math lessons, but preschool is not it!

By the way, I did buy Before Five in a Row, intending to use it with Levi this year, but after trying it, I've decided to simply read and enjoy the books, rather than do all the planned activities.

Rock, Paper, Scissors...

...okay, not quite, but I do have the paper and scissors part covered thanks to Timberdoodle.   Recently, we were gifted Faber-Castell My First Scissors and Kumon More Let's Cut Paper! in exchange for an honest review.  Both of these items are part of Timberdoodle's 2016 Preschool Kit.

My First Scissors

I was a little skeptical of an ergonomic design scissors.  One of Levi's strengths is using a traditional style scissors.  He's been fascinated with cutting paper for a couple of years now and I wondered how he'd handle this strange looking cutting apparatus.  I needn't have worried.  He handled them like a pro.  The ergonomic design was very natural to him.

I don't have a left handed child, but my sister is left handed and always struggled with a traditional scissors. We still giggle at her early elementary report card that said, 'difficulty with cutting tasks'.  I believe My First Scissors would have been tremendously helpful to her, as well as other left handed children.  Because of the design, no matter which way you hold it, cutting is the same.

More Let's Cut Paper!

I used a few odds and ends Kumon workbooks years ago when we first began homeschooling.  Riley and Ruben were little then and quite honestly I forgot about Kumon until Timberdoole nudged my memory.   The colorful no nonsense designs were appealing to them back then.  More Let's Cut Paper! fell right in line with what I remembered.

This particular book is part of Kumon's First Steps Workbooks. In this series, there are four Let's Cut Paper books designed for ages 2 and up.  At the beginning of the book, More Let's Cut Paper! contains easy to follow step-by-step illustrated instructions for parents.  Then there are 39 student cutting pages to follow, as well as a "Certificate of Achievement" and "Reusable Drawing Board".  Parents are expected to remove cutting pages ahead of time and follow simple instructions to lead their child.  For example, cutting page one states:

Your child will practice cutting short lines with two scissor strokes.  First, say "clown" aloud while pointing to the word.  It is okay if your child cuts unevenly. 

Each student page has heavy gray lines with arrows indicating where the student should cut.  The pages progress in difficulty from simple straight to wavy lines, then curvy to circular, eventually leading to cutting out actual pictures and shapes, such as a bunch of bananas, grapes, an ice cream cone, a panda bear and dog face, etc.  The idea is to help your child develop fine motor control skills.  Here are several sample pages to illustrate the sequence in degree of difficulty...

Overall My First Scissors and More Let's Cut Paper! are great preschool products that Levi is enjoying.  

2016-2017 Homeschool Plan, Preschool....

Our baby turned four years old this summer.  He will not be attending 4K.  I am not a huge fan of preschool.  I'm of the mind that young children need to romp and roam.  They need to be read great books.  They need time in the out of doors nurturing their imagination.

“In this time of extraordinary pressure, educational and social, perhaps a mother’s first duty to her children is to secure for them a quiet growing time, a full six years of passive receptive life, the waking part of it spent for the most part out in the fresh air”. - Charlotte Mason, Vol. 1, p. 43

These are the days I am so thankful for homeschooling.  I can allow our children "quiet growing time" as Charlotte says.  Only because Levi has been asking to "do school" like Riley and Ruben did I pick up a few things of an educational nature, particularly to fill time on those long cold Wisconsin winter days.

Before Five in a Row - I wish I would have used the Five in a Row program with Riley and Ruben.  Now, I finally get my chance.  I'm so excited about the books.  Levi loves to be read to and I believe FIAR offers some of the best children's literature.  I'm not sure how many of the activities we'll do, but we will definitely be snuggled up reading.

Levi loves to cut paper so I was very excited when Timberdoodle sent us Faber-Castell My First Scissors and Kumon More Let's Cut Paper in exchange for a blog review.  He's used to a regular scissors so I'll be curious to see how he does with the ergonomic design.  I'll let you know how it goes.

I also purchased We Live on a Farm coloring book and About Three, both from Rod & Staff.  Again, because these are activities Levi enjoys.  He's already asking to color in his new coloring book.

Lastly, I plan to create activity boxes so he has something to do while I'm working with Riley and Ruben.  I found two large Ziploc bags of Play-Doh toys at a thrift sale.  I plan to buy or make some new Play-Doh and put it with the toys in one activity box.  I also found a Lakeshore Learning caddy with child size crafting scissors, which I will pair with scrap paper and glue in another box.  I'd like to make four boxes total, one for each day of our school week.  Let me know if you have ideas for other quiet activity boxes.

The Importance of Puzzles in Preschool...

Levi loves puzzles!...and I think they are an important part of preschool play.   Puzzles promote thinking skills.  There is strategy involved in figuring out which piece fits where.  A child can see the importance of following a sequence as each piece fits into a certain place.  Puzzles also aid in the development of hand/eye coordination as the child practices placing pieces in a variety of positions until finding the right fit. 

Puzzles develop fine motor skills as little hands grasp pieces, manipulating them to and fro.  Some puzzles have wooden knobs that help with the development of pincer fingers.  All of them strengthen small muscles in the hand, which are needed for penmanship.  Both boys love floor puzzles, which also allow for use of gross motor skills. 

I love wooden puzzles like the ones created by Melissa & Doug!  They are hand crafted and high quality.  Remember the old cardboard puzzles...the board would warp, the pieces would bend, eventually breaking off.  After a short time, it was near impossible to make everything fit.  This does not happen with wooden puzzles.  They are sturdy and hold up to the test of time.  I have had part of the wooden puzzle picture peel off, but you can still fit the pieces together.

I believe puzzles help develop the habit of attention.  In the photos below, Levi is 2 3/4 years of age. (He looks like a baby compared to now :(  Anyway, he did not look up, nor pay any attention as the pictures were being snapped.  He was deep in concentration.  I love the look of satisfaction in the last photo where he's admiring the finished product.  Puzzles in preschool are important!

The Early Years....

I recently checked this book out of our local public library and discovered what an invaluable resource it is for parents of young children.  Whether you plan to homeschool or are readying your child for a traditional school, The Early Years: A Charlotte Mason Preschool Handbook by Sonya Shafer and Karen Smith is a real treasure.

Part 1 starts off with "The Chief Duty of Parents".  Charlotte Mason encouraged parents in their duties of instilling good habits and nourishing their child's mind.  This section will help you understand Charlotte's thoughts on these duties.  Parts 2 & 3 break down forming right habits and nourishing the mind into more specific areas such as "Proper Physical Care, Using the Senses, Nature, Play, Books & Stories, The Alphabet, Spiritual Life", etc.

Within each section, there are quotes from Ms. Mason's personal writings supporting her ideas.  Shafer and Smith have taken it a step further by extracting and summarizing practical ideas from these quotes for nurturing your preschooler.  For example, in Chapter 12, The Alphabet, there are such suggestions as "Draw letters in the air and see if your child can name them,...." and "Many children will learn the alphabet on their own, but there is no harm in teaching it when approached as play."

The Appendix in the back gives Charlotte's thoughts on kindergarten as well as ideas for beginning reading, math, and handwriting.  "Instead of academic or social pressures, Charlotte encouraged mothers to give their little ones a full six years of developing good habits, getting acquainted with nature, exploring the five senses, growing in their spiritual lives, and playing outdoors."

I'm looking forward to spending more time with The Early Years when Levi gets to the preschool stage.  I recommend this book and the Simply Charlotte Mason website for anyone interested in educating their child or learning more about Charlotte Mason and her methods.

I was thrilled to see that Simply Charlotte Mason released a video DVD this week titled Enjoying the Early Years.  It's a companion DVD to The Early Years that was recorded at a live workshop.  I watched the trailer and I can't wait to get my hands on a copy to watch in its entirety!!  What an amazing resource for preschool families :)

Curriculum 2007-2008 and 2008-2009

I've decided to post a 3 part series on what curriculum we've used since we started homeschooling.  You will see that our philosophy has evolved and changed since the beginning.  We've used a variety of curriculum over the last five years including Bob Jones, ABeka, Horizons, Math-U-See, Saxon, Sonlight, Rod & Staff, etc. etc.  We've also added 2 students since we started :)


2007-2008 


Angel Grade 6

We pulled Angel out of public school in October of her 6th grade year.  I knew absolutely nothing about homeschooling.  We started at the library, moved to Borders book store, and then networked with some current and former homeschooling moms.  Here's what we ended up doing our first year...

Spectrum World Geography

Making the Grade: Everything Your 6th Grader Needs to Know - I used this as a spine for an introduction to World History and supplemented with many library books; I also used the Science portion of this book along with A Beka Choosing Good Health

A Beka Arithmetic 6


A Beka Language C

2008-2009


Angel Grade 7

American Government - coincided with fall election

Geography - this was another Spectrum workbook

Apologia General Science


A Beka Arithmetic 7


Bob Jones English 



Riley Ann Pre-K  

This dd has an early September birthday and was begging to "do school" at a young age so we used Bob Jones K5 Beginnings program.

ABeka kindergarten math

Horizons kindergarten math - she finished ABeka early and wanted more so we did the first 1/2 of Horizons - I do not recommend this for every kid :)


To be continued....