Preschool Homeschool

I'm getting a banner put on this blog so that when I have a post like this one, I can put it under the homeschooling tab because I'm quite sure not even half of you might care to know these minor details of our life. But for those who do, here's a little update in the homeshcooling department.

If we plan to be here quite awhile (which is currently the plan) then eventually I'd love to figure out a few classes that they can go to out at the school we've started at Mattaw Children's Village. (and might I add, if we do leave, we'll be starting another one of what we are doing now, just in a different area or country... that's at least the dream in our heart)

For now though, its just easier to school Elisha at home. I'm by no means on a strict schedule. I at least do 3 times a week and each time for an hour. It's very simple and isn't so scary once you start. Ok, so maybe I do kinda like it! There's a few more families around here that are more long term and eventually we might do a co-op thing. I really hope.

SO, what are we doing now? Well, I had a friend while we were in the states give me a preschool home school book that I love. It works great. But I also found a curriculum on a blog that I like as well. Between the two, I manage to mesh them. Because at this point Elisha is not fully a preschooler to me. There are things from one curriculum that he can learn at the moment and some things he's not quite at that level. Then same goes for the other curriculum. The thing I really like about the one I found on a blog is the poster idea. It's cheap, simple, sticks to the point, and gives a lot of visuals that Elisha can easily remember and grasp. I really like it also because there is a weekly poem, games, and hands on projects that it gives links to so we can easily print it off. I didn't think he would like hearing me read to him with no pictures, but turns out he likes them. And we add hand motions to them to make it a tad bit easier to engage in. (because anywhere we can improve that for Elisha is a HUGE help!)

THIS is the blog I get weekly lesson plans from: ourpreschoolhomeschool.blogspot.com

which actually a lot of what she does is taken from HERE: www.letteroftheweek.com/Preparatory.html

(it seemed not that great at first, just random thrown together plan, but the more I clicked around, it turned out to be perfect for us, we did tweak a few things though)

And THIS is the book we use: http://www.athomepubs.com/earlyeducation.html

Here's our poster that is the center of what we do. We start out praying, sing some songs, dance around, then do a review of the poster. Then each day I read the poem that supports the theme of the week. Ok, so the themes can be pretty random. (excuse the massive creepy picture of the eyeball!) But there ends up being games, lessons, poems and books that go with it that we enjoy. Instead of using their vocabulary word, I found a website that we do bible themed words that go with the letter of the week. This has amazingly been the one category that Elisha ALWAYS remembers. With this theme, I found a bob the tomato activity and cut his eyes out then blind folded Elisha and let him try to pin it in the right place. We had a few laughs.

So for A it is angel. When I ask him what that is, he says "a for angel, God created for fighting for us" (he's a boy, its one aspect of an angel, naturally I taught him that and he got it quick). Then B is for Bible and Elisha says "B is Bible, it's God's Wooooord". C is Cross, "Jesus saved us", D is dove, "Holy Spirit, gift from God". I usually find a verse too and read it everyday but he hasn't quite got there in memorizing. I'm just extremely proud of what he has learned so far!

With this book, it will apply more as he starts getting older throughout this year. There's more verbal learning rather than pictures and hands on stuff. Although there are some great hands on examples to do with him.

Every Sunday I print off the weekly themes and the lesson plans, then put it in the book for that weeks lesson as well.

And every week I try to find something that will help him to pick out the letter of the week. A few weeks ago I had the tough job of making some incredibly yummy cookies and having to eat them with him :-). It was tough I tell ya!

I got the recipe out of my pioneer woman cookbook. Yes ma'am I did. I didn't really read the directions through before starting and found later that these cookies break easily, making it hard to make letters. But my ABC cookie cutters that my mom-in-law gave me for Christmas sure are coming in handy these days!

Here's the pioneer woman recipe for these cookies. Beware, they disappear reeeeally fast.

CLICK HERE or go to: http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2010/09/my-favorite-sugar-cookies/

If the 2% of my readers made it this far, congrats! And thanks for keeping up with us. Much love to you all.