Fall Begins

School has started here in our humble home. That means 6 workboxes a day, chapter reading at night, and dedicated craft time each week.

What's in our boxes this week?

Box 1 -

 Every day we do a new page on scissor skills. This workbook starts out with simple straight lines and gradually increases the complexity of the cutting involved over 50+ pages. I typically let Doodle cut the lines and then paste the pieces into an old notebook on his own. A great morning activity for him as it requires little help from me and lets me sip my coffee slowly before jumping into helping.

Box 2 -

Critical Thinking skill.

This morning was a Night vs Day sorting worksheet. Tomorrow will be tall vs short, etc.

Box 3 -

Lately we've been finding sequencing puzzles to work with. Workbox numbers are GREAT sequencing tools for PreK kids. Doodle is learning how to put 1 - 12 in order much easier AND starting to become better at "seeing" the difference between 6 and 9 due to the repetition. Another few days and we'll start to focus on counting marbles to match the number on the number cards.

Puzzle Break - Doodle has shown a new interest in puzzles so we typically reward him in the middle of the boxes with a puzzle break. Target had some awesome puzzles in their $1 section this last week which has increased our home puzzle library this year.

TBC ...

Finished

We finished the Boxcar Children book this evening. The kids LOVED it and really want to read more in the series. I think I'm going to need to be on the lookout for the next books available.

I also am going to put together a study guide for other PreK students. The same questions we used and some of the activities that went along with our book reading.

Next up is likely Stuart Little.

We've also been making leaps and bounds on our reviewing using the Stair game. I dont remember where I first read this, but essentially I have the kids sit at the top of the stairs and I hold a flash card. It could be a letter or number, and each kid has an opportunity to say the name of the item on the card. If it's a letter, we go a little further and have them also say it's sound and if it's a vowel or consonant. Kids are LOVING it and it's become so much more effective than any of the other worksheets I've been trying to use.

Currently Reading

One of the activities which I started to do with Doodle last spring is introduce him to Chapter books. While he obviously cannot read chapter books, he IS learning to focus to longer stories and remember previously read chapters. We typically read a chapter or two before nap time, at night time, and I've even begun to bring the book with us into the car when Mark drives so I can read to the kids. Everyone loves it.

In the spring we read James and the Giant Peach and then followed up our finished book with a family moving night watching James & the Giant Peach. Now that Doodle is back home we've decided to try out the first Boxcar Children novel. The reading is light and moves quickly and the descriptions are simple and easy for preschoolers to remember. We picked The Boxcar Children series also because of its gender neutral story. While Doodle is my primary student, I also wanted something we could continue to read while his sisters were here.



After each chapter we finish I ask three or four questions about what we just read to the kids and have them answer. These questions are simple and not meant to be tricky or hard to recall, but simple to force the kids to think back over what was just read to them and see how much they've retained. I love hearing their answers and how sometimes they've give double the details I was wanting to hear.

We've nearly halfway through the book after just one weekend but I'm so excited to see how well they've been enjoying it. It's also better for ME because I can only do so many of the picture books before I need something a little longer and new to focus on.

Go to girl hairstyles.

Here is one of our regular daily styles that the girls ask for often. Half up pig-tails.



I really enjoy keeping some of the hair down and being able to see if I can. But practicality means that it needs to stay out of faces. This is a perfect compromise and a big hit on our end.

Likewise sometimes I get a request for just a ponytail, but we're going out somewhere and I want it a little more special. This is the perfect compromise for us.



I'll take 4 small sections of hair near the hairline, braid them back, and then just tie it all up.



It seems to add just enough texture to be perfect for church or a day party somewhere but doesn't require a lot of time or hair ties.

Organizing Curriculum

Since this is our first "official" year - although I like to think we're a year-round home-school - I'm going to be looking at designing our PreK Curriculum month by month. Instead of traditional 5 day school weeks, we'll focus on breaking up our learning through each day of the week to make it easier and more age appropriate.

Today we did informal letter, number and phonic assessments of the three kids. While Doodle is my official "student" I want to have skill appropriate activities around for the Missies to do when they're with us. I'll continue to do monthly assessments of Doodle throughout the year just to see if we're going in the right direction or not.

As stated previously, August is a heavy review month for us. Lots of going back over the numbers (1 - 20) and the basic phonic sounds of the letters. I also will start to introduce some blends and work on sorting vowels, etc. I also am going to spend some time with puzzles and logic activities. We're also trying to spend some more time on days of the week and the months. I found a fun book about how to tell time so that will be added in at some point this year as well.

Some people have asked me why I'm "skipping" preschool. The short answer is that Doodle is somewhere between PreK and Kindy. He knows his shapes and colors and basic logic concepts. He knows his letters, usually remembers their sounds, and is nearly there on his numbers.

Now with my going back to school things will be hectic, and I'm assuming I'll need to be uber focused and organized. I plan to have it based on a "Letter of the Week" idea but make it more "Sound of the week" oriented.

Back to school...

Life always has twists and turns.

It wouldn't be the same without them. On a whim of sorts I've decided to be forward thinking and go back to school. I want my BA.

And so I'm now meeting and applying at UTA and going with the flow. Life is grand. Minus the loans.

Goodbye Summer

Over a month. Sheesh. What in the world could have been taking place?

In a nutshell learning. Living. Growing.

Doodle spent the summer with his grandparents, multiple sets of them, in Michigan on farms in dirt and riding tractors. For three weeks he was parent-less learning by exploring his world and experiencing what it's like to play outside all day everyday getting dirty and wet and mosquito bitten. Things which we don't have the opportunity to do much in Texas where it is often 100+ during the day.

Of course this is going to mean this fall we're extending our PreK wrap-up and going to be spending a few weeks going over the letters and basic phonics in the fall when we get back into the swing of things. :)