Tag Archives: Preschool

Preschool Playdate: Wildflowers

Playdate: May 15, 2015
Theme was chosen in honor of Wildflower Week

— Welcome song in English (emphasizes printed name recognition as Sweet Peas find their card in a line-up and place it on our Name Ledge)
— Welcome song in Spanish (reinforces names as Sweet Peas sing to their peers)
— Discussion of theme
— Storytime
— Unsquiggle activity
— Poem/Song before we break for Centers

Most of the activities this week were inspired by print-outs or songs in The Mailbox Superbook.

STORY TIME
In lieu of a book, we used a song and a discovery activity for the children to explore the growing cycle of a flower.

We talked about the vocabulary first, and then introduced the song. The third time through, each Sweet Pea got to play a part of the song. One was the sun, one was the gardener watering, and the remaining children got to be flowers growing in the garden. We took turns so that each child got to play each part.

LITERACY CENTER
This is another printout from The Mailbox Superbook – the main point was to develop some motor skills through tracing. I added a print element to the activity by printing out word strips for the children to cut and paste on their worksheet after tracing the flower shapes. Crayons, scissors, glue, plus some vocabulary…WIN 🙂

MATH CENTER
Sorting and counting…always a good math center! The children could sort by color, type of leaf, whether the edge was smooth or rippled…and probably more ways than we tried that morning!

An advanced version of this center could be done by making tally marks to track results, and/or plotting a line graph with the results.

DISCOVERY TABLE
This activity is the only one that came from The Toddler Calendar. Felt sticks to itself, so the only thing I had to do was go buy it. Aside from cutting their pattern out, I also added a print element by creating labels for all the parts of the flower.

ARTS & CRAFTS ~ Make & Take
This activity has been bookmarked in The Mailbox Superbook since I first started using it when Puma was 3 years old. I finally made the time to execute it! Better late than never 🙂

I used sponges from the dollar store, and cut each color into a different part of the flower. This was again, a reinforcement of the vocabulary words of the day that centered around the theme: flower, leaf, and stem…no “roots” this time!

We finish our Preschool Playdate with a sharing time: each child that wants to share gets to say what (s)he enjoyed the most about the morning. This morning, the discovery table activity and the arts & crafts activity were the big winners.

We close with a good-bye song where children are welcome to give hugs. It helps to set a formal end to the time together so that parents that have somewhere to be afterwards have a clear reason to insist that it’s time to go – school is over!! Otherwise, the kiddos and parents that don’t have to leave will stay and play until the music teacher for our older Sweet Peas arrives at noon.

Preschool Playdate: Music Day

Playdate: May 7, 2015

This playdate was inspired by a book that I wanted to read to the Sweet Peas, and I ended up going a different direction when it was storytime!

Our unsquiggle activity this day was also part discovery/physical education/personal expression/confidence building. I incorporated the hand-kites to help those who were a little shy to at least move something in rhythm to the music they were hearing.

First, I created a playlist of different genres of music, alternating between upbeat and more solemn. We got to talk about the different countries the music and/or composer was from, as well as the different world cultures as we found the countries on the globe. We invited each child to dance down the pink line – it was great to see their creativity and imagination.

STORY TIME + MATH CENTER + MAKE&TAKE

I ended up using a book I had printed back when Puma was a preschooler as our story. It let me demonstrate the math activity/play home craft I came up with for the day. You can find the book from Enchanted Learning HERE; the ducks are free clip art from the internet printed on card stock; numbers are from a foam number pack (you can probably find them at your nearest craft or big-box store).

Charger, who was 5 at the time, did this all his own. He cut out the ducks, glued a popsicle stick to the back of the duck, and affixed the foam numbers to his ducks. I cut a slit in the paper plates for each of the ducks…this lets the children practice number recognition and ordering.

How we used it all together: Start the song/rhyme with a plate full of ducks. As you count down the numbers, you pull out the duck from it’s slot. This give the children a visual of what amount is left, as well as the written numbers as they are pulling them out.

LITERACY CENTER
This was one of my favorite name activities of all time. Again, the images are clip art that I found on the internet. I will do a better job of keeping track of links for next year to save readers who want to repeat these activites some time.

First, I printed out all the music notes, and then I programed them with the letters of all the children’s names – I used silver marker for a little extra pop! In a pinch, you could use any light-colored crayon or colored pencil. Next, I cut them out, and placed the right letters in an envelope with their name on it. The child had to pull out their letter notes, order them, and glue them to the stave paper I had printed for them. Once they finished, I played their “composition” for them on the piano. Some of them actually had some catchy little tunes!! Or if like Puma, they did everything on one note, I played it for them in the rhythm of the notes. Either way, you can ask the child if they could copy what they heard with claps or with singing.

DISCOVERY TABLE
This allows for the introduction of vocabulary, as well as the exploration of the different instruments, how they are played, and how they sound. Some different words to use: percussion, loud, soft, raspy, ringing, clanging, metallic; as well as the names of all of the instruments: drum, xylophone, bells, maracas, tambourines, triangles.

ARTS & CRAFTS ~ Make & Take
Along with the duck craft, we also had the Sweet Peas bring a shoe-box so that we could make a rubber-band guitar. HERE are some instructions for a simple version of this craft. We made it even simpler, as you can see:

We finish our Preschool Playdate with a sharing time: each child that wants to share gets to say what (s)he enjoyed the most about the morning. We close with a good-bye song where children are welcome to give hugs. It helps to set a formal end to the time together so that parents have a clear reason to insist that it’s time to go if they have somewhere to be afterwards. Otherwise, the kiddos and parents that don’t have to leave will stay and play until the music teacher for our older Sweet Peas arrives.

Preschool Playdate: Science Day

Held on April 23, 2015

The inspiration for this day was the fact that World Laboratory Day was observed on April 23, 2015. I thought it would be fun to have the kids attend their own Science Lab and get a chance to be immersed in exploration and discovery for an hour. I planned out this day by focusing an experiement on different aspects of science: measuring, magnets, animal kingdom, and weather.

As you will notice, most of our Sweet Peas made or contributed to the sign for their station. Puma was at the Water Cycle, Night Owl was at the magnets (I made this one before the kiddos all piped up that they wanted to make their own!), Charger did the Wind Power, and Otter contributed to the Mass sign. It was cool to see how her lines were denser in some areas than others….she got the concept in her own toddler way!! Even our nanny got involved and ran an activity since I got carried away with the planning…once I got started, I was on a roll!

STORY TIME
I found THIS slide show online that I printed to share with the children. Big pictures, simple explanations, and lots of vocabulary!! Perfect for preschool!!

What is-a-scientist from Sam Pelham

LITERACY CENTER
Here we explored the concept of feathers, fur, and scales. It is an activity out of the Mailbox Superbook. The Sweet Peas identified the animal, and then sorted them into the correct category according to the type of skin covering the animal has. We added a sensory component by having examples of the different kinds of skin coverings for the children to investigate and discuss.

MATH CENTER
This center explored the mass of different items. They measured different quantities into the scale basket, noticed whether or not the same amount of different items weighed the same,We also had them make a prediction about how much the half-full bean container and the full container of feathers would weigh, and which was greater. This led to a conversation about how much air vs. mass were in the different things we weighed.

DISCOVERY TABLE

TABLE 1: Magnets
Sweet Peas got to play with magnetic fishing poles to see what was and wasn’t magnetic. Once they items were worted into two piles, we talked about the qualities of both sets.

TABLE 2: The Water Cycle
This simple experiment using water and cotton balls allowed the Sweet Peas to physically experience how water droplets collect together to form clouds until they are too full to hold any more condensation, and then see how precipitation happens when the cloud is beyond capacity. We introduced the words “evaporation”, “condensation”, and “precipitation”. It was neat to see everyone at this station have lightbulb moments.

TABLE 3: Wind Power
The Sweet Peas got to experiement with the power of air at this station. First they blew through the straws onto their palms to feel what they could do with their own lungs. Then they got to experiment with blowing “wind” across our little “pond” to see how the boats moved. They could blow along the bottom, the top, turn the sails and blow into the sails…another favorite since water and straws were involved.

ARTS & CRAFTS ~ Make & Take
First the Sweet Peas colored a coffee filter with water-soluble markers. Then we attached the filter accordian style to a prepared-ahead popsicle stick on which Puma had a hot-glued a pipe cleaner. We twisted it at the top and formed antennae. Once the “butterfly” was assembled, we used water that we trapped in the straws with our fingers to stain the wings. The Sweet Peas got to experiement with how much water they could trap, how fast the flow was, and see how the colors blended and make predictions about the new colors that might result from the color blending. Once the “wings” dried out, they had a take-home butterfly puppet.

We finish our Preschool Playdate with a sharing time: each child that wants to share gets to say what (s)he enjoyed the most about the morning. There were lots of different favorites on this day…even some of the moms mentioned stations where they learned something new – that was pretty cool!

We close with a good-bye song where children are welcome to give hugs. It helps to set a formal end to the time together so that parents have a clear reason to insist that it’s time to go if they have somewhere to be afterwards. Otherwise, the kiddos and parents that don’t have to leave right away will stay and play until the music teacher for our older Sweet Peas arrives.

I hpe you enjoyed our tour through Science Experiement day!! My intention was to show our friends that science doesn’t have to be this daunting thing – every day things around the house can easily turn into an opportunity for discovery, and to awaken curiosity and exploration.

Preschool Playdate: Children’s Books

We held this playdaye on April 2, which also happened to be Children’s Books Day. It was hard to plan for any specific theme since we invited our guests to bring theire favorite book to share.

Getting the morning off to our regular start:
— Welcome song in English (emphasizes printed name recognition as Sweet Peas find their card in a line-up and place it on our Name Ledge)
— Welcome song in Spanish (reinforces names as Sweet Peas sing to their peers)
— Discussion of theme
— Storytime
— Unsquiggle activity
— Poem/Song before we break for Centers

STORY TIME
Here are the books our guests brought to share:

Opposites by Sandra Boynton
The Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle
The Little Blue Truck by Alice Schertle, illustrated by Jill McElmurray

We alternated sharing books with unsquiggle games.

LITERACY CENTER
You can read the instructions for this center in the photo below. I wrote the child’s name on an envelope, then put their “carrot” letters inside the envelope. They had to find their name, and then sort their letters to spell their name.

We added another component to this center by having the children separate the stuffed animals into two groups: carrot eaters and non-carrot eaters.

MATH CENTER
This was a simple sorting center since I didn’t have a theme to guide me. We used buttons and egg cartons for this activity. The kiddos could sort by color and/or by shape on this one. Another idea was for the parents to start a pattern and have the children finish the pattern.

DISCOVERY TABLE
Another improvisation since the there was not a particular specific book/theme. I chose containers with different size holes so that the kiddos could experiement and see what kind of “rain” would fall on the boats.

They could talk about small and large, fast and slow, sink and float. They could also talk about the different kinds of rain: drizzle, sprinkle, rain, storm, hurricane.

ARTS & CRAFTS ~ Make & Take
This idea and pattern came from the Toddler Calendar. I printed the duck on white and yellow cardstock, and cut out the umbrellas from some fun Spring paper we have in our stash. Kiddos used glue to put it all together, and then the cotton swabs to paint the rain.

We finish our Preschool Playdate with a sharing time: each child that wants to share gets to say what (s)he enjoyed the most about the morning. We close with a good-bye song where children are welcome to give hugs. It helps to set a formal end to the time together so that parents have a clear reason to insist that it’s time to go if they have somewhere to be afterwards. Otherwise, the kiddos and parents are welcome to stay and play until the music teacher for our older Sweet Peas arrives.

Preschool Playdate: Johnny Appleseed

We hosted a playdate in honor of Johnny Appleseed (née John Chapman) close to one of two “Johnny Appleseed Days” recognized in the calendar year. One day is observed on his birthday (September 26, 1774), the other on the anniverary of his death (March 18, 1845).

How we start our playdates:
— Welcome song in English (emphasizes printed name recognition as Sweet Peas find their card in a line-up and place it on our Name Ledge)
— Welcome song in Spanish (reinforces names as Sweet Peas sing to their peers)
— Discussion of theme
— Storytime
— Unsquiggle activity
— Poem/Song before we break for Centers

STORY TIME
We have a wonderful book about Johnny Appleseed from our Sonlight readers. Unfortunately, the text is too advanced for our preschools. So I improvised! I pulled together some highlights about Johnny Appleseed that went along with the beautiful two-page illustrations that are in this book. A toddler version of Johnny Appleseed’s life was born! Puma helped by reading out the text while I turned to the marked pages.

Johnny Appleseed: The Story of a Legend; Written and Illustrated by Will Moses

LITERACY CENTER
This was another week where I came up with my own idea for our letter center. Since “apple” is a common vocabulary word, I decided to work in the word and the letters that comprise the word, in addition to working in the colors of the apples the children would be tasting at the Discovery Table. This also had a tactile sensory component – the letters were different shapes, sizes and textures. I purposely made the two vowels with a red background to set them apart from the consonants. (Microsoft Word for Mac; Century Gothic Font; Outline option in the Font menu)

Level 1: Sorting and Sound Identification
If the child is still working on letter recognition, they can play at this center by sorting the letters into the correct bowl. As the letters are sorted, parents can reinforce the sound that the letter makes: “A says aah”; “E says eeh”; etc.

Level 2: Identifying Uppercase and Lowercase
The next step in this center would be to add in the concept of “uppercase” and “lowercase”, and identify them as they are sorted into the bowls.

Level 3: Spelling
For our advanced toddlers and the older siblings: the third option was to find the letters and place them in order to spell the word “apple”. The older siblings could look at the word for 30 seconds; then turn over the card; find the right letters and place them on the table; and then check their spelling by turning the card right side up for self-correction or confirmation that they spelled the word “apple” correctly.

MATH CENTER
This center reinforced counting concepts in English and in Spanish. The front of the card was printed with an apple. On the back side, I wrote out the number and the word in Spanish. I made these with an apple image I found online; fit them onto a “table” in a Word document, and printed them on cardstock. Final step was to cover them with clear contact paper so they would be more durable.

Level 1: Counting
A parent could simply take as many apples as the child could count, maybe add one more; and place the apples out on the table as they counted. Aside from teaching the order of the numbers, it reinforces 1-to-1 correspondence (more about that HERE).

Level 2: Ordering
A parent could use the reverse side, scramble the order, and have the child place them in the correct order. Younger toddlers might need the parent to call the number out for them; more advanced kiddos could order them independently.

Level 3: Memory Game
Using two sets of cards, parents could lay them out and play a memory game with their child. You could use as many cards as your child can remember placements. For a toddler just learning the concept of “Memory”, maybe you would play with six cards, finding the pairs for 1-3. With an older child, you might use the whole set of 1-6 pairs; or anything in between according the child’s interest and attention span.

DISCOVERY TABLE
This idea was pulled from The Toddler Calendar. Their activity included tasting raw apples, and apples cooked with cinnamon and sugar. Since we wanted to keep it simple and avoid any possible allergies, we stuck to raw and dehydrated apples. We offered red, yellow, and green varieties. There were not many pieces left on the plates at the end of our playdate; and I think we even refilled the yellow and the green!

ARTS & CRAFTS ~ Make & Take
I always enjoy using natural objects in art. For today’s craft, I cut off the end of a carrot and pared opposite ends to form the shape of an apple. Children could dip it in red paint or green ink to print apples on their paper.

The other neat thing to show the children was how the center of an apple has a star shape. Some of the apples even had a six-point shape at the core! I learned something new, too! Lastly, we pulled out the seeds, and the children had the option to glue the seeds to their art projects.

As we showd them the seeds, we talked about how those same seeds could be planted to grow into big trees, that in turn could grow more yummy apples for them to eat.

Here is the letter on cardstock; children printed and pasted on the letter “A” to reinforce the beginning letter sound.

We finish our Preschool Playdate with a sharing time: each child that wants to share gets to say what (s)he enjoyed the most about the morning. We close with a good-bye song where children are welcome to give hugs. It helps to set a formal end to the time together so that parents have a clear reason to insist that it’s time to go if they have somewhere to be afterwards. Otherwise, the kiddos and parents that don’t have to leave stay and play until the music teacher for our older Sweet Peas arrives.

I hope you enjoyed our tour through our Johnny Appleseed Day! I think the most fun for me was watching the kiddos explore all the tastes of the different apples, and seeing them enjoy food they had never tried before.

Preschool Playdate: Truck Day

We have several little boys that attend our playdates. I thought it would be fun to incorporate a theme that really spoke to them. It was equal opportunity play: the little girls enjoyed this playdate as much as the boys!

Our day started as usual:

STORYTIME
TRUCKS by .The fact we have been collecting toys for ten years proved helpful in bringing this book to life. For every vehicle pictured in the book, we had an example for the Sweet Peas to experience with their eyes and their hands. Otter and Charger enjoyed taking turns passing them around to our guests.

LITERACY
Inspired by an idea in The Mailbox SuperBook to use a plane and a cloud to talk about position words, I worked with an idea to make that activity fit Truck Day. I found line drawings of a dump truck and boulders online, added eyes to the truck to animate it a little, and printed out a list of direction and position words for parents to use with their Sweet Peas as they did this activity. You can read the instructions in the photo. I added the section about switching roles with your Sweet Pea because I find that our own kiddos have so much fun being in the teacher role. Added bonus: on top of their enjoyment, it reinforces the concept they just learned!

MATH
This was an activity of my own creation. I wanted to incorporate play with the trucks, so I came up with a shape sorting station. I used Microsoft Word to create pages of shapes; then we laminated them and cut them out.

The Sweet Peas would take a handful of shapes out of the bucket, sort them with their parents, and then put them in the truck and deliver them to the right station. Puma and I taped up extra shapes onto the front of our Name Ledge with the idea of making them look like buildings along a city skyline. I don’t know if the Sweet Peas made that connection; whether they did or not, we had fun creating this math activity to fit our theme.

DISCOVERY
A variation on the always popular Sink/Float activity. This time, we used plastic boats and all manner of wheeled vehicles to see which ones would sink or float.

ARTS&CRAFTS ~ Make & Take
This was an activity out of The Mailbox SuperBook that I have been wanting to do since Puma was a preschooler. For whatever reason (mostly because I couldn’t justify the mess!) it took designating a Truck Day to make it happen. The kiddos used different color paints and textures on the wheels to “drive” an artwork onto their paper.

IMAGINATIVE PLAY
This play station incorporated lots of different ideas: literacy in sign identification, math in counting and sorting, and lots of play and imagination as the Sweet Peas laid out the road way, used the “car wash” and learned how to cooperate with their peers so that they could all play with the city scene together. It was such a big hit that we kept bringing out the “City Box” in subsequent play dates.

Preschool Playdate: Black History Month

This unit was a fun one to put together. It came together with inspiration from Nick, Jr of all places. They have a section on Black History Month with **lots** of printables. Check out the links under each activity.

We started the same way:
— Welcome song in English (emphasizes printed name recognition as Sweet Peas find their card in a line-up and place it on our Name Ledge)
— Welcome song in Spanish (reinforces names as Sweet Peas sing to their peers)
— Discussion of theme
— Storytime
— Unsquiggle activity
— Poem/Song before we break for Centers

Book for Black History theme: Our Children Can Soar by Michelle Cook
Collaborative illustration – each historical figure is presented by a different artist.
Beautiful illustrations and simple prose highlighted some standouts in US history – it is perfect for this age group. It was literally the last book I picked up after almost an hour at the book store. I am so glad I am persistent!! I hope there is a follow-up version in the works. While there are many acheivers mentioned in this volume, there are other African-American luminaries I would have like to have seen included. Overall it is a beautiful book and served its purpose to raise awareness that people of color have contributed to US history, and have their own rich cultural heritage alongside the predominantly Anglo-European historical perspective.

Poem for Black History theme from The Best of Mailbox Songs & Fingerplays Book

LITERACY CENTER
I incorporated cards from the Nick, Jr. printable sets (Artists, Athletes, Inventors) and had the Sweet Peas match the magnet letters to the first letters in the people’s names. Parents could read the card to the Sweet Pea – if a little one had a longer attention span, they would listen to the all the text on all the cards. If they had a shorter attention span, parents could give them the highlights.

MATH CENTER
We brought the clothesline and clothespins back since we had a different set of Sweet Peas joining us, and this activity is usually a favorite when we finish up and share about our morning.

ARTS & CRAFTS ~ Make & Take
One of the featured inventors in the Nick, Jr. printable coloring pages invented the ice cream scoop! I printed out the coloring page, and then we punched out circles and cut out triangles so kiddos could create and paste their own ice cream creations on their coloring page.

DISCOVERY TABLE
We incorporated Alfred Cralle and his invention of the ice cream scoop in our discovery activity. We pulled out all our ice cream play sets and let the Sweet Peas explore textures; and also do some imaginative play as they made ice cream for the parents and for each other.

Ice cream sets: Learning Resources Rainbow Color Cones, ice cream portion of IKEA DUKTIG 18-piece felt dessert set, Lego Duplo Ice Cream Playset

Other printable coloring pages we didn’t use – they will come in handy to inspire other activites as we do this theme again next year:
PEOPLE
WOMEN

We finish our Preschool Playdate with a sharing time: each child that wants to share gets to say what they enjoyed the most about the morning. We close with a good-bye song where children are welcome to give hugs. It helps to set a formal end to the time together so that parents have a clear reason to insist that it’s time to go if they have somewhere to be afterwards. Otherwise, the kiddos and parents that don’t have to leave stay and play until the music teacher for our older Sweet Peas arrives.

I hope you enjoyed the tour through our Black History Month theme. This was a very emotional day for me. Even though we are not African-American, my mom’s family has immigrant/Texan migrant worker roots, and stories of how people of color overcome adversity to succeed against all odds is near and dear to my heart.

Preschool Playdate: Chinese New Year

We used to host a great group called “Peas & Pods” that met every other week. It was for parents (mostly moms) and Sweet Peas to get together, meet other families, and support each other on the parenting journey. Then one of our alums started hosting a breastfeeding group at her home, and another alum started offering parenting classes…so our group seemed redundant.

After seeing Dr. Harvey Karp speak about the importance of toddlers being socially stimulated on a regular basis, I decided to offer an opportunity for our alums with toddlers to get together. This was a need that wasn’t being met by the other groups, and after teaching childbirth classes for almost four years, there were toddlers amongst us (including our own!).

Thus, the weekly Preschool Play-date was born! We started doing these in September 2014, but I didn’t think to start documenting with pictures until February 2015. I am looking forward to sharing some of the themes we did last Spring with you. My hope is that they will inspire you to get creative with your own Sweet Peas.

We started with Circle Time:
— Welcome Song where every child found their name and placed it on the Name Table
— Spanish Welcome Song that reinforced each child’s name so that the Sweet Peas could get to know each other.
— Story Time
— Squiggle Activity – something to get the wiggles out!

Every week, I planned at least four different centers:
— Letter/Writing/Literacy
— Math
— Arts & Crafts
— Discovery

Some weeks, we would have other activities as well – it would depend on how much I could find around the house to fit the theme. I purchased very little outside of craft supplies and paper. You can definitely do these themes on a shoe-string budget!

Story: “The Ivory Wand” from Stories From Around the World – Usborne Children’s Books

Circle Time: Talked about the Chinese Zodiac and shared that 2015 was the Year of the Sheep according to the Chinese calendar

Now for the center activities:

LETTER/LITERACY/WRITING ~ Make+Take:
One thing I remember from living in Taiwan is that people exchanged red envelopes on Chinese New Year. I wanted to incoporate that idea with an activity that would allow children to recognize their name letters and organize them in order, because when you get an envelope, it ususally has your name on it!

So I used red card stock, and printed a good wish that I found HERE. Then I programmed an index card with each child’s name, used punch out letters I picked up from the Tuesday Morning craft section, and put them in an envelope with the name clipped to the outside.

When the Sweet Pea participated in the center, first they had to find the right card with their name. Then they pulled the letters out of the envelope, organized them in order, and glued them to their sentiment card.

MATH CENTER:
This math center is one of my favorites. The Sweet Peas get to use their motor skills as well as their ordering. Each tee-shirt was programmed with a number and correspodinging dots. The child could either hang them on a “laundry line” that we tied up between two chairs, or simply clip the clothepins to match the number on the shirt.

ARTS & CRAFTS ~ Make+Take:
This craft idea came from Enchanted Learning. I used the red paper I had on hand, plus craft sticks and a print out of a dragon’s head and tail on card stock. I took a line drawing found in the Internet, cut off the tail and head that I wanted, and then enlarged it so it would look somewhat balanced.

DISCOVERY TABLE: Sounds
We filled old prescription bottles with five different fillers that made distinct sounds: dry rice, dry beans, seeds, bells, and beads We covered them with contact paper, and also made them self-correcting so that a Mother-Toddler pair could move ahead without waiting for me to check their matching.

Thanks for taking a peek into our “Chinese New Uear” theme! Until next week when we share what we did to celebrate Black History Month.

How a Homeschool Day looks at our house

A recent question on social media made me think about how we run our homeschool day. The question was akin to, “How do you homeschool your older child when there is a needy younger sibling running around?”

I will preface my answer with some transparency. Homeschooling works well for us because I have been blessed with two amazing helpers. We have sacrificed some budget items to finance this luxury; very worth to me it since it means that my sanity is intact. One helper works M-W, and the other one works TH-F. When our children were younger, my helpers were “nannies” in the traditional sense: when I wasn’t babywearing, they entertained the smaller children so I could homeschool the older children. As our children grow, they all seem to want to be in the school room at the same time and/or they are old enough to entertain themselves. Now the “nannies” have taken on housekeeping duties: laundry and meal preparation, interspersed with child care.

Before we had a nanny (2 children in the family at time), I would homeschool when the younger sibling was napping. Which meant maybe 2-3 sessions scattered throughout the day. As that sibling grew out of naps, then we would wait to homeschool until Daddy Bruss got home from work. He would spend time with Night Owl while I “played school” with Puma. It took me a couple of months to figure that one out. It took a while for the idea to sink in that homeschooling didn’t have to happen during traditional school hours. “Homeschool” just means allowing learning to happen at home – the bonus is that it can happen anytime that it is convenient as the day unfolds!

If I had to run the homeschool and take care of housekeeping with four children, our life would be much more chaotic. I would probably make different choices about how to run our days. For one, would be eating a lot of cereal and crock pot meals (which is what we did pre-nanny, and that was okay, too!). Thanks to our helpers, we eat a lot of healthy, whole food prepared from scratch every day. It is a blessing that I thank God for *every* day, especially during the summer when they get time off to recover from the Bowman clan!

So, having said that, what does a typical school day look like for us? I will share the general outline, plus share ideas to entertain younger siblings while you are spending time with the older children.

Our homeschool day actually starts the night before. We use the Sonlight curriculum for the older three, and we used Horizon for our preschooler. Both curriculums include parent/teacher guides, so I lay out the materials they will need for the next day ahead of time. It gives me the opportunity to glance at what the following day will entail and prepare any activities. An added benefit of laying everything out the night before is that allows for any early risers to get a head start on their schoolwork that they can do without me: handwriting, math review worksheets, language arts review exercises, reading. It motivates our kiddos – they enjoy being the first one to finish and have more playtime. Works for me!!

Our school day ususally starts at 8:00 am with the younger two (Charger and Night Owl). I set the timer for 25 minutes, and they get my undivided attention until the timer rings. We will read their books, play games, sing songs, do their worksheets – basically work through our checklist until the timer rings. Once the timer rings, it’s time to switch “teams”.

The cycle starts again as I work with our older set of children (Puma and Night Owl). I set a 25 minute timer and focus my attention on them. We usually start their day with the Sonlight “Read-Aloud” list so that they start the day with art or some other quiet activity (building, puzzles, play dough, etc.) as they listen and ease into the day. When the timer rings, the older set get a break to play or help around the house, and the younger kiddos get my attention again. And so progresses our school day, in 25-minute segments.

We all take a break for snacks and meals. We also do a “recess” after lunch. It’s usually around 25 miuntes while I check and answer pressing emails, or make phone calls. Once the breaks are over, the timer starts again.

So that is our day in a nutshell. Although it is somewhat tedious to live by a timer, it works for our family. The Sweet Pea Kids even ask if it has been set! We usually start “school” at 8 and finish by 1 or 2 pm. This system takes longer than if I barreled through the day or worked in longer time blocks. Why I stick with it: all the kiddos get my attention through the course of every hour, and their learning time is paired with playtime, which makes them happier scholars when it’s time to focus.

To add variety, sometimes we will homeschool in different settings. On occation, I set up in the kitchen. We have three outdoor areas at our home that are available when the weather is good. Other days, we have gone to the library or a park with a segment of the day’s work for all of us to have a change of scenery.

We also take the time to do activites outside of the home throughout the week or month. Most Friday mornings are spent outdoors. We take advantage of children’s programs at museums or the mall in our area. There have been times when we participate in programs at the zoo. A great benefit to homeschooling is the flexibilty to take a “field trip” on off-peak days. This allows us to spend a whole day out with the kids enjoying an attraction with little to no lines. I plan one “field trip” every month.

Another way to keep ourchildren motivated is to have what we call a “Reading Day” or a “Reading Week”. Aside from the read-alouds, the older set have 7-8 subjects we work through every day; and the younger set have about 4-5*. “Reading” means that all we do on those days are the read alouds; plus their own grade-level reading, math and logic. All Thursdays are “Reading Day” because that is the day we host preschool. It lowers the stress level considerably by scheduling less. If we focus, we are finished before the parents and children arrive for the Preschool Playdate, then they have the rest of the day to play. In addition, every six weeks I schedule a “Reading Week”. All of us enjoy those!

Over the last year, the younger two have decided that maybe they want to stick around the school room even if it isn’t their turn with me. I am a believer that the younger children learn by osmosis, so they are welcome to be around while I am teaching the older children as long as they are not distracting us. They can paint, use play dough, do puzzles, play quiet games (memory, dominoes), etc. There is an expectation that they must play quietly so the older siblings can focus on their learning activities.

If the preschooler and the kindergartener do not want to play quietly, then they are asked to go play away from the school area, or to help the nanny who will put them to work. If they opt to help out, it is a passive opportunity to learn life skills. By helping with laundry or with meal prep, they are learning skills that will serve them for the rest of their lives. In addition, as they help, they are still learning: sorting (math), recipes (reading), measuring (math), mixing (chemistry!), in addition to exercising their gross and fine motor skills…it’s all good.

Now you know what homeschooling looks like for our family. If you homeschool, how does it work at your house?

Check out the Homechooling page under the RESOURCES tab for links to our favorite homeschooling websites.

*School Subjects
For Puma and Night Owl: Science, Spelling, Reading, Language Arts, Handwriting, Creative Expression (writing), Math, Logic, Spanish, French
For Charger and Otter: Reading, Math, Logic, Handwriting, Spanish

Review: Preschool for Threes by AOP

We are two weeks into our homeschool year. I am loving our new preschool program – so much that I wanted to share it with you!!

Note: I have not been compensated by AOP for the following review, and I am not in any way affiliated with anyone or anything that is linked in the post. Feel free to click away on the links! Nothing is going into my pocket!!
I am sharing out of joy and excitement in the hopes that another family can benefit from this product.

We used the Horizon Preschool program for when our two older kiddos were 4 & 2 and loved it. They released a new program last year that was too young for Charger, so he also used the Horizon Preschool curriculum. This year, Otter is turning three, so we had a perfect candidate to take advantage of the new Preschool for Three’s program.

According to the Children’s Health Network, “a normal attention span is 3 to 5 minutes per year of a child’s age”. If we can keep Otter’s attention on a task for nine minutes, we call it a win.

Why I love Preschool for Threes:

Otter has a chance to “do school” without being overwhelmed.
She has a reader that is just for her.
She practices school readiness skills every day.
She is introduced to one letter concept and one number concept a week, and the worksheets provide an opportunity to reinforce both.
The worksheets have delightful animals that carry through the theme every week.

She is so proud to be able to sit at the school table with her older siblings, and believe it or not, they want to do her work, too. They *love* her animal coloring pages and cannot believe that I do not have enough worksheets to go around for them to color their own animal. We are talking a nine-, seven- and five-year-old here. I guess my only complaint is that I have to get on-line to find them line drawings of animals to color so they don’t feel left out!!

Here is what you get with the program…along with my insight about why there is so much to love about the Preschool for Threes program:

Curriculum: Horizon Preschool for Threes by Alpha Omega Publishing

Teacher’s Manual:
Every week is themed around one bible lesson. The lesson plan offers a supply checklist plus additional activities to supplement the worksheets and the theme. I like having a checkbox, and we also start reasoning skills at the preschool level, so I created a spreadsheet that I can fill in for the week ahead on Sunday night, and then check off throughout the week. I get all of the supplemental material ready so all I have to do on the weekday is pull out a packet for that day, all ready to go. Total prep time on Sunday night: 1 hour.

Teacher’s Manual – Horizon Preschool for Threes by Alpha Omega Publishing

Student Workbook:
These are the worksheets for the program. You can tear them out as needed, or if you have other children to prep for, do it all at once and lay it out for the week. Horizon has the best illustrations and colors – as I said earlier, our older kiddos pine for pages like these although they are way beyond 3-year-old work.

Student Workbook – Horizon Preschool for Threes by Alpha Omega Publishing

Student Workbook Companion:
These pages are printed on heavier weight paper. They consist of games and activities that can be played throughout the school year. So far we have prepared a lacing card, a language arts aid, and now we have a memory game for next week. I am pasting them on card stock to make them last even longer, and as soon as I have a working laminator again, they will be laminated. I write the lesson theme on the back or the container so that I can remember to reinforce it as the school year stretches on and the themes aren’t at the tip of my tongue.

Since the language arts aid for this week was a child’s face, we have been talking about the vocabulary for different parts of the face in English and In Spanish. The theme of the week was “Sin” from the fall of the the garden of Eden. As we go forward to use this aid, we will use the song O Be Careful, Little Eyes to reinforce the vocabulary as well as the lesson.

I am thrilled to be able to fill a preschool box for Otter of just her own activities. At any point going forward in the school year, she can entertain herself with sturdy materials that can be used over and over.

Student Workbook Companion – Horizon Preschool for Threes by Alpha Omega Publishing

Bible Story Reader:
This is by far Otter’s favorite part of the program. She is delighted to have her very own book since we have bookshelves full of books for each of our other children’s school programs. She proudly pulls down her “God book” every day. We are not just reading the story for the week. The illustrations are fantastic, so as she finds an illustration that appeals to her, I “read” her the story. Not always the whole thing, maybe a sentence or two, or I ask her what she sees in the picture. As you may have noticed in some of the photos, although we are only two weeks into the program, the book is already well-loved. I have admonished all our other children to keep things well-taken care of since they have to be used four times over, and we don’t want Otter to get dog-eared hand-me-downs. This is going to be Otter’s very own book so I am patient in letting it be loved.

In practice:
All in all, I do “school” with her and Charger (5yo) for about an hour a day. She sits at the table to do her worksheet and her other supplemental activity, then I lose her for a little bit while she goes to play and I work with Charger, and then she comes back and we do the other supplemental activity for the day and/or re-play an activity she liked. We usually come back in the afternoon to finish whatever we didn’t cover in the morning, or do more re-play as well.

This program is just so perfect for a three year old, it seems like it was written by other three year olds for their peers to enjoy. Thank goodness that there are educational experts who have studied child development…I have a strong suspicion that they were consulted on this program.

Horizon has exceeded my expectations with this program. I have always enjoyed their colorful pages and activities. This is about to become my favorite Horizon program, and I am only going to get to use it once! At least we are going to get to use it and love it well for the next nine months – I can’t wait to see how our littlest Sweet Pea blossoms with this program.

One week of print materials – Horizon Preschool for Threes by Alpha Omega Publishing

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4	5	6	7	8	9	10
11	12	13	14	15	16	17
18	19	20	21	22	23	24
25	26	27	28	29	30

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Review: Preschool for Threes by AOP

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