First Day

Today was H's first day of Pre-K.  I wanted to make today feel really exciting and special for H.  We had an extra special breakfast, french toast on cinnamon burst bread {thanks Sal for bringing it out from UT}.  We spent a lot of time talking about how great school was going to be, the kinds of things he might learn, the new friends he was going to make, how big he is getting and so much more.

We made it a family affair to celebrate H's big day...

 In the car on our way... H is holding BB's bottle as he was in-charge of feeding him while we drove

 Quick family shot on our way in... too bad Bug and BB aren't looking

He had a great time and when I went in the room to tell him it was time to go he said, "Mama, why do I have to leave already."  I reassured him that he would be back next week and that we had to go so that we could go out to lunch with Daddy. 

H-man, I am so proud of you buddy!  I am confident that you are going to learn a lot and love school this year!

Pre-school

H's first official day of pre-school (away from home) starts tomorrow!  I can't believe that this day is here!  Mr. Steady and I spent much time praying, discussing, researching and talking with H, and we decided that this year to enroll him in a homeschool hybrid.  The kids go to school 1 day a week for pre-K and homeschool the other days. 

So far I have not been emotional about this at all.  Probably because I am pretty certain that he is going to LOVE it, and I couldn't be more excited about the school he is going to! I also think a large part of it is that he is still home with me all of the other days of the week.  I love my little H-man, and I am so blessed to be his Mama and to get to spend so much time with him! 

There has been a little more prep than I expected, but I think we are ready...

{To do list is complete}

Backpack

School supplies

Name on all school supplies

Lunch box full of snacks

Outfit laid out

Camera ready

Special breakfast plans

All week long H has been counting down the days until he gets to go to school.  He is ecstatic to say the least... I hope he likes school as much as he likes the idea of school : )

Character Training

H-man has another year of pre-school before he starts kindergarten.  I have been racking my brain trying to figure out what to do for him for this year of pre-K.  He will be attending a home school/ Christian school (co-op program) 1 day a week and they will be providing some of the academic curriculum.

Beyond the curriculum that the school is providing I was really struggling trying to narrow down what to do for school time with H.  I don't want to do too much on the academic side because I have a fear of him being bored when he gets to kindergarten.  I was talking with my friend Jen, that has a son a year ahead of H at the school and she encouraged me to just really focus on heart-training.  As she said to me, all kids will catch up in the academics, but I only have so much time when our main focus can be heart-training.  Whew, what a weight off my shoulders to now have a plan.  But, yikes, I had the realization that teaching the ABC's and numbers is SOOOO much easier than instilling Biblical character in my kids.  Truth be told, I have an easy time identifying negative character qualities in my kids but I am not always as good at knowing how to turn those negative character qualities 180 degrees in the opposite direction and teach them the corresponding positive, Biblical character qualities in a way that is accessible and discernible for their age.  

I have found some amazing resources that I am going to use for our school time/ heart training.  I started with Hubbards Cupboard Pre-K curriculum on Character.  Then through the amazing blog-o-sphere, I came across a mom that made printables for each of the character traits.  We are going to be doing the character traits a little out of order so that it can match up as best as possible wit H's memory verse for preschool.

Below are some other amazing books that we will be using to add content, stories and more:

            

What an amazing year ahead of us.  Praying that God will give us wisdom and we parent these adorable little people that have been entrusted to us!

Pre School this week/ and Bug School too

H- 4 1/2
Bug- 18 months

This week we have not been great about doing school time... a little here and a little there.  We have been busy playing at the park instead, meeting Daddy for lunch, going to craft stores, getting ready for the baby...  We did do some school time, here is what we have been up to:

H-man Preschool
Math:  I had H put together this really great puzzle that I got at Ross for $5.  It has 3 pieces for each number 1-20.  I started by taking out all of the words, and just had him count the pictures then match the number.  Once he did this for all 20, I took away numbers 11-20.  Then I pulled out the cards with the the words (names of each number) for 1-10.  I would hold up the card and ask him if he knew what it said.  Some of the words he has memorized, others he tried to sound out. 

Art time:
Just painting, per H's request

Reading:
For our real reading time we are still slowly working through Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons.   He is now to lesson 26 (I think) and each lesson has a "story" for him to read usually made up of 2 sentances of words he can sound out.  This book is honestly amazing, he can already read the little stories.  Then after each story there is a list of questions to help the child with reading comprehension.  We do reading time always while Bug is napping, it helps us both concentrate : )

H has also been really into "reading" or what you might call reciting stories to the baby.  Here are some of my favorite pics:

Yes that is by big bare belly. haha

And this one shows when the baby kicked H's hand as he read... look at that face!  I just love his expression!  It honestly made H's day that the baby liked his story so much!

Tiny Tot School:
Bug is not the best at sitting still, or having a very long attention span, so we have started working on this in a couple of different ways.
1.  High Chair time:  When I am doing school time with H, I have Bug sit in her high chair and play with 1 toy at a time.  She usually has 5 minutes of interest in the toy, then she will gather back up the pieces, and try to hand it back to me.  I know 5 minutes isn't long, but it was huge for her.  And I was so proud of her that she didn't throw the toy on the ground when she was done, that she waited for me to come over and take it from her.  Then I gave her another set of toys... again, 5 minutes of interest, packaged it back up and handed it to me.  On the first day she lasted through 4 sets of toys for a total of 20 minutes!

random, but fun... 1.  Farm Toy

2. Garlic press (don't worry no sharp edges)  

3. Metal bowl and spoon with plastic sharks

2.  Sit still time on a blanket:
Again, sitting still is not her strong suite, but an area we can improve on: )  Both of the kids get Gummy Vitamins each morning.  Instead of just giving them to the kids, I use the vitamins as little rewards or re-enforcements for sitting still.  Bug gets 1 vitamin and H gets 2.  So to lengthen the training time,  I cut hers into 4 pieces and his both in half, giving 4 pieces.   We lay out a blanket, sit down, I start by reminding Bug that it is "sit still time," then I start the Bible story.  If she can sit still for a page (2 -3 sentences) then she gets part of her "bite" as she calls it.  H has the skill down, but I use this time to let him be an example for Bug.  Praising him when he is sitting still, and letting Bug see Bro get his "bite."  Oh, we have a long way to go in this area, but it is worth all of the time and effort.  Training is never easy, but with time it does have it's rewards.

3.  Painting:
Every now and then I will pull out water-colors or finger paints for Bug to do while H is painting.  But on days that I don't have time for a lot of clean up.  I give her a paint brush, construction paper and a little cup of water.  She LOVES it.  And clean up is so easy, simply throw the piece of soggy paper away : )

PreSchool- Beach and Ocean

                     

H- 4 1/2

Bug- 17 months

This last week we kind of broke away from our traditional "school" week and did learning activities out on our adventures.  We had dear friends from Utah come out to visit, and truth be told it felt like a vacation for us too.  We did many touristy things and loved every minute of learning on the go.  Here is what we did this week...

Reading-
I drew large circles in the sand and put 3 letter words across the circles.  Then I had H jump from one circle to the next saying the sound the letter makes as he was in that circle, then the whole word at the end.

He loved it, so I made another word, then another, until I had a mini scrabble board going ; )   Daddy then noticed that all of the words I had in the sand you could read forward or backward, so we had H hop both directions to figure out the different words that were written in the sand.

Bug playing at the beach... looking very concerned.

Science- Marine Life

We had the pleasure of going up to the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach.  The kids both really enjoyed it, and I had a great time as well.  We talked about all of the different types of fish and sea mammals we saw.  We even got to feel some of the different creatures.  H was brave enough to touch the starfish, and sea anemone, but he left it up to me to touch the sting-ray.  Bug even touched the starfish and sea anemone, though she was a little rough with them.  Guess we need to work on the meaning of gentle before the baby is born... currently not a part of her vocabulary or understanding for that matter : )

We talked a lot about how creative God is in making all of these different kinds and colors of fish.  I think this is the most colorful aquarium I have ever been to in regard to the color of the fish.  It was honestly amazing.  For the first time I was hit with the thought that there is not a color "created" by man that God did not use somewhere in creation!

 scooba diver feeding the fish

 blues, greens, orange, yellow, pink, reds... so beautiful and amazing!

The show that was put on by the seals at feeding time was fascinating.  The seals are really such smart animals.  All of the kids were thuroghly entertained!

At the end of our day at the aquarium we visited the Lorikeet exhibit.  The birds are beautiful in color.  On the way in a sign said,  to be careful because the birds may bite your finger.  H took the warning very seriously and stood with his hands behind his back the whole time we were in the exhibit.  Me on the other hand stood with my hands covering my head because a bird dive bombing my head or pooping in my hair is one of my biggest fears... true story!

Here we are with our friends, and Bug is showcasing her true independent streak in this picture as she tries to escape.

Ahh, what a great week of vacation at home/ schooling on the go!  Thanks friends for the visit, we miss you, come back soon!

PreSchool- God created Man

This week we continued on our theme for the year of Creation.  This month's focus is on that God created man. 

Verse of the week:
"I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." Philippians 4:13
You can download our verse cards for the month here.

Math-
Counting by 2's we used the awesome printables from Homeschool Creations, you can download these here.
My goal was to focus on teaching that all muscles and bones in our body usually come in 2's one on the left side and one on the right.  Truth be told, we didn't get as in depth with the muscular and skeletal systems as I thought we would.  Oh well, more stuff for next year : )

Reading-
I changed up the reading time a little and made it a little more hands on after the great idea from Homeschool Creations.  I printed out the sheets here and then laminated them, gave H some play doh and had him mold the letters. 

When he was done, he spelled out "Pop," which is what he calls one of his grandpas.  "Look, Mama, I wrote Pop!"

We also created little books all about H.  He loved getting to hear how big he was at each age, what he liked, how long he slept...  I did have to pull out his records from the pediatrician because I didn't know his weight and height at each age.

Science
H, LOVES bugs right now.  If you ask him what he is going to be when he grows up he says Entomologist.  He was delighted when we went to the park and found a HUGE beetle.

Exercise Cards:
We downloaded these exercise cards from Homeschool Share.  They are super cute and worth the 5 seconds to download and print off.  I even laminated our set so we can use them again and again.  H, though they were really fun... well, all of them other than the situps.  He got really frustrated that he couldn't do a situp, that is hard for a little guy!  Here he is attempting J is for Jumping jacks.

Action photo

Pre School- God gave us 5 senses

   

H- almost 4 1/2
Bug- 17 months

We have continued on our theme creation and that God made man.  This week we have focused on that God gave each of us 5 senses to learn about and enjoy the world around us.

Verse of the week: "Taste and see that the Lord is good." Psalm 34:8, you can download my verse cards here.

Math:  Counting by 5's... I thought it was quite fitting seeing that we talked a lot about 5's all week.   You can download this awesome printable here from Homeschool Creations.  Then we practiced without the Skip Counting by 5's sheet.  I would say "5" then H would say "10" all of the way up to 100.  We did it while hanging out at home and while driving in the car.  H even did it all of the way up to 100 for daddy.

Writing:  H practiced writing his letter.  Look at that look of concentration.  I think sticking the tongue out must really run in the family!

Human Body Riddle book:
This was fun for H.  He liked solving the riddles and then gluing the pictures on each strip of paper.  You can download it here.

I printed off 2 copies of the pictures from the Human Body Riddle book to use for the 5 senses chart.  Here we cut out pictures of what we see, hear, taste, smell and feel and glued them in the correct column. (sorry having problems uploading pictures of this one)

On the day that we focused on the sense of taste, I prepared a little taste-test for H.  I poured a little pile of salt, then a pile of sugar, had a lime and a coffee bean.  Super simple, but it really re-reinforced the different tastes that we get to experience.

Tiny Tot School

Music Time- When H was almost 2 we started going to Kindermusik.  He LOVED it!!  His teacher In Utah, Mrs. Theresa was amazing and we miss her.... since we moved the closest Kindermusik class is 40 minutes away.   So I decided that I would try to start some music time with the kids.  We pulled out all of H's instruments.  Bug really only liked it for the first few songs then she wanted to run off to do something else.  I think I will have a more consolidated plan for next time.  I wouldn't call this a success yet, but I want to stick with it :)

Play-doh
This was a first for Bug, she seemed to like it... and she really liked to eat it.  So, that is one thing that I will be really working on with her, not eating the playdoh!