Pre-School

It's always a little awkward when people ask us if Nicole is in Pre-school, or if they ask her if she's going to school.  The good thing is....she totally thinks she's going to school.  It just sounds a little weird to say that we are homeschooling her, as a preschooler.  It's just me probably. 

Anyway, we are homeschooling our pre-school aged daughter:-)  In August, we started meeting once a week with one of Nicole's little friends, Hannah Mae.  We meet for about 2 hours on Mondays and it gives some structure for the rest of the week.  The children start off by saying the pledge of allegiance, counting how many days they've been in school (my friend is homeschooling her 1st grader as well, so they are on more of a schedule than I am), having a little devotion and prayer time.  Then, we work on the topic that week.  We may read books, do a craft, go outside for a little science.  It all kind of depends.  My goal would be to write one blog at the end of the week highlighting what we have done, but I don't think that's going to happen.

I'll recap though the last 6 weeks or so.

Oh, First, the Curriculum we are using is called "My Father's World".  It's Biblically based, scientific curriculum. There are 26 weeks, corresponding with the letters in the alphabet. There is a memory verse and supporting verses each week.  They are crafts, science experiments, reading activities, writing activities and much more.

The first section starts with Creation.  We spent 2 weeks learning about the 7 days of creation. 

Creation timeline (each number has a picture of what was created that day)

Creation book. Again, each page has a project Nicole completed showing what was created that particular day.  I think she has it down (she even told Jeremy last night that she didn't do something because it was Seven, and God rested on the Seventh day! haha)

The first week was the letter S - Sun. 

We painted handprints of the Sun (with Hannah) at home, Nicole practiced writing the letter S, talked about day and night and how the earth rotates and orbits, we tried to make a sundial, we talked abut constellations and stars and did dot-to-dots of different constellations, and made S'mors.Oh, and we made S-S-Slime

The second week was M-Moon.  We read a lot of books about the moon.  We talked again about how the moon orbits the earth and we made craters in flour with rocks to learn how craters on the moon were made.  We read Goodnight Moon, and made our own Goodnight Moon book.  We talked about the moon phases and also learned about the space shuttle and what happened when the astronauts landed on the moon.  I would also recommend this book, Fool Moon Rising, about the prideful moon and how he learns that he does not give his own light, but that he was created to reflect the light from the Sun, and that we were not created to give ourselves glory, but to reflect and give glory to God.

Even Hannah remembered that craters were made by rocks hitting the moon.  Speaking of Hannah...she's a smart cookie!  She listens to everything and remember SOOO much.  It's crazy!

This week we have been learning L-Leaves.  We went on a leaf hunt and collected lots of different kind of leaves.  We did crayon rubbings of the leaves and learned about the different shapes of the leaves.  I have been reading Caps For Sale, with is a Before Five in a Row book (a great pre-school curriculum that just takes high quality books and gives you ideas of how to use those books to teach virtues or math or science or social studies).  Through that book we've been learning about money (the caps are sold for $.50, so today we counted out different ways of making $.50 with coins).  We'll be talking about patterns and colors (things I can with Hannah too).

The leaf rubbing.  There is a Sycamore, orange, Cypress, maple, and basil leaf on here I believe.

I have also been working with Nicole on reading and writing.  For reading, I have been using a Hooked on Phonics curriculum.  It's been a good jumping off point for me, without it....I would be trying to teach her to high above her level.  A few times a week, we sit down at the white boards to learn new letter sound combinations and sight words.  I made this tree in the kitchen.  The apples are the sight words she knows, or common words she need to know before she can read a book, and the flowers are letter sound combinations.  I just did that for fun, to inspire me to continue with her.  She loves to work on the white boards.  Most of the time, I am the teacher and she likes for me to write new words for her to sound out.  But, sometimes she likes to be the teacher and think of words to write.  Yesterday she was just sitting at the board, thinking of words and writing them down (mad, cup, etc).  She even figured out how to make "mad" into "made".

Through our little pre-school time, I discovered a very cool notebook.  It's a primary composition notebook with large lines for beginning writers and a blank space at the top for drawing.  When I bought My Father's World curriculum off e-bay, the person also sent this cool Draw Write Now book that teaches how to draw basic animal shapes, along with sentences for the student to write.

  Nicole practices drawing one animal a week and writes one sentence each time we get it out.  I really like this, because without it, I wouldn't be doing anything art related with her.  It's not easy, but I think it's good practice.

Day Number one: Hens live on Farms

Day 3: Hens lay eggs (do you see progress! I do!)

 Day 1 of pigs: Pigs live on farms.

My friend Jennifer suggested writing the words in yellow marker and letting Nicole trace them.  Nicole can write the letters, but she does not know how to stay within the lines or to leave spaces between words.  Jennifer used to teach 1st grade, so I take her suggestions seriously.  I thought this seemed like a good idea too.  It allows Nicole the chance to write while also helping her stay between the lines and hopefully learn some spacing.  My other friend Amanda also used to teach 1st grade, and she would often tell me that tracing is a good way to learn how to write...I wonder if this is what she meant? Amanda????

Day 2: Pigs stay in pens.  I don't know why this picture is sideways...sorry.  Nicole's pig was much better today.

So, in a nutshell...that's where we are right now with Nicole's school.  I am trying to incorporate time for Hannah too.   I'll post a video of her later trying to say the alphabet.  She is learning so much as well, and listening and absorbing!  It's fun to have learning time with them.  And, quite honestly, the days that we are home and stick to a good schedule, are the days that generally are the best regarding their attitudes.  I think they like the routine and they both really like to learn.