And the week concludes...

We made it through Week 2!  Today was tough.  I was exhausted and Adeline only wanted to participate acting goofy.  Not a good combo.  It was one of those days were I started wondering what on earth I'm thinking.  I was ready to send her to preschool.  Right then.  But I calmed down and decided we'll have good days and bad days, just like with anything else.  So here is the positive that came out of the last couple of days.

On an exciting note, yesterday Adeline wrote her first "A" all by herself!  And it looked just like an "A"!!  We were visiting my grandmother and Adeline asked to write on a piece of paper.  She tried to make a "B" which looked more like a "T", then a few minutes later she said, "Mommy!  I made an A!"  And sure enough, she had!  I was so proud.  :)

I also saw some success when Adeline was watching a cartoon and saw a vine.  She pointed it out and asked if that was a vine like we were learning about this week.  I need those moments to keep chugging down this road.  Sometimes I wonder if she's just playing along to humor me, not really getting anything out of our lessons.  It was nice to see that something is sinking in!

Today we worked on the number 2, our nursery rhyme for the week, identifying living plants, and a lion craft.  Adeline always loves doing crafts.

She painted the paper plate yellow and brown.

Then colored the facial features while the paint dried.

Glued them on...

And Ta-Da!  A happy lion and a proud little girl.  She immediately wanted to show Daddy.

Our completed board for Week 2.  I don't know why it won't show up rotated.  Sorry!

I'm excited for next week.  The theme is kittens and it just happens that we are getting a new kitty tonight.  :)

 

More From Wednesday

We did a couple other things after I posted yesterday which were fun, so I thought I'd share.

Adeline did her "fine motor skills" craft - another gluing project which she loved!  She "hid" a monkey behind tall grass.

Peek-a-boo!

I'm not great about having Adeline help in the kitchen.  I know it's a good thing to do, but I often don't have the patience.  It's my new goal to have Adeline help make something at least twice a week.  A couple days ago she helped make chicken noodle soup.  Yesterday, we got in another kitchen activity.  Before supper, we made an after-dinner treat - Popcorn Lollipops.  We skipped the actual "lollipop" part.  It was a very messy recipe, but Adeline was able to do most of it herself.  She even got in a little math counting out caramels and marshmallows.  And boy are they good!!!  The only thing I'd do different next time is make two batches!

Tuesday & Wednesday

We skipped the planned lesson for Tuesday and went to the local children's museum instead.  It was fun to get out of the house and spend an afternoon playing with the kids.  I know they loved my undivided attention!  We played for 3 1/2 hours!  This was one exhausted mama by the time we got home.  What I love about the museum is how perfectly it fits the Einstein quote, "I only attempt to provide the conditions in which they can learn."  Kids learn so much through playing, but it's easy to disregard that fact - feeling like you need to be actively teaching them something in order for it to "count."  Sure, while they played I made sure to watch for teachable moments - like when we were checking out the fire truck, we read the fire safety book that was next to it - but for the most part, we just played.  And played.  And played.  It was fun.  If I sat down and thought about all the subjects we covered in those 3 hours, I'm sure I'd be amazed.  We had art at the face painting station and the coloring station, science in the air/space exhibit and water tables, dramatic play in the theatre and town areas, language arts when we read books, music (and science) with the water filled jugs, math when we counted the beads on the abacus, and PE with the dancing screen and ground hog tunnels.  That's just the stuff I can think of off the top of my head.  What an awesome place!

Wednesdays are a little trickier.  We have a pretty busy day with Bible study, Story Time, and AWANA.  Adeline and I worked on her Learning Board activities while Braxton napped.  She was pretty worn out herself, though, and didn't participate very well.  We might have to skip Wednesday lessons for now.

Today we added the letter "B" and the color "green" to the board.  We read a book I got at the library this morning, I'm Gronk and I'm Green, but neither of us cared for it.  It did try to teach a lesson about following rules and obeying your parents, but I think the message got lost in the language.

We'll see how tomorrow goes.

 

Week Two, Day One

Instead of making one giant post at the end of the week, I thought I'd update as I have time throughout the week.

Today we started Week Two with the theme of Jungles.  We read an awesome book I got at the library, Over in the Jungle: A Rainforest Rhyme.  Highly recommend it!  The kids also had a great time dancing to The Lion Sleeps Tonight.  Adeline kept asking to hear it over and over.  After the fifth time, I said enough!  We also listened to The Carnival of Animals.  We were suppose to act out different animals based on the sound of the music.  Adeline wanted to watch the pictures on the screen, though, so we just talked about the sounds and how they might represent a certain animal.  I wish I would have had my camera.  I asked Adeline to close her eyes and imagine the animals we were talking about.  She shut her eyes and put one finger to her temple, like she was thinking really hard.  It was so cute!  I wasn't sure that activity would hold her attention, but she happily sat through the entire 11 minutes.

We do Adeline's AWANA homework on Monday since there is less work that day in the Letter of the Week program.  Today we talked about how God is always with us.  The activity was to write a praise song using the tune of a familiar song.  We used "Three Blind Mice" and came up with this:

We give thanks,
We give thanks;
To the Lord above,
To the Lord above;
We give Him thanks every day and all night;
He shows us the truth, the way, and the light;
We love Him and praise Him for all of our life;
Yes, we give thanks!

And that was the end of preschool for today.

I forgot in the last entry to mention that both kids are involved with Kindermusik, as well.  It's a great program and I'm very thankful for someone with musical talent and knowledge to teach the kids.  That's not one of my strong points!

I'm also a big fan of Highlights Hive Five.  Adeline received a subscription as a gift.  It's a fun learning tool when you only have a couple of minutes.  There's also a nice Parent/Teacher Guide section on the website that gives ideas for taking the lessons farther.  And did I mention Adeline's excitement of getting a magazine in the mail?!  :)

For one more link:  A friend of mine suggested the website Starfall.  I haven't looked through it yet, but at first glance it seems pretty neat.  She also thought it would be fun to make an "About Me" book chronicling Adeline's educational progress.  I'll be checking into that, as well.

Week One

I realize it's a bit odd to start a "school year" in mid-February, but I think the timing will actually work out really well.  I've decided to start with an introductory preschool curriculum - preparatory curriculum as I believe it calls itself.  It's kind of like wading in the water before diving in head first.  It's a 26-week program that will nicely end just as the traditional school year begins.  The whole program is free and can be found online at Letter of the Week.

The first day, Adeline helped make her Learning Board.  She had a blast and was very excited to be "learning."  She wanted to tell everyone that she was going to be "learning in preschool."  I was glad she was excited.  We had tried this curriculum a year or so ago and she wasn't that into it.  Here is the board we made:

Each day, we added something new to the board and had activities that corresponded.  The theme this week was cows.  Adeline is fascinated with cows, so it was the perfect theme for beginning.  The vocabulary word was "calf."  The Bible verse isn't part of the Letter of the Week program - it's Adeline's memory verse from AWANA.  

I think Adeline's favorite activity this week was making the "cow" out of squares.  Before making the cow, she played around with the squares to see what else she could make.  Right away she made a pair of "pants" using a big square and two smaller squares for the legs.  She enjoyed creating the cow, too - especially the gluing part!  I'll have to make some more squares for her to play around with.   

I'm using the Brain Quest Pre-K workbook as a supplement.  One of the lessons this week dealt with picking out objects that were the same.  That was a harder lesson for Adeline.  I thought she'd breeze through it since she spends a lot of time helping me match socks in the laundry.  Guess matching socks made more sense to her!  It might also be that she could pick up the socks, unlike the pictures in the book.

We danced around the living room like cows one afternoon to the song (you guessed it!) Old Mac Donald.  It couldn't have been more perfect that the version I have starts with cows.  

I whole-heartedly believe that Adeline needs plenty of opportunities to interact with kids her age and to listen to a teacher other than me.  For this reason, she is involved with AWANA, Story Time, MOPPETS, and Wednesday morning Bible study childcare.    

As one last thing, Adeline asked to paint one day this week.  We had an impromptu study of primary colors.  

                                                   

She learned first that blue and yellow make green.  Then she added in red and made several shades of brown.

Braxton enjoyed painting, even though he still thinks paint is good for eating.  For the record, it was his sister who thought it'd be fun to have him wear the princess apron.  Luckily, he's too little to care!

                                         

And here is the finished product!

                                        

Week 2 begins tomorrow.  Watch for an update next Sunday!  :)