Monday, August 27, 2012

First Day of School 2012


First day of 3 year old preschool school went great today :-)

 Munchkin woke up in his big boy bed for the first time this morning to a fun day of learning.

Debut of the big boy bed


 We started week 1 in our curriculum this morning. Today we introduced the first 3 days of creation while reading related books, singing songs, doing a rhyme, activities and memorizing scripture. Academically, we talked about calendar time such as the days of the week song. We also covered the number zero as we did our book of the week as well as watched a couple of videos. We tied our book of the week in with the prodigal son and the parable of the lost sheep. We finished up with coloring and a matching creation game. 






Doodlebug sure was a good sport today :-)



I'll post highlights of our learning at the end of each week. I just couldn't let the first day go by with out it's own entry :-)

Friday, August 24, 2012

2012-2013 Curriculum

I really enjoy seeing other homeschoolers curriculum choices, so I thought I'd share ours. Last year was our first year and we spent piecing together Montessori materials and activities through various sources.  Our main goal was to build a faith based children's library while introducing Munchkin to basic letters, numbers, colors and shapes introducing the Bible through stories, songs, memory verses and character training. With God's help and direction, we were able to do those things. We are now ready to move forward with a new year :-D



Three Year Curriculum
2012-2013 Curriculum

This year, I went with a curriculum called ABC Jesus Loves Me for Munchkin's 3 year old preschool year. I ordered the spiral bound curriculum book.  They also offer a corresponding workbook and coloring pages that we haven't decided if we'll purchase or just download from the site offered for free as we go. The curriculum is free for individual homeschoolers and all downloadable from their main site. Christian preschools can use when they buy a license. ABCJLM also has a facebook page, discussion forum and blog called "Our Out-of-Sync Life" as support, inspiration, sharing, questions and collaboration.

I also purchased a 544 page Comprehensive Curriculum of Basic Skills workbook as well.

Comprehensive Curriculum of Basic Skills, Grade P


Some very generous preschool teachers shared their books with me for planning: 



Homeschooling resources to refer to through out the year:

Our main bible resources for the year:



The goals from the ABCJLM website are:

• know several Bible stories, Memory Verses, Nursery Rhymes, Finger plays, and Songs which they can recall when prompted

• know the names of all of the uppercase and lowercase letters
• know the phonetic sound of all of the letters
• be able to correctly trace all uppercase and lowercase letters with their finger
• know by name and be able to correctly trace the numbers 1-15 with their finger
• be able to identify various colors and shapes
• be able to demonstrate spatial concepts, sorting, and AB and ABA patterns
• be able to say the letters of their first name as well as write them
• be introduced to many books
• increase in fine and gross motor skills

How we'll apply those to our little guy:

We are using a combination of The Beginner's Bible, The Jesus Storybook Bible and Hands On Bible activities this year going through the bible.
The Jesus Storybook Bible Curriculum Kit


Character training will come from this book:
The ABC's Of Character


Munchkin knows all the upper case letters, we'll do some special emphasis on the few confusing lower case letters for him such as b and d, p and q, etc.

He knows all of his phonic sounds but writing is new for him. We did some pre-writing tracing last year. We will start with this dry erase board, continuing with the salt box, sandpaper letters as well as worksheets reinforced with phone aps and websites.
Dry erase tracing
We introduced concepts, sorting and patterns this last year, but we'll work on taking that to the next level.
Pre primer sight words and teaching basic CVC words will begin. Watching him learn to write his name will be very exciting. We also bought "Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons" which has been recommended by many preschool mommies.

Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons

We are going to focus as well on one-to-one correspondence. Munchkin recognizes 0 to 10 and knows how to count from 1 to 15, so we are ready to take that to the next level.
Along the year, we'll add a chore chart and some introduction to money. 

For a chore chart, we are looking at Accountable Kids 






For finances, I'm still trying to decide between Dave Ramsey's program for kids and Crown Financial Peace ministries children's program.

  

Also, I have seen some wonderful preschool science experiments that I can't wait to do with Munchkin :-)
First day of school for us is Monday!

Wednesday, August 1, 2012

August 2012- Armor of God

I have to say in light or some national issues going on right now, God is amazing to have this planned since November to look at the full armor of God this month.


Books, craft and activity

Talking about heroes with their armor as we watch Auto B Good

Printables of songs, lessons, scripture, flash cards and a game

Munchkin and I playing the game. We spin the game piece and talk as
we find the right piece of armor to dress our people

Wearing the belt of truth

I put together one craft to use as a visual from Oriental Trading Company.
He'll do one himself later in the month with friends.










Armor of God battles with the guys! I did something a little different with playtime this month, because of the nature of the theme, I kept it to boys ( little sisters could tag along....)













I also have some knight academic fun planned to go along with the faith theme.


A friend lent us a castle so we could talk about knights and their armor

Favorite Faith Books

I recently had a conversation the other day with another mom about finding great faith based books to support the bible. She mentioned it was difficult for her, so I thought I would share our finds for my friend and who ever else is out there looking. I did order the majority of these off of Amazon. I also found a few at consignment stores and half price books. Enjoy and if you have others you'd like to share, please leave a comment or email me :-)

If it goes through the alphabet with our Faith, we are there :-) 

Little Blessing series by Kathleen Long Bostrom

Debby Anderson hardback books
Debbie Anderson boardbooks

The Story of.... by Patricia Pingry

Favorite Bible Verse series by Dandi Daley Mackall

Parable series by Liz Curtis Higgs

God Counts series by Mindy MacDonald

Beary Patch Bears by Melody Carlson

100 Ways by Stephen Elkins

God Gave Us by Lisa Bergren


Wimicks and others by Max Lucado

If Jesus.... by Jill Roman Lord

God, I need to talk to you about.....by Dann Carr or Susan K Leigh