Homeschooling Preschoolers Jan '06 - Page 2

[MyLittleWonders]

Originally Posted by SunRayeMomi

I wish I had more time to type this morning. My G-pa passed and I have to get ready for the service but I will be back soon.

Hugs and comfort to you.

[eilonwy]

I'm home educating my 3 year old son BeanBean and my 18 month old daughter, BooBah. They're lovies, and probably my two favorite people in the world right now. We're expecting BellyBean in April, and she will be home educated, too.

Interestingly enough, we're actually becoming more scheduled/structured as time goes on; I find that both of my kids thrive on structure, and that my own reluctance to impose a schedule of any kind on my children (I lean heavily toward non-coercive parenting/TCS in my thinking) has been, if not harmful, unhelpful to them. We are child-inspired classical homeschoolers, and right now BeanBean is doing k/GS-A work. BooBah is desperate to work with him, and I'm still debating about what to do with her....

At any rate, right now we're using First Language Lessons for the Well-Trained Mind, The Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading, EarlyBird Kindergarten Math 2B, Story of the World, Vol I, various library books and printouts from the internet (which I print once a week at the IL's ). We've started reading The Secret Garden in the evenings before bedtime (BeanBean *loves* this) and I've got loads of other ideas floating around in the back of my head. There are other things going on too, I'm sure, but I'm kind of tired and can't think of them all right now. Oh! BeanBean is a whole word reader (TOPGtTR is a strictly phonetic approach, and I think that it's helpful for him to get both but I'm not going to force him to read words phonetically when he already knows them by sight) so I'm hoping to find my index cards this week and start putting up words all over the place. If I had big ones, that would probably be easier... BooBah will be just as interested in the words as BeanBean is, so I'm not worried about her taking them down.

BeanBean is set on learning how to write, and is working very hard at it... I'm pretty impressed, I wasn't expecting him to make any progress (or even show any interest) in this department for another year or so. We are also working on more practical, daily living skills-- getting clean when he wipes his buns (he is three, after all ), brushing all of the surfaces of his teeth (he's actually getting quite good at this ), and zipping his own jacket (he still needs me to start the zipper, so that's what I'm teaching him). Oh, and closing his pants again after he uses the bathroom. I know that these skills are often difficult for children his age (and even a bit older) because I remember both of my nieces coming home with unzipped jackets and unbuttoned/snapped pants, but it's important to learn these things and quite frankly I think that they are more important to learn than academic skills at this point (BeanBean disagrees with me!) so we're working on them. BeanBean would love to learn to tie his shoes, too, but I think that starting his own zippers will be easier for him to learn so we're doing that first.

I have been working on bringing more solidy Jewish themes into BeanBean's education lately; this week, I hope to teach him to say Shema, which is a very important prayer. I might also label things with Hebrew words, when I put up the English ones. That is, if I can find a decent Hebrew dictionary inexpensively...

Today we had a long, busy day with almost no academic work. I did bring a workbook along so that when his cousins were doing their homework, BeanBean could do some, too, and he was absolutely tickled to sit with his pencil and workbook next to ChibiChibi while she read this evening. They were so cute together! BooBah wanted homework too, but I just gave her a blank sheet of paper and a pencil. She was irritated with me and actually shrieked, "No! Homework!" and tossed the paper off of the table. I'm still quite conflicted even about giving her workbooks... It's very difficult, but I still think of her as being way too young for what she's asking me for...

Can anyone tell me a bit about EarlyBird 1A? What does that particular book cover? Is there a large writing component? BooBah has excellent fine motor skills, but writing actual letters/numbers is probably still beyond her.

I was also wondering about teaching BeanBean an instrument. I absolutely love music, and I actually own a piano but I can't move it to my apartment (it's too big to go up the stairs, even if I could afford to move it ). I've also got a violin, which has sadly spent most of the past 3 years in it's case. At any rate, I'm hoping that when we get our new computer (with our tax refund) I'll be able to find someone on Freecycle who has a piano locally that they're willing to let me play, and spend a bit of time teaching BeanBean to play. I really like the John Thompson series in general, and I know that there's an early beginner program (Teaching Little Fingers to Play, perhaps?) but I was wondering if anyone here is familiar with Suzuki piano program? Is there a special teaching technique required, or can anyone who is musically inclined buy the books and teach their kid? I'm pretty sure that private lessons are out of our reach, but I really think that it would be a good thing for the kiddles and I'd love to get them started. Suzuki violin, too; I'd love to hear more about that!

[BurnsideMommy]

Is anyone starting something new in the new year?

We've known since Austin was 7 months old that we'd homeschool. I thought I'd start
a very loose preschool homeschool this last September when his friends started going to
preschool. He just wasn't ready for it at all. Lately he has developed a huge interest
in letters/reading/writing/learning, so we're going to try a teeny bit of structure/routine
around here with preschool.

I've collected a TON of homeschool stuff, since I get so excited about hs'ing. We have
Hooked on Phonics Get Ready to Read, HOP Learn to Read, Hands on Homeschooling Age 3 & activity
book, TWTM, 10 terrific weeks curriculums from Usborne, several 'workbooks', Slow & Steady Get Me Ready,
B5IAR, Letter of the Week printed out, ABC Home Preschooling curriculum, the parent guide &
several books from PreK Sonlight, and tons more, obviously including lots of online sources.
We also have a huge library (I am an Usborne consultant soley for my discount!), and tons
and tons of craft supplies. We subscribe to NG Kids, Wild Animal Baby, Ladybug, Babybug, Your Big Backyard,
several scholastic book clubs, and Brighter Vision. We are stocked to say in the least.
I plan to basically set aside some time each morning to incorporate time to work on various
activities each day, following his lead. Oh, we also have the get ready for the code workbooks too.

how old is/are your dc(s)?

Austin will be 4 in April. Hunter will be 2 in May, and baby girl is due in April (on Austin's bday).


what are their interests or obsessions?

Transportation! Trains, planes, boats, cars, trucks, etc.
He also likes learning about his body, animals and trying to read. He always asks what
everything says and picks out the letters he knows.

Hunter likes most everything big brother likes, so he should be easy to occupy while we
'homeschool preschool'.


what are you or aren't you doing right now ()?

We've been doing activities as he asks to do them. Games, reading, crafts, workbooks, etc.
I'd like to make it a daily morning part of our routine to at least dedicate some time to learning.
Right now we also read - a ton, both nap time & bedtime are musts, and they usually have reading time
while I work on my homework and then we end up reading more.

We belong to 2 indoor parks in town, take swim lessons, and alternate between activities (soccer,
gym, kindermusik, other music classes, gymboree, live & learn classes, etc). Austin is also in Awana Cubbies on Wednesdays and loves it.
Basically we just do the same stuff other SAHM's do with toddlers, even though all of Austin's friends
seem to be in a structured preschool setting. We also go to story times and the library a lot. We actually go to the
bookstore a ton too, more than our budget would like...

What's an average day (week?) like for you and your dc(s)?

We're very flexible, and I find that we all struggle like this. I'm taking 2 classes at the
university, chairperson of a board, go to bible study, excercise regularily, and take the kids to programs.
I'm finding that we need to better organize our days and make time for preschool instead of waiting for free time. I don't let the boys watch much, if any
tv, and they love free play time, but always beg to do activities (usually when I'm making a meal, or doing laundry). I'd like to have a set time devoted to this for them.
The boys & I thrive on routine, I just suck at keeping to one. Working on that though!

[BurnsideMommy]

I'm also interested in the Suzuki lessons for piano. I have a fancy keyboard that I tinker
with, but I'd love to learn as well as have the boys learn - which they're both interested in.

I play the flute, and Austin doesn't seem interested in that at all, but he loves most
instruments, and perhaps the violin would be neat as well.

PS - I forgot to mention in the above thread that we've been using Muzzy for French. I took
French from 3rd grade through senior year in high school, and my Aunt speaks french as well, so I
want to teach the boys that. I'd love for them (& me) to learn spanish as well, but
not sure how to go about that yet.

[Lady Ivanhoe]

I am glad you started this as the other thread was far to large and intimidating for me to jump into.


Ds is four, he will actually be old enough for kindergarten this year so I have decided I really need to get more organized. We are kind of on a break right now while I reorganize some things to get ready for my classes to start on the eighteenth.

We are actually working on a new schedule because the our homeschooling group is beginning to meet weekly, finally. On Mondays, we will go to storytime at the library, meet Daddy for lunch, and then go to the gym to play with other kids.

I have been using annettemaries fall curriculuum and need to order the winter one but funds are tight right now. I used to be a daycare provider and so I have a ton of curriculuum books that I rarely use because we would honestly just rather play games and do crafts and I am fine with that. He is a very bright boy but I don't want to push him because his father and I were both hurried children, reading by age three and whatnot. It didn't do either one of us any favors, I am not going to do that to him.

[SunRayeMomi]

Thanks for all the s ladies! The service was beautiful. He will be missed.

I almost forgot about this:

Is anyone starting something new in the new year?

Basically we've decided that we are more unschoolers than we originally thought. As I think I've said, Raye keeps rapidly developing a skill then moving on to the next. I am more structured in my thinking so bouncing around like this is a little odd for me, but I know it's best for me to follow her cues and right now they are so willy-nilly a structure wouldn't fit in the plans!

how old is/are your dc(s)

she's four and a half going on 15.

what are their interests or obsessions

Crafts. Dinosaurs. Horses. Blocks. Her kitty.: Um that's the major ones!

what are you or aren't you doing right now?

We have been borrowing different craft books from the library a lot. We are a very crafty household, but usually follow my lead for projects. So it is fun to look at these books and get new ideas for projects. I sew now and then and she is becoming interested in sewing and knitting, so we got her some little needles and started learning basic knitting techniques (yes, this is new for me too ). She is also learning some simple stitches. She picked it up very well. At first, I took card stock and printed out pieces of clothing (hats, mittens) then punched holes all around the sides and had her "stitch" yarn through the holes. Now we've moved on to actually using big needles for making felt projects and bean bags. This is my favorite part about homeschooling days since I'm crafty and I love being able to pass it on to dd Hmmm what are we not doing right now? We aren't doing much academic-wise. I feel like she's picking things up from just playing. I wonder if I shared about the game she made up? I hope I'm not repeating myself here:

***We were playing in Raye's room and she asked to get down her mosaic puzzle pieces. We were playing for a while and I showed her how to use small shapes to create larger ones, etc. She's really into patterns and sequences (she's always pointing them out everywhere we go!), so we made a few. Then Raye started to make up a new game with the pieces. She kept saying "ooh I found a shadow spot!" ??? After I figured out what she was doing , we decided to call it Shadow Shapes:

We arrange the pieces however we want, leaving empty spaces here and there. Then we have to take turns to call out the shape that would fit in the empty space. Raye did this by calling out "Shadow Triangle!" or "Shadow Diamond!" and filling in the space with said shape. I thought it was so thoughtful!! What a cool game. ****

So I know now that playing is the best kind of "academic" for her right now. The only thing that I am trying to do is sneak in some math but that's not difficult. She loves to play with the abacus! We also use fingers to count, and even got a puzzle of two hands in which you add/remove the fingers to add/subtract. She enjoys it.

What's an average day (week?) like for you and your dc(s)?

I'll give you a day since they seem very random but tend not to be We wake up, have breakfast and watch a cartoon (we are very slow risers - sometimes it takes a lot of transitioning!) Then I will clean while she picks up on a toy that she left mid-play in her room the day before or she will help me with the chores. I've been slacking a lot on chores because I had this epiphany that it is better to have a happy kid and a messy house than vice versa. Needless to say our dining room table is in a perpetual state of chaos In the winter we are generally home-bodies. I would like to get interested in snow activities more and would except that we are in MI and have NO SNOW! : I finally open up to this weather after a lifetime of hating it and it eludes me In the summer, we get around a lot more. I bought a trailer to hitch to my bike and we go for bikerides sometimes ALL MORNING. We live in an urban area, so we have lots to see and visit. We will go to the river and feed the ducks, stop at the park or the art museum and then stop off for lunch at a cafe or even Nama's house Then we're off again. But that's summer. So today, I think we will be doing some much needed grocery shopping which can be a lesson unto itself

[eilonwy]

Originally Posted by SunRayeMomi

she is becoming interested in sewing and knitting, so we got her some little needles and started learning basic knitting techniques (yes, this is new for me too ). She is also learning some simple stitches.

I knit, and BeanBean is fascinated by it and would love to learn, but I don't think that he's quite coordinated enough to handle it, and I don't want him to feel absolutely miserable if he tries it and can't get the hang of it, you know? I think that it's probably way beyond his fine motor coordination, but then I feel guilty that I change the subject whenever he asks me to show him how to knit. I keep encouraging him to play with play-dough instead, to strengthen his fingers a bit.

[4evermom]

Originally Posted by eilonwy

I knit, and BeanBean is fascinated by it and would love to learn, but I don't think that he's quite coordinated enough to handle it, and I don't want him to feel absolutely miserable if he tries it and can't get the hang of it, you know? I think that it's probably way beyond his fine motor coordination, but then I feel guilty that I change the subject whenever he asks me to show him how to knit. I keep encouraging him to play with play-dough instead, to strengthen his fingers a bit.

A friend of mine gave my ds a (Lauri brand) sewing kit. It is felt cut outs with holes punched along the edges. When sewed together, they are puppets that can then be embellished with scraps of felt and yarn. That kind of thing might be satisfying for BeanBean and the right dexterity level (my ds is 4.5 and can do it with a little help). Sewing with yarn on that heavy canvas or plastic webbing stuff would probably be about right, too. 6 is the youngest that I've heard children successfully learning knitting.

[eilonwy]

Originally Posted by 4evermom

A friend of mine gave my ds a (Lauri brand) sewing kit. It is felt cut outs with holes punched along the edges. When sewed together, they are puppets that can then be embellished with scraps of felt and yarn. That kind of thing might be satisfying for BeanBean and the right dexterity level (my ds is 4.5 and can do it with a little help). Sewing with yarn on that heavy canvas or plastic webbing stuff would probably be about right, too. 6 is the youngest that I've heard children successfully learning knitting.

Thanks! I wonder-- would a regular hole puncher work on felt? I bet making my own would be really cheap...

[sweetpeas]

My cheapy walmart hole punch doesn't work on felt (just tried it when we were redecorating the kids' classroom at church last week), would guess a more heavy duty one would. Or the regular one might work on foam sheets.

[eilonwy]

Originally Posted by sweetpeas

My cheapy walmart hole punch doesn't work on felt (just tried it when we were redecorating the kids' classroom at church last week), would guess a more heavy duty one would. Or the regular one might work on foam sheets.

I have the same cheapy hole punch. If I could find one that I could be certain would punch through felt, though, it would probably be a worthwhile investment to me.

*sigh* Afoo Gafoo Lick has retrurned. He's making it very difficult to type.

[sweetpeasmom]

I have two dd's, one almost 3 and the other 1. My 3 year old is reading and loves to spell and count. Thinking of trying to see if I can teach her some simple math this year. I also want to start doing some crafts with her. Also going ahead with learning more spanish, she already knows some and seems like a sponge and wants more. i got the spanish muzzy, although she's not too into it now maybe later but she loves reading her spanish books and is learning just from that. I've also taped some spanish words that i printed out on printer around the house on objects and she seems to like that. We are also learning sign language, as my brother is deaf and also my nephew has autism and is using sign to communicate and she's been really receptive to it. She actually signed her first sentance last week and i was amazed. So thats about all we are working on now.

And she chews on the foam letters ehn her sister isn't looking

mine does the same thing, she loves chewing on them letters

[bwylde]

DS impressed me last night. He was helping me go through the sale flyers to pick out what we wanted to buy and he started spontaniously writing his letters! He started with a Q then T and went through most of the alphabet. I was surprised as he usually won't touch crayons or pencils/pens and I wouldn't of expected him to have the control to write the letters so well. He's picking up on reading so well lately too. He often surprises me when he points out words in places that wouldn't have any indicator as to what it would be so I know that he is learning without me pushing (although part of me really wants to!).

I brought a bunch of my homeschooling stuff from the basement to put on our new bookcase. I am not going to hide it anymore. I want this stuff to be out where we can use it and not feel like I have to hide the fact we're homeschooling. Already DS is having fun with them. One book is DK The Amazing Pull Out Pop Up Body book which has a 4.5 foot body inside showing the insides. He's having a blast learning how the body works, what muscles and bones are for. He says "It's me! That's what I look like inside!" : . Some others have science experiments in them it would be fun to try.

We returned some Christmas stuff today and got some fun stuff . I bought Candy Land (DS wanted the Dora version : ), a little bird feeder and seed, play dough, pinwheels and some other stuff. It was fun to get fun stuff and the kids were so excited. Before kids I wouldn't of realized there was educational value to kids play but I can see how much they learn from even the simplest things.

[SunRayeMomi]

Originally Posted by eilonwy

I knit, and BeanBean is fascinated by it and would love to learn, but I don't think that he's quite coordinated enough to handle it, and I don't want him to feel absolutely miserable if he tries it and can't get the hang of it, you know? I think that it's probably way beyond his fine motor coordination, but then I feel guilty that I change the subject whenever he asks me to show him how to knit. I keep encouraging him to play with play-dough instead, to strengthen his fingers a bit.

I know how he feels then - I'm still trying to get my fingers to coordinate too: She can do the first step of starting out with the first line of yarn (whatever you call it) and then we both got stuck. So we're mostly doing the simple stitches thing. We did somemore today - she can do that well. I think Bean would probably love it if you got felt to sew for him

[eilonwy]

I got a really cool catalog in the mail, with excellent prices... the only trouble is, much of the good stuff comes in sets designed for 12 or more kids. At the very most, I'd need 4-6 of anything. Some of the projects look like so much fun, though! I may start a co-op or something over in Co-ops and Swaps for some of these.

[4evermom]

hole punch

I just tested a leather hole puncher on felt. It sort of half punched the holes, enough that a tapestry needle would go in easily but you wouldn't neccessarily be able to see the hole, and your hand would hurt pretty quickly.

[4evermom]

An easier craft idea is to thread beads on pipe cleaners. Knot tying skills aren't neccessary but a little care is needed because the tips of the pipe cleaners are sharp.

[mum5]

Hi, just kind of stumbled upon this thread by accident, but so glad to have found it. I have 2 dd's. One just turned 3 and the other is 10 months. I am not crazy about pre school , the price, and the pressure to send kids to them, nor am I ready to let dd go out by herself. It may be a good thing for her, but that is a debate that I am fighting with myself in my head!!

I am feeling really guilty about not being structured and just letting dd 1 just kind of play. She is really intelligent, and may benefit from some structure in her day, as far as after breakfast we concentrate on letter / numbers etc.
I am very for the play, and just letting children be children and do what they are supposed to do ( which is just play ! IMO) but I guess I have to feel guilty about something eh?

[sweetpeasmom]

I am very for the play, and just letting children be children and do what they are supposed to do ( which is just play ! IMO) but I guess I have to feel guilty about something eh?

thats what I do. I am so not a structured type and don't think my older dd is yet either, she wants to do what to do what she wants, so i let her. I follow her lead and works great with us.
As for preschool, i don't see the need if i am going to be home already. I mean if i had to work then sure fine but I don't. I think most parent are fully capable of doing "preschool" with their kids. Plus I go to playgroups often, so she gets to paly with other kids too.

[erikanorth]

Hi! I'm excited to join in on this thread My ds is 2 1/2 and we've started some "homeschooling" stuff. Mostly, like others, I have noticed that he prefers to have some structure / rhythm to his day. I bought the winter curriculum of "seasons of joy" (everyday waldorf) and it has some great ideas. We started 'circle time' (great circle - just me and him.....lol) and he LOVES it. We sing and dance and tell stories. It gives me a chance to make sure I focus on him, and then he'll let me have a BIT of time to get some stuff done.

This age is so much fun and I'm getting a lot of pressure to put him in the K-3 program here (school at 3.....crazy). I'm glad I found y'all!