Preschool Corner- Week 4- Errrrrrrch!

Alright.  We got through our work last week... mostly.  By Thursday I went ahead and had a complete meltdown and came to the dreaded realization that my well-thought-out routine/schedule was just not working!  Every day by about 11:30 all of us are stressed and frustrated.  Lion Cub is inevitably screaming and either climbing up on Rhythm's chair with him or just completely distracting him with his antics, and I am worn so thin that I begin to display a side of myself that makes me cringe to even think about.

So, as much as I hate it, I am going to have to reevaluate.  I think we are going to have to transition into doing things that we can all do together or Rhythm can do independently while Lion Cub is awake and then do the work that he needs my help with once Lion Cub is down for his nap.  As soon as I work out all the bugs to our new routine I will post more about it, but I am hoping this new plan is going to lead to less burn-out and better concentration all the way around.

On the upside, I am very proud that we have made it through our first four weeks of school!!  We have stayed on track and I feel good about where we are headed.  Rhythm is learning much more than I expected and seems to even be enjoying school!

My favorite things that Rhythm learned this week, however, were not planned at all and mostly revolved around hunting!  Jer headed out on a hunting trip last week but before he left he of course had to practice and get all prepared!  to being with he set up his ground blind in the backyard and gave Rhythm a pair of binoculars, which he over course completely loved!!

 Rhythm spent hours in the back yard pretending that he was bow hunting for deer!

I think they both look forward to the day when they can hunt together.

Aim...

Did you hit it?

"Nice job dad!"

Before Jer left on his trip Rhythm also decided that he wanted to make him a surprise card and he wrote the entire message himself!  Of course I helped with the spelling but he was so proud of his work!

This is the picture of a trailer that he drew for the front of the card.  He wanted it to be a surprise and hid it in Jer's jacket but of course couldn't wait for Jer to find it for himself and spilled the beans as soon as he walked in the door!  It was very cute!

You can find much more inspirational posts about preschool over at Homeschool Creations!

Preschool Corner- Week 3- Getting in the Groove!

We're not totally in the groove, but man oh man are we getting a lot closer!  School is starting to feel more a part of normal life and not this new exception to what we typically do.  Rhythm isn't really fighting it at all anymore.  He just knows that this is what we do everyday and has actually been getting excited for it many days.

Working on his Raising Rock Stars "Honor Your Father and Mother" cut/color/glue craft.

This week I definitely noticed a difference in his ability to work independently- especially with our Raising Rock Stars Preschool curriculum.  Since the same basic activities repeat each week I see a confidence growing in him that he knows what he is supposed to be doing and I am able to lay him out with 1-3 tasks at a time while I take care of Lion Cub or attend to some other urgent need (of course I prefer to sit with him but it just can't always happen).  I love coming upstairs from putting Lion Cub down for a nap to find that Rhythm has actually completed a good portion of work and is excited to show me! We are still struggling with some concentration stuff, but I already see an improvement when he is working on things and knows what to expect.

Reading his reader from the Raising Rock Stars Curriculum.

We added a few new things this week that I have been beyond thrilled with.  The first of which was incorporating the Character First website into our morning calendar time.  You can do a trial run on their website and it goes through the lesson on attentiveness, which just happens to be the character quality we are focusing on right now.  Along with great stories of animals and characters from history who have exhibited the particular character quality you are working on, it has wonderful audios for a little memory chant about the character quality and a song to help get the meaning and application of the quality into your head.  Of course, we did have a little word mix-up in which the song, "I'll be attentive, so very attentive" turned into "I'll be distracted, so very distracted."  It was a completely honest mistake that he made, but oh so funny (and telling!).

Working on his writing for his 2nd lesson in Teaching Your Child to Read.

The second thing I worked in was actually not something that I intended to try for another good 4-6 months.  In fact, I wasn't even sure that I would be working it in at all, it was just a book I had put on hold at the library so that I could check it out and see if it was something that I would want to try.  I am sure many of you have heard of it- Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons.  Rhythm saw me looking through it when we got home from the library and we decided to give it a little trial run.  To my shock he just took off with it!  He sailed through the lesson and actually enjoyed it!  The lessons are very short, which is perfect, and it is so well spelled out for you that there is very little (if any) prep work.  I am very excited to continue with this curriculum and see how he does.

I wish I would have gotten more pictures for this week but our schedule was kind of odd and we were so engrossed in our work I simply forgot to pick up the camera!  Next week I hope to get more shots and share more specifics of what we really love about Raising Rock Stars Preschool.  All in all though, I am very pleased that we are three full weeks in and I haven't dropped the ball!!  Each week we have completed all the work that I planned on absolutely getting done (there were a few things that I let slide just because they weren't fitting in or working yet) and we are both enjoying it more and more each week.  I am so proud of how he is learning and taking on new challenges!

Preschool Corner- Week #2!!

Hmmmm, what is there to say about this week?  We did make it through all of our Raising Rock Stars work, but that pretty much sums it up!  Drat!  It started off with just not getting as prepared for the week as I should have on Sunday evening.  I then found out that an old friend of mine died over the weekend- a big emotional hit even though I haven't seen him in years.  Follow all that up with the boys and I all getting colds, leading to erratic sleeping schedules and general crankiness, and our week couldn't help but culminate in routine and school FAIL.  Arg.

Well, let me show you what we did do:

Rhythm is really enjoying doing his Weekend Report each Monday.  He has taken to coloring much more than he ever has before, and what you see him doing in this picture is actually dictating what he is "writing" about his weekend!  Very cute and funny!  He literally talked and "wrote" for 5 minutes straight!

Here he is taping his verse strip up on the wall behind his chair.  He loves all of the cutting activities in the Raising Rock Stars Curriculum- right up his hands-on alley!

We found a Phineas and Ferb (big fans here!) folder at Target before school started and he loves putting all of his completed work in it during the day.  At the end of the week we then put all of his work from the week into his Raising Rock Stars binder as we review.

At the beginning of the week we did manage to complete the assessment sheets that Carisa has to offer on her Raising Rock Stars site (I think they are in the members only section- which is only $10 for a lifetime membership!!  Yeah- serious deal!!  It may be going up slightly soon though so get in while the price is still this crazy!).  Rhythm did better than I expected with some things and other he was right about where I expected.  It was very helpful to have this gage to mark his progress on and will be nice to compare back to and keep a record of throughout the year.

He is so goofy!  Here he is coloring his Ten Commandments craft. He kept getting very distracted (or perhaps he was dawdling- I'm still deciding) by his crayons!  He had to have them all perfectly lined up next to each other and desperately wanted to get out one of his truck and trailers to haul them on (which he did later do!).  

I can see that distractions are going to be a constant battle for him (even the leaves blowing in the wind outside the window have the potential to completely sidetrack him!) and the more organized I can be the easier this battle will be to win.  I have to get back in the game with our routine this week!  Even though our first week was rough, I can so see the difference there was in his ability to follow the flow and stay on task week 1 vs week 2.  I am hoping we will all be feeling better by Monday and I will be able to get everything in place for a much more smooth week!  Wish us luck- better yet, pray very hard!

Just to wrap things up I thought I would include a little video of Rhythm saying his memory verse from week 1! Enjoy!

I have linked this post to Homeschool Creations' Preschool Corner- go there to find lots of great preschool ideas!

Preschool Corner- First Week of School!

 

Wow- what a week!  Much more difficult than I expected but I suppose it is a work in progress.  We had our first "official" school day on Monday and for all intents and purposes we did accomplish pretty much everything I intended to and we did stick with our routine.  HOWEVER, I would still pretty much classify it as nightmare!  We tried to do all of our work at the kids table in our school room and Lion Cub screamed the ENTIRE time.  It was horrible.  Rhythm was trying to concentrate but it was near impossible for either of us and he kept asking when we would be done because he just wasn't used to it yet.  I walked away from that morning actually seriously doubting (for the first time) if this was actually going to work.  

Tuesday, though, I got up a little earlier, got a little bit more prepared, had my morning tea and my time with the Lord and vowed to not give up.  Awwww... what a better way to start the day!  I also changed a few things about how we did school!  After our Calendar time (which I will be posting on in more detail soon) we grab our workbox and Raising Rockstars Preschool learning board and move out to the dining room table.  This way I can strap Lion Cub into his seat and have Rhythm in his chair on the other side (key#1- keep them separated!).  I was then able to keep Lion Cub busy with snacks and Tot School activities (key#2- plan things for the 14 month old to do!  More on this soon!), thus allowing Rhythm (and myself) to be less distracted.  Thank Jesus for how smooth this morning went-it completely restored my hope and confidence!

Each day has been different and I won't say that it has been a picnic since Tuesday, but we are starting to get into a rhythm.  Both boys seem to be getting used to how our days are beginning to flow now and they kind of know what to expect.  Every day I have learned a little bit more about how I should arrange our school schedule and our daily routine to better fit our needs, so every day it gets a little bit better.  There is still some tweaking to do, but I already feel more confident and can see that after a few weeks our new routine will feel like old hat for all of us.  Be sure to stop back by on Monday for more details of how I have set up our routine!

But now, on to the actual school work!!  We started using Carisa's AMAZING Raising Rockstars Preschool curriculum this week and we LOVE it!!  It composes the core of what we are working on and it is a terrific fit for us.  Rhythm really enjoys all of the activities and I am amazed at how quickly he is picking up new (or in some cases remembering old) skills.  I can really see his sense of pride and satisfaction when he finishes his work also, which I think will be key to his success and love of learning.

Here is what we did this week:

First day in the classroom...

Rhythm working on his Weekend Report (this printable coming soon!).  He was really trying but....

it was difficult!

Day 2- our new set-up... 

much better!

Saying his verse with hand motions that we added.  By Thursday (we only do a 4-day week) he had his verse down pat! (me- beaming with pride!)

Cutting out his vocab cards.  It took him a while but he didn't complain once!  

He really enjoyed putting them all in their spots!  

Just delighted with himself!

Of course, this is the picture he wanted me to take!  Don't you love his little eyes peeking through?!

Here is a pic from his perspective!  Obviously, this wasn't Day 1!!!

Working hard on writing his "L"s!

This boy isn't huge on coloring but he LOVES to paint (although markers are used more than crayons)!  He keeps telling me that he is an artist!

Other things we did this week that weren't pictured were:

• Clothes Pin Number Match from Confessions of a Homeschooler
• Bastien Piano for Young Beginners
• Nature Study (printable coming soon for this one too!)
• Lots of reading about Farms!  We are gearing up for our field trip to the fair so this week we were learning all about farm machines.  I am going light on this unit though, so we are just doing the reading portion and no other activities.  We are breaking in slow!
• Finishing up Winnie the Pooh!  I am still so surprised by how much Rhythm enjoys this book and look forward to wrapping it up and beginning Charlotte's Web next week.

We also LOVED the music we downloaded to go with our Raising Rockstars Curriculum!  I downloaded 5 of the suggested songs that Carisa posted with the Letter L week on her site from iTunes and we not only listed to them to sing along to during the lesson, but we also played them quietly in the background while Rhythm did his other work and also various times throughout the day.  We especially loved the song from the Seeds Family Worship CD and enjoyed the songs from Praise Baby as well.  It was so nice to have God's word sung through our home all day, especially since we would get the songs stuck in our heads.  The music also seemed to have a calming effect on both boys, helping things be a little less hectic, and promoted concentration.

Alright, I know this post was a little wordy, but it was honest and I hope some of you can relate!  Like I mentioned above, keep your eyes open for some upcoming printables I am going to debut and a post about our routine and school schedule on Monday!  Be sure you don't miss out on the giveaway I am having for The Hands on Bible too!!

Oh, and if you haven't checked out my main blog lately (The Mama Kenz Studio), I have lots of cool stuff going on over there with my new sponsor, Marmee's Bread Market, and I am going to have a big announcement about an upcoming raffle for a Bosch Universal Plus mixer AND a giveaway with multiple winners starting Monday!  So, be sure to drop by and check it out!

OH!!  AND!!  

(I know, you're thinking, "More?  Seriously?!")  But this is my 100th post on this blog!!  Happy dance!  Sorry- I couldn't help myself!

To see other fun preschool posts take a look see over at Homeschool Creations for the latest Preschool Corner Link-up!

Full on planning mode!

 

One thing you'll come to find out about me (if you haven't figured it out already) is that I'm a planner!  Hardcore!  Not always that good of an executor (not to be confused with executioner), but man oh man, I can plan with the best of 'em!

My hopes for this fall truly are, however, that I will have no choice but to follow through with all my plans because everything will be so well laid out for me!  So, I'm planning to plan on following through with the plan.  How's that for preparation?!

I'm off to a good start!  In reality, I have been working on next year's plan for nearly two months now, sporadically.  I plan (there's that word again) to be completely ready by August 16- when I plan intend to "officially" start our school year.  Now, as I share this "plan" with you, try not to laugh too hard and keep in mind that I feel I need to be as prepared as humanly possible to truly succeed.  So here goes:

We will be working our way through Carisa's (from 1+1+1=1) new core preschool curriculum called Raising Rockstars Preschool in combination with month long unit studies.  If you haven't checked out RRSP yet you should really go look at it!  It is an awesome curriculum with an entirely Biblical focus.  The majority of it is free but there is also a small (but growing) members only section that offers review units along with Powerpoint presentations to reinforce the units.  Membership is only $10 for a lifetime though, so the way I look at it, even if you just use it to get great ideas for teaching your preschooler, you really can't go wrong, plus you will be supporting an awesome family in their inner-city ministry!  Win-win!!!

As I mentioned we will also be doing some light unit studies to help round things out.  For the most part, we will be using the theme of our studies for our reading time, field trips and a few little science and math type activities.  I have also been working on compiling a lot of file folder games that go along with our themes so we can teach and reinforce skills while keeping things fun and not reusing the same tools to death!  I have also tried to choose themes that allow us to incorporate nature study as much as we can.  Most of the resources for our themes I have found on Homeschool Share, File Folder Fun, and Squidoo, along with my own printables and books from the library.  I plan (surprise, surprise!) to do in-depth posts on different aspects of our preschool and our themes as we go through/complete them. The themes we will be doing this fall are:

Farms

Squirrels

Fall & Harvest

Thanksgiving (with an emphasis on learning to be thankful)

Christmas & Winter

Wherever we have gaps in our week I will also be adding in some basic preschool printables activities from some of my favorite bloggers.  These activities don't circulate around a theme but are rather just for concept reinforcement (letters, numbers, shapes, colors, etc...).  My favorite sites for these printables are: 1+1+1=1, Homeschool Creations, and Confessions of a Homeschooler (Letter of the Week curriculum).

R-Man is very musically inclined and has great interest in it, so I plan to start teaching him some basic piano at home with these books by Bastien.  I have a basic knowledge of music and piano to work from, so I am fairly confident that with the help of these books (which pretty much spell it all out for you) I will be able to get him rolling in his musical education.  There will definitely come the day when he passes up my knowledge, but until then I think we will manage just fine.  We also hope to find someone to start teaching him how to play the drums as well.  He recently received a junior set of drums for his birthday and LOVES to play!  This kid has rhythm and I really want to foster that interest.

Hmmm... let's see.  What else?  Oh- much as Carisa does, I plan to incorporate a few open ended activities each day that R-Man can choose from at the end of our lessons (thinks like play dough and any building type of activity) as well as a specific game that we will play each day of the week.  Both of these will change weekly.

In order to keep everything organized and make sure we complete everything I want us to each day, I plan to incorporate a version of the Workbox System (by Sue Patrick) that was developed by Mama Jenn.  It is actually a Workbag System and I think will lend itself well to our small space, plus help us to stay on track!  If you haven't heard of the Workbox System I would really encourage you to look into it more.  Mama Jenn has some wonderful posts on her blog, detailing how she sets up and operates everything (including how she writes out her lesson plans- which I am doing something similar to).  You can also find a wide variety of different Workbox interpretations on this Squidoo Lense.  Or, of course, you could just go to the original site of Sue Patrick's (she has a book and all sorts of other details on the system- I haven't read the book but I have heard great things about it).  I will be doing a detailed post about how our system works after we have been using it for a few weeks, but I am incredibly excited about it and think it is going to be a really great fit for us.

We will also be continuing our family devotions times.  Our plan is to pretty much incorporate some sort of devotions into all of our meals.  During breakfast I will be continuing to read through Leading Little Ones to God and forging ahead on our Catechism for Young Children.  During lunch we will be listening to worship music (such as Seeds Family Worship) or The Word of Promise and reviewing our memory verse for the week (from our RRSP curriculum).  Right after dinner (or let's face it, while R-Man is still eating and the rest of us are done!) we will be reading through The One Year Bible for Kids (which I picked up at a used curriculum sale for 50 cents!!!  The link is for the newer, Challenge Edition). 

And to top off my planning spree (drumroll please!), I am working on mapping out our menu for the next couple of months- including breakfasts, lunches, dinners and snacks.  I am trying to incorporate as much variety as possible so we don't get bored, plus getting my shopping lists planned out so far in advance allows me to buy more in bulk.  I will be posting more about this on Mama Kenz Studio and you can get more info on how I plan in bulk on this page of my blog.  I am also working on the layout for our routine/schedule and slowly trying to get us used to a more steady and repetitive stream to our day so that it won't be a shock to all of our systems come August 16!  As I mentioned above, I am going to be working on more in-depth posts on all of these things as we begin in August and September, so be on the look out!

Alright!  That pretty much sums it up! I would love ot hear what you all are doing for preschool this year!  Leave your link and I will stop on by!

Oh, and by the way- I have linked this post up on Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers in this week's weekly wrap-up about 2010-2011 Curriculum!  This post is also linked to Heart of the Matter's (Not) Back To School blog party (featuring a whole month of start of the year blog parties!) & A Classic Housewife's Back to (home) school blog hop!  Go on over there to check out everybody's links for some serious inspiration for the new year!!