School

My plan was to document all the fun we have doing ‘school’ this year week by week, but obviously that hasn’t happened! So one long post about it will have to do. We’ve all learned a lot since August and I think it’s all worth remembering, so here we go!

I decided to start doing some preschool stuff with Ellie Jane (and John by proxy) for several reasons. I wanted some more structure in our days. We want our kids to love learning, and what better way to instill that in them than starting early having lots of fun learning! Also, Ellie Jane has always been literary  - always loved anything that has to do with words – she recognized and could say all her letters at 18 months, she talked early, she’s always been obsessed with reading, her books are her favorite possession, etc. She may not be able to kick a ball without falling, or run in a strait line, but buddy she can ‘read’ verbatim any book she’s got up in her room – with voice inflections and everything! (Hilarious, by the way!) SO, all that to say I wanted to take advantage of her eagerness.

We’ve been very loosely using Before Five in a Row – which is one of the beauties of this little curriculum. It can been used as a guide to do as much or as little as you want with it. Really, we’ve just been reading tons and tons of great books, and learning new concepts along with those books.

Each morning after breakfast and “High Fives” (chores), we start school with Bible Time. We’ve been reading through the Jesus Story Book Bible – one a day – and talking about it. We work on our memory verse – that I’ve learned we do best with learning one a month if I want them to really stick. Then we pray together. It is such a sweet time – I love hearing the kids learn how to pray. We’ve been using Window on the World during our prayer time. Ellie Jane loves to pick out which picture we’ll pray for that day. It’s also been a great way to familiarize the kids with a map of the world. Ellie Jane prefers praying for the pink countries

 

We usually read our book of the week next (With Five in a Row, you read the same book 5 days in a row, and focus on different aspects of it each day). We’ve read some great books… Ask Mr. Bear, Jesse Bear What will you wear, Katy No Pocket, Play with Me, Blueberries for Sal, Caps for Sale, plus lots more that go along with those books. 

In Ask Mr. Bear, the little boy goes into the woods to ask Mr. Bear a question, so we spent a morning in the woods playing…

(About to start our hike into the woods. I said, ‘show me your happy face!” Ha!)

We found a creek in the woods - 

Ellie Jane got a couple toes wet. John on the other hand…Don’t know if you can tell from this picture but he was soaked from head to toe…

Play with Me is about a little girl who goes to a pond looking for a friend. She sees all these little animals that she wants to be friends with but when she gets close to them, they run away. So she decides to sit very still by the pond, and as she waits, the animals all come out to play with her. So we took school to a pond for a day. 

We went on a scavenger hunt for pond life…

We explored around the pond…

The kids sat very quietly by the pond. But, much to Ellie Jane’s disappointment, no snakes or rabbits, or deer came out to play

We did find some ducks though!

We’ve also worked on some other things. Ellie Jane learned how to spell her name…which is much more fun to do when the letters are made of cookies!

 

I got together with some other moms of preschoolers this summer and we did an activity bag swap. So we’ve used the activities a good bit throughout the year…

We’ve spent tons of time in the best classroom – outside!

 

We’ve done all kids of fun crafts and projects…

Shaving cream painting to make leaves for fall - 

Handprint pictures…

Right now we’re working on making a book about the Thanksgiving Story. I’ll post pictures of that soon eventually

We’ve all learned a lot over the past few months. I had a few goals for the kids at the beginning of the year. It’s neat to look back on them and see that the kids have actually met them!

John has learned to sit still (sort of! for a few minutes at least). He’s learned to talk, to color and not eat the crayons, to listen to whole books, to ask instead of grab, etc.

Ellie Jane has learned to listen to the teacher , to write a couple letters, recognize lowercase letters, imaginations – I no longer have to prompt all her playing, and  we’ve taken big steps in conflict resolution.

They definitely have tons more to learn in these areas, but it’s good for me to look back and see concrete growth. Especially in areas of character.

I’ve learned that it’s good for me to have a plan, but it’s better for me to hold my plan loosely. I’ve learned that Ellie Jane does not like to be in the spotlight. She doesn’t like to be singled out. Which is good for me – my pride wants her to show other people what she’s learned. Even just show Colby. But she likes to do things in her own time, and that’s fine for now. I’ve learned that the day is smoother if we all have a little alone time in the mornings before we start school. For us, this is room time for about 20 minutes. It’s good for all of us! I’ve learned that John likes to wander. He paces around the house, exploring and checking everything out. Ellie Jane and I can get a lot done while he does this. I’ve also learned that the kids like to do things together – John copies everything Ellie Jane does. I’ve learned that  character is much more important than academics. That means if it takes all day to learn how to ask instead of grab, or use words instead of whine, then that is better than learning more about the weather or shape recognition. 

(Just being honest here – I’ve also learned that Elmo comes on from 9:45-9:55 and that 10 minutes is a perfect time for me to regroup!)

So, I’m so thankful that I get to be the one to see my kids learn all these things. I get to see the lightbulbs go off in their little heads. I get to see them learn how to interact with others. I get to see them figure out how to draw a person - 

(Ellie Jane’s first family portrait. Apparently John was an afterthought )

So here’s to lots more learning and growing!

(More to come…we’ve done a really fun preschool swap this year too. I don’t want to forget about it either!)

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