Final Preschool Planning.

Bear with me, please. I'm trying to tackle one child at time, in terms of planning. I feel an incredible need to have everything completely done before August. This is, of course, because that is when I'm due with baby #5!

First on my list was preschool. Materials? Bought! Daily Schedule? Done! Lesson Plan Breakdown? Finished! Preschool Box? Organized! So now I feel one-third complete!

I decided to use a separate planner for Anthony this year. Besides not having enough room to squeeze 3 kids into one, I thought that it would be easier to do this since much of his preschool is hands-on and might require more writing space for notes. I picked up a planner from Seton while at the IHM Conference. A good deal for only $6 and you can get one here.

Here is a breakdown of Anthony's Daily Preschool Schedule. (*Click on images for a larger view)

Scheduling his school work is simple. The HWT Teacher's Guide comes with a handy daily schedule at the end of the book, so all the work was done for me! MFW is similarly done, but a little more difficult to follow if you haven't done it before (and it's been over a year for me!). So I decided to make 2 simple charts. A Daily Lesson Planner, that will tell me what needs to be done daily before every lesson; and a Weekly Lesson Planner, that breaks down what is done every day. The planners don't include much detail, as all the information is found in the Teacher's Manual.


A quick note about the Weekly Lesson Planner...you will notice that I broke it down by days (as described in the Teacher's Manual). This does not mean that we will be doing this on a daily basis. We are just going to follow the progression on a twice a week schedule, so finishing a week in MFW K might take us up to 2 weeks or more.

So on to planning for the older kids!! I must admit that planning for preschool is fun. It's simple and just thinking of Anthony's excitement at doing his own school work makes me happy!

Preparing for Preschool.

I'll be using a combination of different things for preschool. As you have seen in my previous posts, this was probably the last thing for me to settle on. Here is a list of what Anthony will be enjoying this new school year.

• Handwriting Without Tears Pre-K (HWT)
• My Father's World From A to Z Kindergarten Curriculum (MFW)
  
• Rod and Staff Preschool Workbooks (R&S)
  
• Preschool Box

This seems like a lot of material to cover for a preschooler. But here is how I'm going to break it down.

HWT
This super fun curriculum (I did this with Marco as a preschooler) will be implemented using the suggested schedule in the Teacher's Guide. The work is done daily and takes about 15 minutes. It's fun, easy, and a great way for preschoolers to learn because it is so multi-sensory.

MFW
Another great, multi-sensory program that leads the child from letter recognition to reading basic words. I'm not sure Anthony is ready to take this on all the way as a preschooler, so I am scheduling it only 2-3 times a week as opposed to the recommended full week, daily schedule. What is wonderful about this program is that it is all inclusive. It ties in math, phonics, reading, science, art, creative thinking, and character development...all in one curriculum! My plan is to take it easy and perhaps even finish this over the course of 2 years. Of course, this is all depending on how Anthony takes to it.

R&S
These are really wonderful little workbooks and I plan on using them while the older kids are doing their own school work. Once directions are given for a page, Anthony will be able to work on these on his own. This will help develop some independence and fill his own need to sit down and do serious work with the older kids. They will be a great way to reinforce shapes, numbers, colors, letters, and so much more. They really are fun books! And with 7 workbooks plus a bible story book in the set for only $20, they are a bargain!

Preschool Box

I am going to continue to use our preschool box this year. It saved my sanity many times and it is a great asset to any homeschooling family! For ideas on getting a preschool box started, visit my Homeschooling with Toddlers post. I rotate activities every week and these are all mostly Montessori inspired. (Check out my Preschool Activities post for even more ideas!) This year I am adding the MFW Preschool Package to the mix. It comes with wonderful Lauri products, as well as a handy learning activity booklet that was developed for use with MFW. Not only that, but I will also be making more preschool activity bags using the book Montessori on a Shoestring. With Christian running around, this will help me out with him as well!

I'm expecting to spend about 1 hour to 1.5 hours a day (depending on the day) one-on-one with Anthony. This won't be all at the same time either and doesn't include independent activities like his preschool box or R&S workbooks. He'll also be participating in our homeschool co-op once a week where he will participate in music, bible class, and unit studies.

Overall, he's going to have a great year!!

More for preschool??

As I continue to peruse my own stash of curriculum, I keep coming back to My Father's World Kindergarten program. I used this for Marco when he was in kindergarten himself, but stopped about half way through the program. It wasn't that it was difficult to implement or that I disliked it; but it was more about the repetition that was boring Marco. I just got tired of forcing it upon him. Now this doesn't stop this from being a solid and fun program. It just didn't mesh well with my child!

Now Isabella is going into her kindergarten year and I haven't even considered taking this program out. I'm sure she would enjoy it (as she did do it along side Marco), but since she seems to be a little advanced for now...I'm taking her in a different direction.

Anthony is my little guy who I can't get out of my mind for using MFW K, however. Although it might move a little fast for him (he is a young one), I can't get out of my head how much he would enjoy the program. So now I'm seriously considering adding this to his weekly schedule. I'm not opposed to taking it nice and slow at all...perhaps take 2 weeks to do 1 week of work (or more!). Not only that, but I know that Isabella would more than likely want to join in. It's always fun when you can have the kids do activities together!

So I will spend much of my weekend working out a schedule for Anthony...and all the other kids! I'm looking forward to my weekend away at the IHM Conference. I know it will give me the time I need to focus on creating our weekly school schedule. Having 3 kids doing school, 1 toddler, and 1 newborn is certainly going to throw me for a loop!! I hope that we are able to blend into a productive year...with lots of prayer, of course!!!

Preschool Decisions.

I'm not completely done with Anthony's preschool materials as of yet, but I'm getting there! I did go ahead with the Handwriting Without Tears Pre-K; mostly because I already had everything needed for it (I used this with Marco). I just bought him a new workbook. It is a fun program and takes such a small amount of time every day. I'm sure that Anthony will love it since we already sing the songs from the CD.

On top of that, I also purchased Rod & Staff's preschool workbooks. I thought they were really cute and simple. Enough to keep Anthony occupied for short periods of time when I need him to be nice and quiet. These workbooks introduce shapes, colors, numbers, and all the typical preschool stuff.

Of course, I am looking forward to getting him some nice, Catholic books to look through and color in. I'll be looking for these next week at the IHM Conference. For now, Anthony has looked through his books and is extremely excited about getting started with his own school. It's so much fun to see the look of pride on his face knowing that he too will be an official preschooler!

Rainy Day.

It's been a bit rainy and I usually send the kids out anyways. But today I didn't feel like cleaning muddy boots or shaking off wet rain coats, so I kept the kids inside and made them some home-made play dough. Since Christian would not want to be left behind in shaping and playing with dough, I made a kid friendly (as in it's ok if they eat it!!) dough. And yes...Christian DID eat a bunch of it!

Here is the recipe:

Oatmeal Clay
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup water
1 cup oatmeal

Mix everything together. It the dough is too sticky, keep adding flour. I tripled this "recipe" to make enough for all the kids. You can also add food coloring into the mixture to make it more fun!

Mixing, patting, and playing.

Isabella makes a taco.

Marco making pizza and tossing it up in the air.

This is before the eating of the dough.

Anthony worked hard at making it nice and flat.

Preschool Activities.

I have let my preschool bin go un-updated (is that a word?). This has recently caused me a lot of problems with Anthony wanting to do something, but not knowing what to do. Today I decided it was time to rotate and replenish my preschool bin and I spent the morning busy buying supplies and raiding my craft bins. I'm hoping these activities will last me a bit. I became rather lazy over the holidays, but have now come to realize just how important the preschool bin is in our daily life. It keeps little kids busy, while giving me time to teach the older kids. Here is a list of what I have added today. Perhaps I'll add more later, once my resources are dwindling again.




Correspondence Bag
-Contains envelopes, labels, paper, and stickers.

Pom-Poms
-Contains varied colored pom-poms to sort out into colored cups with a small spoon.

Pasting
-Contains both glue stick and white glue, scissors, construction paper and paper scraps.

Matching Designs
-Contains some homemade cards to match.

Number Matching
-Contains Unifix cubes and numbers printed on cardstock. Helps with number recognition and 1:1 correspondence.

Ladybug Number Matching
-A file folder game in which you need to match numbers.

Lacing Beads
-Contains colorful bead and a shoelace.

Pouring Beads
-Contains a small tray and 3 different containers and a spoon used to pour small beads.

Paper Punch
-Contains scraps of paper and different paper punches.

Memory Game
-Contains homemade cards about the seasons to play as a memory game or in any other creative way.

School Stuff.

We are still chugging along with school, math and phonics being our main subjects. History is suddenly popular around here and the kids are enjoying all the crafts to go along with the lessons. We'll be incorporating the SOTW CD's shortly as well, and I'll be using them in the car or during quiet time for review purposes.

Our Olympic unit study is over and it was fun teaching the kids about all the sports, traditions, and symbols. The kids loved making crafts, but especially loved their torches. They had their own Olympic torch relay and they got to experience what happens during one from its beginning in Greece, to its final destination in the Olympics host city. We are also keeping a close eye on the US team to see how many medals are being won. All the information will be added to their lapbook, which is still a work in progress.

The kids showing off some of their Olympic crafts.

Anthony keeping himself busy while we studied our Olympic unit.

Adding to our Preschool Activities.

I love Kaplan Early Learning Co. They have a giant selection of all things related to early childhood learning. From tables and chairs to books and curricula. They pretty much offer everything. Lucky for me, we have the Kaplan catalog showroom near our home. I go there every few months to check out their clearance section.

I have purchased our school furniture as well as a great alphabet rug from Kaplan. I also like to keep our preschool/toddler activities stocked with something new, and Kaplan is the perfect place to find those educational toys that keep the little ones busy. Here are some of my newest additions and favorite buys.

The Laurie Sorting Set is a favorite. I like that I can interchange the disks to create a new activity. The foam shapes are also fun to handle.

Wooden musical instruments. We have a small collection of instruments at our home and the wooden ones are my favorites. Every once in a while, I will take them out and do circle activities with the kids. Playing musical games teaches the kids to listen, follow directions, follow a beat, create a rhythm, and so much more! Exploring through music is just fun!

Lacing Shapes from EduShape. These are nice and flexible. They kind of look like the set to the right.

Activity Cube. We all know that toddlers and babies love those fun activity cubes. The one in our collection is like a soft shape sorter. It has extra tiles so that you can change the cube with different activities including a mirror, a felt tile, and a magnetic tile. The cube has interlocking pieces, so it's easy to take them apart and turn the cube into individual activities. I see this as a great toy for Anthony and Christian.

Junior Stilts. We still haven't tried these, but they look like so much fun! They are a great way for the kids to practice their balance and coordination.

Lego Dacta Duplo Numbers Package is our most recent buy (at the best deal imaginable). This is the educational division of Lego, by the way. This package came with tons of number and symbol tiles. Also included are double-sided activity cards, a storage tub, and large building plates. These are going to be great for all kinds of math activities and I'm excited to start using them!

You can certainly tell that I am a big fan of Kaplan. Actually, I really just like that I can purchase so many of their great resources as such low prices.

Tot Books.

Yes, it seems like I am on a roll for planning things for Anthony. I recently found this website that does tot books. Check it out! It looks like something I'll incorporate into our preschool schedule. They are basically lapbooks for little kids.

Tot-Books

Organizing BFIAR. Activities.

Well, I have decided to put off doing BFIAR with Anthony for another couple of weeks (we'll be doing some Kumon books in the meantime). I have the majority of the books, but I'm going to be gathering some materials for his little activities to go with each story. I'm still going to keep it simple, but I need to keep him engaged. Here is what I am planning to go with the stories. Most of these are taken from the suggestions in the book.

Jesse Bear, What Will You Wear?

• Bear dress-up paper doll.
• Cloth swatches to play with (different colors and textures)
• Potato stamps (different shapes)

Yellow Ball

• Paint a reproduction of a picture from book
• Make a collage of all the things found at a beach
• Play with a ball
• Animal classification
  

My Blue Boat

• Color matching
• Animal classification
  
• Make a boat

The Little Rabbit

• Animal classification
• Color matching (match crayons to colors in book)
• Visit a pet store to look at rabbits (we have one down the street)

Ask Mr. Bear

• Animal classification
• Lapbook

Blueberries for Sal

• Animal classification
• Blueberry picking (if available)
• Blueberry alphabet matching cards (from Homeschool Share)

Goodnight Moon

• Animal classification
• Read "Hey Diddle Diddle"
• Make "Hey Diddle Diddle" mini book (Homeschool Share)
• Goodnight cards activity(Homeschool Share)

The Big Green Pocketbook

• Animal classification
• Green pocketbook pocket (Homeschool Share)
• Lapbook
• Felt green pocketbook

The Runaway Bunny

• Animal classification
• Coloring page from HarperCollins
• Memory game using picture cards (self made)

The ABC Bunny

• Animal classification
• Alphabet flashcards
• ABC Bunny activity card (Homeschool Share)

If Jesus Came to my House

• Shadow show

Caps for Sale

• Animal classification
• Hat story kit (from library)
• Monkey art (draw tree, child puts fingerprints on tree, draw tails, arms & legs on fingerprints to make a monkey)

The Carrot Seed

• Plant bean seeds
• Sorting and matching different seeds
• Measure different vegetables
  

The Snowy Day

• Colored tissue paper art
• Make paper snowflakes
• Snowy Day activity card (Homeschool Share)

The Quiet Way Home

• Listening game
• Make list of quiet sounds

Play With Me

• Animal classification
• Nature walk
• Animal guessing game (Homeschool Share)

Prayer for a Child

• Sort and string buttons
• Make homemade prayer book
• Make a shoe box altar

I am an Artist

• Animal classification
• Nature walk

Angus Lost

• Animal classification
• Sorting legs game (Homeschool Share)
• Pretend cave

Katy No-Pocket

• Animal classification
• Memory game
• Make an apron
• Animal homes matching game (Homeschool Share)
• What's in the pocket sorting game (Homeschool Share)

We're Going on a Bear Hunt

• Animal classification
• Story cards (Homeschool Share)
• Hide a bear game

The Red Carpet

• Object recognition in book
• Follow the red carpet (using a red streamer)

Corduroy

• Animal classification
• Button sorting
• Make a piggy bank

Jenny's Surprise Summer

• Animal classification
• Cat matching game (Homeschool Share)

On top of the above activities, I'll also be doing some activities that take no preparation or planning...such as pointing out the shapes in a book or "can you find" searches using the pictures in the book. If I find something fun to do along the way, I'll just add it to the week.

I'll be organizing each week by using Anthony's bin. I plan on having all craft supplies ready and put in Ziplock bags along with the book. This way, all I have to do is open his bin and take out the bag.

Homeschooling with Toddlers.

I thought I would revisit this subject, as it seems like I always am in the toddler stage with someone! My 2 year old is definitely a handful and it's hard to keep him busy while I do school with Marco and Isabella. The old stand-by, of course, is to do the more one-on-one subjects while he is napping. But I thought I would provide with more detailed ideas in order to help anyone else traveling in my shoes!

First, you might want to visit my earlier post on this subject here. I made a list of things I use to keep little ones entertained. It is not an extensive list, but has some ideas that might help out. One thing that I've started to do is to keep Anthony with me during school time. I used to let him roam around and play, since our home is very child proof. But now that he's gotten a little bigger, so have his little "adventures." This translates into: "If I let Anthony entertain himself, he'll make a mess so big that I'll never finish cleaning it up." My best bet now is to make sure he stays in our school room where I can keep an eye on him. In my case, I rather the school room get messy since it is the easiest room to clean up.

Also, be careful, as some of the things I suggest are choking hazards. I have my little guy sit at the table with us when using these so I can keep an eye on him, but he is well past the phase where he puts things in his mouth.

I tried not to repeat from my previous list, but sorry if I missed a few items!

1. Draw roads, houses, etc. on large paper or cardboard and have them use cars and trucks on it.
2. Several cardboard boxes (cereal boxes, shoe boxes) to make a train or a town or just to stack and build with.
3. Give them their own photo album of friends, family, pets and familiar things.
4. Small cars in a cardboard tube (like Christmas wrap).
5. Make a necklace or snack chain with yarn (masking tape on the ends) and any cereal with holes (like cheerios). If the toddler is old enough, they may be able to string them himself.
6. A retractable measuring tape to measure with. (I use a soft retractable one that I have to avoid potential cuts).
7. Nuts and bolts to sort.
8. Stack cups or containers of different sizes.
9. Game pieces from lost games & cards. Find old games at garage sales if you don’t have lost pieces.
10. Writing tray – put a layer of rice (that just vacuums up) in a baking dish for them to write with their fingers.
11. Lacing cards (I bought some Melissa & Doug ones on sale OR just use a cardboard shape with holes punched for yarn.) Attach yarn with masking tape.
12. Chalk or light colored crayons on dark construction paper.
13. Painting: water colors, paint books or food coloring in water with Q-tips.
14. Blocks (fabric ones that may not stack well, but also don’t hurt when hurled across the room).
15. Play-doh with a plastic knife, rolling pin, cookie cutters, small plastic toys.
16. Pringles can with a slit cut in the top to drop cardboard or plastic coins.
17. Look through a button box.
18. Beanbags and a bucket.
19. A large box (that’s all they need – they’ll do the rest).
20. Books!
21. Throw a blanket over a coffee table or card table. Give them clothes pins. They’ll figure it out.
22. Sticky notes and pencil.
23. Refrigerated cookie dough and a cookie sheet. They can play with it and you can eat all the results.
24. A stack of puzzles.
25. Ice trays and buttons, beads or marbles for sorting.
26. A marble maze – set it in a shallow cardboard box to cut down on the lost marbles.
27. A plastic bottle (clean milk jug, well rinsed detergent bottle, etc.) and small items like clothes pins, pennies to drop in and shake out again (this can be a little noisy during school).
28. Damp washcloth and wall or window to “clean”. Paper towels and a spray bottle with a little water in it.
29. Colored rice to pour through a colander or funnels.
30. Colored rice or colored cereal to glue on construction paper. Write the child’s name in big block letters and let them glue stuff inside the letters.
31. Tape a sheet of freezer paper or newsprint the floor and trace around the child, having them lie still with their legs and arms a little outstretched – let them color a self-portrait.
32. Matching shapes – cut out shapes, then draw around them on another sheet of paper. Let the kids match the shapes.
33. Ziploc bag of small plastic toys such as farm animals or little people.
34. Make a mural with butcher or banner paper.
35. Sort Duplos by color & size.
36. Soft foam balls or daddy’s matched socks in a ball to pitch into the laundry basket.
37. Have a stuffed-animal tea party with real crackers.
38. Dominoes
39. Paint with watercolor books – use Q-tips instead of paint brushes and a muffin tin with water to limit spills.
40. Toy shopping cart to collect things around the room.

How to Get Ready for the Week.
I cannot express how important it is to have a plastic bin for each child/toddler to use during school only! Following is how I keep things simple and efficient.

• Print out the list and keep it with your planner.
• Slowly, gather materials and place into Ziplock bags. Most items on the list can fit into the large gallon size bags or you can purchase the bigger Ziplock bags available. For activities such as rice with funnels, I pour rice into a small sandwich bag and then place that bag into the larger bag with a funnel and some spoons.
• Keep a shallow pan (like a cookie sheet) with your bin. It gives your child a work area while maintaining the mess.
  
• Change the child's school bin out a minimum of once a week. I find that every 3 days works well for us.
  
• Do not allow your child to take out all the contents at once! Allow them to do one activity at a time; once they get bored, you can put it back in the bin and then take out another activity.

I hope that this list helps you on your own homeschooling journey with toddlers and preschoolers. I don't pretend to be the "know-all" mom; but with 4 kids, I feel like I'm finally gaining some wisdom through trial and error.