Welp, You Asked For It.
I am going to be honest and say that never in my wildest dreams did I ever (and let me stress EVER) think I would one day be blogging about how I homeschool my preschooler and 2nd grader. I'm telling you, I'm a little shocked that I even have a preschooler and a 2nd grader let a lone that I am their teacher...help me, Lord!
Our story of coming to homeschooling is for another entry all to itself. We are not set on it for life, in fact, we pray each school year about what the next year will hold for our children. While we love it, we are not tied to it.
I decided to make this entry (and potentially a years worth of entries) because of the amount of feed back I have gotten from a few instagram photos and tweets I have put out over the last few weeks. Many of you have asked if I am using a curriculum or just coming up with it as I go or how I am coming up with ideas. Some have even asked about balancing the two grades, being that they are so far a apart (3yr old pre-k and 2nd grade). So with MUCH hesitation I decided to try one round of posting. If it goes well and I feel it is useful for others and I enjoy chronicling it for my own records, then I will continue as the year passes.
Justus (our 3 year old) has a speech delay along with other delays so I was hesitant to start anything super ridged with him and besides...he's three and he's a second child boy. BUT I did need our schedule to become pretty school heavy for Titus' (our 2nd grader) sake. I didn't want Justus to get lost in the mix of me schooling Titus so I needed a system that would work for both of them. I decided to do a week by week letter schedule that would help Justus his letters/sounds and we could have Titus' Bible verses correspond with that letter. Justus would then be included on lots of things!
Vernon and I decided that the entire semester was going to be focused on God's faithfulness. So each week we are trying to tell stories of faithfulness from Scripture, from history and from the present. I think for the sake of time and space, I'll write a post about what we are covering in way of theology / Bible this year as we plan it out.
While Titus has specific subjects he has to cover each day and pre-determined lessons he has to accomplish, Justus does not and will not until he enters Kindergarten which is 2 maybe 3 years away depending on his development. This gives me lots of flexibility through out the day but I still have to be prepared with ideas to set up his little station with something that will help him and maintain his attention. So the system I have come up with is simple. (and cheap!) Over the last year I have grabbed a few letter books from the dollar section at Target along with letter stickers and stamps.
Those right there are three different activities he can do with or without me. I just have to have them out and available if I want him doing them.
Other than those I have a bin full of goodies like play dough, pipe cleaners and all sorts of random things that begin with whatever letter we are covering that week.
And that bin stays right in the bookshelf next to Titus' desk so that at any moment I can have something for Justus to do.
One of my friends came over the other night and while we were chatting she made 5 sets of the entire alphabet so I can have coloring sheets for each day with the letter we are studying.
If I feel a bit stumped on things to do per letter I, so far, have just looked on Pinterest and found TONS of ideas within seconds...then my creative side gets going and the week is full!!
It is also nice that we dont have a "school" room so I am not separated from the rest of the home. I can be doing things in the kitchen and they boys are right there doing their own school things.
Here is a pic of Justus' little area but I dont have a picture of Titus' desk on this computer but is is on the wall across from this one and next to the bookshelf posted above.
Okay now that I have bored you with the basics. I'll start with the Letter A/ Week 1.
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