The Letter C ...

This week we tackle The Letter C.  This is very exciting.  Why, you ask?  

Because CHOCOLATE CUPCAKES start with C.  Need I say more?

So the kids had one minute to collect as many items as they could that start with the Letter C.  How many items can you count in this photo?

Also ... colored counters start with C ... is this fun or what?

I just love to see my kids learn new things.  

It's so cute to see my 3-year old pick up a book and show me A's, B's or C's.  And sometimes the occasional W.  Don't know when she figured out W, it just happened.

I'm so impressed when my son can rattle off the differences between various forms of marine life.

And my heart soars when my oldest daughter discovers a work of literature that I love, and she ends up loving it too!

Speaking of learning ... I have started my Well-Educated Mind quest again.  I'm re-reading The Iliad.  And wondering why I never read this in high school.  I remember reading The Odyssey, but why didn't we read The Iliad first?  

What books do you remember reading in high school?  Which ones did you love?  Any that you have read, or want to read again?  Which ones did you hate?  

I love to talk about books ...

Math Fun ...

I love it when I find a homeschooling item that really works.  Something that I'm glad I spent the money on.  Goodness knows I've spent enough money on stuff that I wished I hadn't.  This product quickly made it onto my "Best Homeschooling Purchases" List.  

It's the Math Discovery Kit 

from a company called Lauri.

Here's my 3-year old working on a pattern card from the kit:

My 3-year has to touch everything.  She's one of those that immediately reaches for things that catch her eye.  It's a challenge going in any store with her.  Therefore I figured she must be a hands-on learner.  And therefore this little kit is right up her alley.

There are pattern cards, counting cards, addition and subtraction cards, plus all sorts of fun manipulatives ... picture tiles, word cards, colored counters, and number tiles that have pop-out numbers.  Perfect for the little hands that NEED to touch things!

Today we worked on the number 5:

Then on her own, my daughter tackled a counting card:

There are so many ways to play with this kit.  I anticipate a few years worth of fun with this one as it can be adapted to many different levels.  

Just a note:  I have no connection to the Lauri company and I'm not being compensated for promoting this product.  I wish I were though, they have a lot of neat stuff!  I found this one at Rainbow Resource (www.rainbowresource.com) and had to show great restraint to not buy all of their cool products.  

Tomorrow ... I finish the schoolroom project that has cork involved!  Woohoo!

More About (Home)Preschool ...

A few people have asked what curriculum I'm using for preschool with my 3-year old.  As with my older two kids, I don't subscribe to any one method, any single textbook publisher, or any particular boxed set of curriculum.  In other words, I can't say we do Sonlight.  Or, I use A Beka (although I do use A Beka for grammar, I do not use it for anything else)  I sort of pick and choose a bit here and bit there from all over the place.  

With preschool ... I, for the most part, am just making it up as we go along.  I went to my local teacher's supply store and thought, hey this looks interesting, or oh that will be fun.  I went to Target (I'm there on a weekly basis anyhow) and found some cute puzzles, cards and games.  Then I went through the plethora of toys we have at home and pulled out the items with potential educational value and put them in a special "school" box that can only be taken out, you guessed it, during school time.  Then I created another box especially for "school art" supplies.  The super fun stuff that really needs mom's supervision ... like paint, markers and glitter glue.  (side note, be careful not to drop any art supplies on the floor ... our bulldog ate an entire glue stick the other day, plastic container and all ... yummy!)

So every day we pick some sort of hands-on toy activity to do.  Things like blocks, puzzles, lacing cards, beads, letter magnets, etc.  Things that need sorting or stacking, or use problem solving skills.  

So here's my 3-year old using some pattern blocks and pattern cards today ...

Those pattern blocks were used in grade school math too by my oldest 2 kids, so we're definitely getting our money's worth out of them.  

The only real preschool books I purchased were these:

They are from Rod and Staff Publishers.  These are really the greatest little workbooks I've ever used.  They are from a Mennonite publisher who's schoolbook items are very plain and very simple.  No frilly pages, no over abundance of colors or designs.  When I first saw these I loved them, but I thought, oh my little one won't.  She's an over-the-top girl who loves things like sparkly, sequined pajamas and wearing frilly dresses to bake bread with mommy ... she will be bored with these books.  Guess what?  I was wrong.  She was immediately drawn to these books.  

Here is the first book in the series ...

And here's my girl working very hard and doing her very best ...

All she really wanted was a chance to "do school" just like her bigger brother and sister.  They have special books for school, she wanted some too.  These books fit the bill!

Do you need a bunch of special stuff to do preschool with your little one?  No.  Do you even need to do preschool with your little one?  No.  I've found some of our greatest learning opportunities happen when my little one is just hanging out with me and following me around and helping me during my day.  

I probably wouldn't be starting school with my 3-year old at all if I didn't have the older 2 at home.  But since school is so much a part of our lives it just makes sense to let her get started too.

And just look at the sense of accomplishment on this little face ... gotta love it!

The Letter o' the Week is:

My 3-year old is learning a new letter every week.  Or maybe every 2 weeks.  Depends on how much time we can actually devote to said letter.  We get side-tracked sometimes.  For instance, we lose pretty much all day Friday this week.  We have a Park Day with our homeschool group.  Park Day is over around noon.  But seriously, once we get home, and everyone is hot, dirty and tired, I really don't expect much school work to be completed after that.  It already feels like a weekend by then anyhow.

We did spend some time with the Letter A today though.  Here's what we did ...

We traced and copied the letter A with string and with blocks.  But the biggest hit ...  

Cheerios!

Who doesn't love an edible A?  

Next, I gathered all the kids for a cooperative learning effort.  You have 30 seconds to find something in the house that begins with the Letter A. 

GO!

How many items in the above photo do you see that start with the letter A?  

Back to School ... Sort of ...

So here's what I do in the summer ...

I get out my well-worn copy of The Well Trained Mind, and all of the home school catalogs I've collected this year, and I sit down and start making lists.  The Well-Trained Mind is sort of the ideal guide for my book choices.  I re-read this guide every year.  I get all fired up and excited and swear to myself that I'll stick to it this year.  But it's a little too heavy for us to realistically accomplish everything.  That's why we're in our 4th year of first year Latin.  What can I say.  I do follow some of their recommendations, but there's just not enough hours in the day for me to teach it all.  Plus, there are so many wonderful companies out there with outstanding home school curriculum, so I look and choose from all over.  
You have to realize, this is about an 8 week process for me!  Seriously, I read these catalogs from cover to cover.  I drool over the book choices.  I mourn the education I never had.  I think, if only I were exposed to some of this material when I was in school.  Or, why couldn't anyone present history to me like this when I was younger, I would have enjoyed it enough to actually pay attention!

I dog-ear pages, I high-light all the books I want, I make a master list.  Then I get real.  There's no way we can afford all that!  And there's no way my kids will actually be able to read all those books.  (sigh)  So I start over.  After about 4 or 5 different revisions to my list, I'm finally ready to place my orders.

This year I ordered from Rainbow Resource, Veritas Press, Teaching Textbooks,  and A Beka Books.  I also bought some novels from Borders here in town and I have a few more coming from Amazon. 

Today everything arrived, except for the A Beka and Amazon orders.  

LOOK!!!!!

It was like Christmas! 

Here's what we're doing for history:

I've tried to stay on schedule with a cycle of history, starting with creation up to modern day, spread out over 4 years.  But then I discovered Mystery of History 2 years ago and I HAD to have that curriculum.  The author just came out with her 3rd volume and won't have the 4th ready in time for us to stick to the schedule, so I broke away and decided to do American history this year.  I can still have my 6th grader and my 9th grader in the same books, so that is a relief.

Of all the books I order, the science books are by far the favorite with both kids.  They both love science.  They are using the Apologia curriculum.  My 6th grader is doing Zoology, starting with marine life and moving into land animals in the spring.  My 9th grader is starting biology. I'm very excited about it too!

Then there's math ...

This year I'm trying something new with my son.  We have used Saxon Math since the beginning.  My daughter is finishing up Algebra 2 this year.  While I love Saxon, and it's a great fit for her, it wasn't going as well with my son.  So I'm switching to Teaching Textbooks.  A few of my homeschooling mom friends swear by it.  I had my son try it out online and he seemed much more at ease with it.  So I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I've found a good match for him.

I'm also trying something new for literature for my 9th grader.  This is the one area I've stressed about for weeks.  Then I found this:
Smarr Publishers.  I have high hopes for this one.  The program is on a CD and my daughter can do her assignments on the computer.  That is, as soon as all the novels arrive.  I did find some for her, and my son, at Borders:
These books are wonderful!  They are published exclusively for Borders.  They have most all of the classics titles that you want.  They are paperback, but it's a sturdy cover with inside flaps.  And they are cheap!  I think most are $5.95 or $6.95, and I think that's a great deal for a quality book that will be read by more than one kid, plus mom, during our homeschooling journey. 

For Bible we'll move on in the Studying God's Word series.  I think we're on book F or something like that.  I buy those at our local bible store.  

My daughter is still working on Logic and Latin programs that we already have.  So all that's left is our Grammar and Writing program to get here from A Beka.  

Also, I have to come up with something for my 3-year old to do during school time.  Wish me luck on that one!  

Gotta run and find room for all these books on our shelf.  And then perhaps pick a start date on the calendar.  On the one hand, I'm excited and ready to get going, but on the other hand I'm still in the lazy summer mode.  I'll have to ask the kids what they think ...