Short Break, We Are Back At It

So, we took a short break from schooling last week, other things came up and we decided that at that moment those things were more important that sitting down and doing some worksheets or coloring a picture. Although we did take a break from the worksheets we honestly never take a break from "schooling"; we are always learning right? That is the beauty of homeschool too; to a point there is flexibility in your hours of schooling (especially for preschool) and when life comes up your kids aren't going to be missing days at a school building with teachers.

Last week my little boy had his first sleepover at our house with a friend, made me realize how he is really growing up; so we didn't do a formal day of school the next day, but I took advantage of every opportunity I could, to sneak some learning in, the boys had no idea (okay, maybe they did). We took the time to talk about sharing and responsibility (I know, not what two little boys want to do at a sleepover), but we made it fun and they actually liked it; we played a game to see who could clean up the toys they got out first (a great thing for boys (and girls), they love "competition"). We read lots of books before bed, which is always one of my favorite ways of learning with the kids, they always seem to be full of questions when we read and it awakens there imagination at the same time. The next morning we had a chance to go to the water park at the local YMCA, always a fun time for the kids and they get a chance to get their energy out. Then we did lunch at Chick-fil-a, which seems to be the water hole for a lot of moms and dads of little ones around lunch time, I mean delicious food and an indoor play area, what parent wouldn't take advantage of that. At lunch I snuck in some more learning, I normally buy an adult meal and split it between the kids, because why not right, you get lots of food and a lot smaller bill (they even gave me small cups for the kids to split the drink, plus free refills). We did the 12 piece chicken nuggets, so the kids had to figure out how much chicken every one would get if we split it four ways; I know you may think that that would be a hard concept for four year olds and a 2.5 year old to grasp, but I have learned when it comes to food and making sure they get a fair share they are pretty good at figuring out the answer. Of course, after food it was time to play again, and it seems that the time we went is when every one else seemed to go, there were several kids there, so we got a lot of sharing and helping each other lessons during play. I like to guide my kids in those situations, but if there are tears because another child has taken their spot in line for the slide or ran past them for the steps, I help them to take a deep breath, but remind them that they have the tools and skills to express themselves nicely and resolve the situation themselves (it makes them so proud of themselves when they know they can do it themselves). Lastly, we took a "field trip" to the pet store, I needed dog food for our family dog, so I took all three kids to the store to get it. When we went we just "had" to look at all the other pets they had there and in turn learned the names of the animals, talked about which color fish was our favorite, and admired all the different animals and species God has created. In my book it was actually a great day of learning!!

Now for our day yesterday, Monday. The kids were still recovering from a super fun and busy weekend with close friends, so we did some simple activities that got their minds going and to help us to get back into the swing of things.

Here is a look into our day:

I wrote their names on paper, gave them glue sticks
and cheerios and let them get to work, pretty much every
preshooler I know has done this at one time or another

Hard at work, he has such a concentration

The only thing I can say is she tried, she learned
how to spell her name, and had fun

Liam's finished paper

After working on our name papers, I decided to get some of my work done while he learned; I cut my coupons while he "played" with some of the clippings. We talked about the concept of money and how to read out how much some thing is when he sees it on a price tag. He saw $14.99 on one of the ads in the coupons for a ceramic cat and wasn't sure how to say how much money it was, perfect opportunity to teach him, right?!

Lastly, he took this into his own hands, he used his sisters magnetic doll clothes and created patterns on the refrigerator. I love that he understands the concept of patterns and what comes next, he is so happy when can tell me what comes next (even in more complex patterns then the one in the picture)

I love seeing them grow and learn each and every day, through life, play, worksheets, whatever it may be. 

Thanks for joining us on our journey!!

Day #6: "Mom, I Feel Bones in My Foot"

Tuesday morning has been another gloomy and cloudy morning, I still have a scratchy throat and head congestion, but how could I resist teaching my little guy about the bones in his foot when he comes running to me, all excited, saying "Mom, guess what, I can feel bones in my foot". So, what I did (almost right away) was search the amazing world wide web for a print out that I could use to help him learn the bones in his foot. I  found a few images that I could copy and print out from this site; he loved them.

I love that we are just into preschool right now, where schooling is not as structured as it can get in the higher grades; where the child can be involved in planning what he learns. What I am learning is that homeschooling him for preschool is that it is so much easier to tailor the lessons to his personality and help him to expand his mind and explore his interests in his/our time. 

Here is a look into our day:

Working on his bones of the foot printout

After we talked about the names of the bones,
we would feel our feet to see where those bones were on us.

Here is his finished paper, he chose a different color for
each group of bones and circle the name with the same color

Such concentration when writing his numbers on his math sheets

Finished math sheets, not sure why in the second
sheet though three out of the four answers were 4.

 Singing and dancing to an alphabet song

The kids loved this song, it was upbeat and even 

worked on getting the kids to sound out the letters.

Trying to sound out the letters along with the song

Thanks for joining us on our journey!

Day #5: Mom is Sick, What To Do

It was one of those mornings when you wake up with a sore throat and head congestion, it is gloomy and dark outside, and when all you want to do is stay in bed (I am sure we have all had a day like that); but, being a stay at home mom and homeschooling mom we have to slowly get up and continue on with the day. First off, I have to admit, I see a different side of my kids when I am feeling under the weather; my son gives more unprompted kisses and they both just seem to know that snuggling with mom is a better option that running around all silly, so that is definitely nice. I honestly was not going to do an "official" day of school yesterday with Liam, and we did not, but we did do a lot of learning just through playing and talking; which is some times where I believe we learn the most, I know for me personally tests and papers never helped nearly as much as the hands on, in the field training.

Here is what we learned through play:

They both really wanted to play with playdoh, 

so this was a great opportunity to "sneak" in some learning

 He cut out and lined his shapes up, then we talked about 

the names of the different shapes and how many sides they all had.

He then decided (on his own) to cut out another set of the same shapes. 

So, he sorted the shapes and put them with the 

one they matched, then he worked on counting by 2's.

After the playdoh (and kids) were all cleaned up, Liam requested that we make some Jello jigglers (he has a really fun hockey themed molds). While the kids were pouring in the gelatin powder we talked about how each box had 3 ounces of powder and since we had two boxes I asked Liam how many ounces all together we had, it took him a little while but he figured out that 3+3=6 and I also informed him that 3X2=6. They were having a lot of fun with this activity, they did every thing themselves, 

besides pouring in the boiling water.

Lastly, today we drew with chalk on the trampoline. 

He worked on his shapes.

And just let his imagination take over and came up
with fun little stories to go along with his drawings.

So, what do other homeschoolers do on days like this? I am curious to know, because even though we are going through this journey "separately", we really are going through this together. One of my goals for this blog is to not just merely share our day with readers, but to reach out and let others know they are not alone, struggles are real at times, but there is so much joy even through the struggles that we tend to forget (even me, I struggle more then appearances may give off). Lets encourage each other, moms and dads alike out there are doing their best and working their hardest every day to give their children the best future possible. It's a hard job, but ever so rewarding.

*This post was about what we did yesterday (Monday), I was just a little behind getting it up.

Day #4: Freedom of Choice = More Excitement About School

This morning, in my books, was a great one to me. Liam and Alex were eating breakfast and Alex came out and said "I want Liam to do school"; I know why she was asking, it was because while Liam works on his papers and crafts, she gets to color with markers. Letting her color with markers at  this age has always been a little difficult for me, only because I know it is going to be all over her hands, maybe her face, clothes, and maybe the table; I am slowly learning to let my desire for clean and "presentable" kids go, to let them be, they are kids and don't care if they have marker all over them (plus it washes off, right). I am just being honest here, and like I said I am learning things about myself, and having my kiddos around I am learning from them to be happier and do things that make us all happy; so if coloring with markers for Alex makes her happy ecstatic, I will do a little clean up after and we all will be happy.

As for Liam today, I fed him breakfast and let him "choose" his activities for the morning. I gave him freedom to decide when and what he was going to do (within reason obviously, I wasn't going to let him do things that are against the rules in our house). He played with his toys for a little, just using his imagination and making up stories with his toys; that is also learning in my eyes, he grows every day with all the ideas and scenes he comes up with for his toys. Then, out of no where, he comes up to me and says "Mommy, I am ready to do some school now; I want to work on my letters". So, that is what we did; and you know what I had fun with it, he had fun with it, it was a very enjoyable day of learning.

Here is a look into our morning:

Working on his worksheets

    

 After some worksheets it was time for a story from the Bible:

This is the best picture I could get of my silly ones settling in for story time. 

Don't judge our outfit choices, Liam picked his clothes and Alex is now Princess Sophia, they are happy.

This Bible was actually mine and my brother's when we were young, 

it will be fun sharing it with my kids.

Then of course it was time to dance:

The first few pictures were to this song

I find this picture silly, he was dancing to this song, 

so obviously a more serious face was needed. 

I couldn't help but chuckle.

And then these two couldn't help but laugh and dance to this next song

Here are Liam's finished sheets for today: 

(he is definitely improving with tracing his letters)

               

                        - The "orange" is circled because he                                                                                         believes it is a clementine, I think he is right    - He got a little excited during this one 

                                                                                   and wasn't paying attention with the C

  This worksheet was found here, there are a

 bunch of free printables that my little one loves.

Now to explore outside and learn responsibility through chores 

(age-appropriate ones of course) the rest of the day. 

We hope you have a great day as well!

Thank you for joining us on our journey!!

Day #3: Resistance and Tears

Well, today was met with resistance and tears from my little man. I never want to "force" my kids to learn, so today was a new challenge for us. This morning before it was time for schooling Liam was super excited and was actually asking me (several times) "can we work on our letters now? I really want to work on the letter B!". I was super hopeful and excited for today too after those questions, but of course I had to get sister up and make sure she had her breakfast and was settled before Liam and I could start some workbooks. Well, I guess within that time he had gotten distracted by all the other fun and exciting things that he could potentially be doing today, that the thought of sitting down with some workbooks was not to pleasing to him. Like I said I never want to "force" him to sit down and work on his books, because I don't believe he will learn as much as he possibly could when he is not interested or excited to be doing it; but, to my surprise (after the tears) he walked right into our little classroom and sat down, then started to proceed to let me know what color markers he wanted to use on his papers. So, I guess the tears and resistance weren't all real; I honestly don't know, I am still learning every day along with my kids how to be the best parent to them that I can possibly be, he teaches me just as much or more then I may be teaching him.

So here is a look into our morning:

Here he is super excited that the concept of letter sounds are making sense to him, he was super proud of himself (I was proud too) that he figured out which pictures started with the letter B all on his own

 Tracing patterns (worksheet found here; this website has a bunch of 

other printables for different grades/ages for FREE, we have a lot printed and ready)

 Liam's completed worksheets for today, he tries his best: 

Whenever a worksheet asks him to color in some thing he prefers to circle it, 

at least he is circling the correct answer, that's a plus right?

 After he worked on his sheets he drew a picture and then made a story to go along with the picture, I wrote down the story he told me at the top of his page so he could keep it. He was very proud of his story

 The story went like this: "Once upon a time, there was a forest and a cookie person hiking in the forest. Then he saw a river, so he decided to walk away; but, the water kept following him. THE END" 

We also have spend a lot of our morning outside, it is so beautiful out and there is so much to teach and learn through nature (I believe this may be one of Liam's favorite things to do, explore nature and learn new things). The kids drove around the yard on Liam's gator, he rode his bike up and down the street while Alex and I walked (all while we talked about the changing of the seasons).