preschool Archives - Growing In Grace

Homeschooling Schedule for preschool, third, and fifth grades

May 1, 2017Tracy

Homeschooling is, like parenting, all about making adjustments. What works at one stage in life with one child, is not going to work two weeks from now. There is no perfect schedule, and there most certainly isn’t a permanent homeschooling schedule; it’s simply what works best for one point in time.

This year, we’ve kept a very fluid homeschooling schedule or routine. I’ve mentioned our casual Monday routine, with a mix of art and games and easing into the week. We tackle a lot of our whole-family learning on Mondays. Read-alouds, history projects, and science experiments are usually part of the Monday routine. As for the rest of the week, we’ve got a pretty flexible schedule.

To set the stage for you, here’s what I’ve learned about my different kids that has influenced our final routine.

My oldest does best with as little involvement from me as possible. If a subject must be taught by me with regular meetings each day, we both struggle. He prefers an assignment and a list of expectations, which I do mostly when I meet with him on Mondays.
That same approach would paralyze my third grader. She’s fine doing the things she loves on her own: art, reading, journaling, anything creative. But math, grammar—anything that involves structure and discipline—she has to have me right by her side. She wants, at the very least, companionship.
My littlest is a mix of these two approaches. He likes time with Mom, but he prefers to merely impress me during this time. The actual learning he wants to experiment with on his own.
I also factor my needs into the equation. Just how long can I endure the intense, hand-holding type of homeschool before I need a break? How much time can I devote to each child and their unique needs? With all that in mind, our homeschooling schedule has morphed into what is currently working well for us.

Our Homeschooling Schedule for Preschool, Third, and Fifth grades

Our schedule has two variations, depending on the extra-curriculars for the day. Monday is our only day with no obligations. Otherwise, we usually have something going every day, either in the morning or afternoon. On the days with afternoon activities, we use our morning homeschooling schedule. On the days with morning activities, we default to our afternoon schedule.

Morning Homeschooling Schedule

We are not morning people. A houseful of ADHD and insomniacs just doesn’t lend itself well to strict morning routines. Still, we manage to get up and at ’em by 7 or 8 in the morning. One child takes the dog out, the other starts breakfast. I will usually homeschool my preschooler either during this time while breakfast is being prepped or immediately after breakfast. I’ll drink my coffee and read my scripted Logic of English Foundations A. My preschooler will act out his various parts, complete his worksheets and play his games. We’ll break for his breakfast, and then finish with some learning apps (Montessori Numbers, Cursive Writing Wizard, and Logic of English Phonograms are our favorites.) His reward for doing school with me is time on Starfall.com. I’ve used this free website with each of my kids as they were learning to read, and we all absolutely love it.

This preschool time takes about half an hour to 45 minutes max. But keep in mind, I’m also parenting during this session. Reminding older kids to get dressed, brush their teeth, stop playing, stop fighting, do the dishes, etc. By the time I’ve wrapped up with the preschooler, my older two are usually fairly well on their way to starting the day. My oldest begins his independent work (I usually check in with him about once a week unless he needs assistance). And my third grader brings her clipboard, pencil, and Math Mammoth lessons. While my preschooler is playing his ipad apps and Starfall.com, I read and explain the overall math concept we are working on to my third grader, then she reads the directions out loud and proceeds to work through a section at a time. We work between 2-3 pages depending on how long it’s taking her and on whether it’s a good day or a moody/anxious struggling day. Once we wrap up Math Mammoth, we work through a short grammar lesson in First Language Lessons level 3. On a good day, this should be about 45 minutes to an hour’s worth of work. But some days, it takes us MUCH longer. It largely depends on her mood. Once she finishes up with me, she has some independent time with some computer programs (ReflexMath.com, Keyboarding without Tears, and Simplex Spelling ipad app), piano practice, and then her funschooling journal and reading books.

We break for lunch around noon, depending on what activity is schedule for the day. And that’s it!

Afternoon Homeschooling Schedule

Our default afternoon schedule is very similar to our morning schedule, except it gets started after we’ve made it home from our karate lesson or nursing home ministry and had lunch. I will not always do a preschool lesson with my youngest, depending on how he’s holding up. Sometimes, he just needs the play time. And I’m a firm believer in the importance of play time at this age. All in all, I work with him about three times a week, and that’s been plenty.

My third grader rounds up her clipboard and Math Mammoth, and we launch into our routine together. Hopefully wrapping up by 2:30 or 3 for the day. And I check in with my fifth grader to see what all he’s gotten done. Sometimes, he’ll surprise me by getting up early and finishing before breakfast; other days, he works through the afternoon, finishing up pretty closely to the same time as his sister. Occasionally, on rough days, homeschooling doesn’t wrap up until 5, when I have to start getting dinner. I hate that, and I try VERY hard to not let that happen often.

Our homeschooling schedule has not always gone this smoothly (even this year), but it’s worked well for the last couple of months. And next year, we’ll probably have to readjust everything again as I homeschool a kindergartner, fourth grader, and sixth grader (oh, my!!). It’s part of the package when your homeschool, and honestly, I’m so thankful to have the opportunity to make those adjustments.

Display Boards for whole family learning

February 9, 2017Tracy

We’ve had so much fun with display boards recently that I just had to give you a peek at the action. As part of our Tapestry of Grace curriculum, we’ve been learning about the cultures and people of ancient Palestine during the time of King Saul, King David, and King Solomon. I love doing as much of our learning together as we can, so I assigned both of the older kids this display board project for their writing assignment. Immediately, they were all on board.

Preparation for the Display Boards

My preparation, overall, wasn’t bad. I printed off the Teacher Notes from our curriculum and highlighted the portions for them to read through for the writing part of the assignment, picked some images to print from Google images, and picked up some display board supplies at our local supply store. Each child picked their board, including Littlest, my preschooler. He wanted in on the action, and I figured getting him his own poster board would keep him from “participating” in the other kids’ projects in ways they would not prefer.

Directions for the Display Boards

We chose four cultures that had the most information available: Canaanites, Hittites, Philistines, and Phoenicians. And I gave them 3 weeks to work on it.

For my fifth grader, I assigned a paragraph for each culture. Other than providing his materials and showing him a few sample projects, I really did not do much more for him. He likes his independence.

For my third grader, I only required a couple of sentences for each culture. Because of her skill level and dyslexia, I helped her quite a bit more. I read the information to her rather than have her read it, and she used a new favorite app of ours to write her sentences. (Dyslexia Aid allows her to speak her sentence into the app, and it gives her the text for her to copy into her projects.)

For my preschooler, I gave him permission to use any left-over photos the big kids were not using. He got his glue stick and scissors and went to town. I love it! The red scribbles are his map of Palestine.

In Love with Display Boards

Seriously, we are in love with display boards, and I keep asking myself why I haven’t tried this sooner. My daughter has already asked about a hundred times if she can make another one. And it was an easy way to incorporate everyone at their own skill levels, interacting with the same information, which after all, is why I love Tapestry of Grace to begin with. I love whole family learning, and I love getting to put that learning on display.

Preschool Curriculum for Homeschool: a plan for playful learning

November 16, 2016Tracy

It feels as though my Littlest should still be pulling tupperware out of my kitchen cabinets and beating on pots and pans while the olders do school. (Although I’m not entirely sure he won’t be doing exactly that. Ahem.) But the baby of the family is feeling the urge to grow up. He’s begging to do school with his brother and sister, wanting his own lessons and supplies, and pretending to read whenever he can. I’ve let him set the pace and started with some preschool activities.

Still, this year will be focused mostly on playful learning, putting learning in front of him in a lot of different forms of play and seeing how motivated he is. My preschool learning goals for him are very fluid: learn to count and recognize numbers as high as he can; learn the alphabet and sounds; love to learn!

So my preschool plans and resources come with this disclaimer: we may or may not use everything and/or finish our books. And I’m okay with that. When he’s ready, he will take off. But right now, he needs to play. And I’m always so surprised by what a preschooler can learn when you least expect it. They are “ninja” learners.

Foundations A from Logic of English (later in the year)
Usborne Alphabet and PK Math Readiness sticker books
Kumon project books
Wikki Stix
Counting Bears and accompanying books/activities
Do-a-Dot painters
Montessori board books: Letter Work, Number Work, Map Work
various Ipad apps (that’s a whole other post!)

Our pace for preschool is very relaxed; we get out the activities when he asks to do them. Usually, he chooses at least one activity everyday, and we get through all of our preschool lessons about 2-3 days out of the week, which is plenty! I’m not planning on starting the Foundations textbook until January, and even then, I’m taking it very slowly. Whatever we have left, we will finish next year along with the level B book for kindergarten.

I really do love this stage, where “school” is playful and fun and creative and colorful. I’ll miss these days. I may just have to pre-homeschool someone else’s kid when mine have outgrown all this. I’ll need the excuse to keep playing with counting bears.

Next Year Plans 2015-2016

May 20, 2015Tracy1 Comment

I must confess, planning for this next school year’s homeschool curriculum was much less difficult than it has been in the past. We had so much success this year that I had little to research and change. And while it was very nice to have those decisions pretty well made, I kind of missed the search-and-find part of the process. I’m thrilled that we’ve found the pieces that fit just right for us. It’s been a great fit this year, a perfect balance. So, here is our master list for next year’s plans, our homeschool curriculum in 2015-2016 (4th grade, 2nd grade, and preschool).

Plans for Grade 4:

Christian Light Publications Grade 4 Math

Alpha Omega Grade 4 Language Arts

Easy Grammar/Daily Grams 4

Spelling Power, 1st edition

Visual Latin 1 (second half)

Legends and Leagues geography (North, South, East—one for each school term)

My State Notebook, A Beka

Tapestry of Grace year 4, Upper Grammar (with Draw through History and Time Travelers Pak activities)

Plans for Grade 2:

Christian Light Publication Grade 2 Math

Logic of English Foundations D

Legends and Leagues (original book and workbook)

Tapestry of Grace Year 4, Lower Grammar (with Draw through History and Time Traveler Pak activities)

We’ll also be studying Norman Rockwell and Kandinsky for art, as well as jazz and Louis Armstrong for music.

Plans for “Preschool” (3 year old)

Nothing heavy here, trust me. But I have to plan something to keep Little Man out of trouble. And he loves “plojects.” Honestly, I’m aiming for exploration. And while I don’t have anything finalized, I expect to use a lot of Pinterest ideas, some resources from Letter of the Week (COAH), and some inspiration from The Homegrown Preschooler. I also want to implement a lot of Montessori activities with him.

Littlest is such a sponge. He does a lot of counting, can recognize a few different letters, and knows his colors pretty well with absolutely no formal instruction from me. He’s too little to have a learning style just yet, but he clearly loves to explore rather than pursue anything structured. I’m really okay with that for now. I love setting out the supplies and letting him explore them on his own.

We do have a “summer school” schedule that I’ll post more details about soon. And I can’t wait to get into that learning mode. In the meantime, I’ll have to satisfy my curriculum-hunting instincts by delving into some preschool pinterest boards.

A Foundation for Fun: a Logic of English review

October 23, 2013Tracy5 Comments

This review is purely out of love (I love this program!) All the materials in this review were purchased, and I received no compensation for my opinions.

Logic of English Foundations Phonics

This year, I made a very scary decision. I changed our phonics program to something new. I can’t tell you how many times I re-evaluated that decision and wondered if I were making the right own. We’re only a few weeks in to our new year, but I’d have to say—all my fears have been relieved!

Not only am I impressed with what Middlest is learning and the things I’m discovering about her in the process, but I am thoroughly convinced that the program must have been written with her in mind!

Logic of English Foundations teaches solid phonics and eliminates nearly all the exceptions and sight words. It teaches detailed awareness of sounds and how to make them. It teaches phonemic awareness and how to blend sounds. It teaches consonant blends and reading in a very logical, simple progression. But best of all, it does all of this in a way the child would never suspect because we’re having so much fun.

We explore sounds; we play guessing games (she “guesses” the word I’m sounding out to her, or I “guess” the word she’s sounding out to me) and scavenger hunt (she hunts for the word I’ve sounded out); we play phonogram hopscotch; we march, twirl, dance, shout, jump, and run.

And in the process, I’m uncovering problem areas before they become problems. For instance, in one lesson (the work page pictured above), Middlest was to stamp the picture that had the initial sound I said. When I said “ch,” she kept thinking the answer was the tree because she says “chree” instead of “tree.” And I’d never noticed before. We were able to correct the sound before it caused her trouble in her reading.

Last year, consonant blends were nearly our undoing, but this year she is learning to blend orally before she ever sees it on paper. It’s a brilliant strategy that keeps learning to read a lot of fun rather than intimidating. Last year, she dreaded phonics time and pouted nearly everyday; this year she asks to do it first. Best of all, she’s sounding out and reading simple words all on her own throughout the day, before we’ve even introduced a single reading book. I’m ecstatic about the difference!

Logic of English Foundations Cursive

Although Logic of English Foundations gives you the option for cursive or manuscript instruction, cursive is recommended; and I must say, this is another aspect of the program that I have been most impressed with.

Just the like the phonics, the writing instruction is simple, methodical, and logical. It engages both fine and gross motor skills, and it’s creative. This is Middlest’s favorite part. Games are a big part of this instruction as well, games that get my child out of her chair and moving. For my little wiggle-worm, this is ideal. We write in the air with our noses, elbows, feet, and fingers. She writes on my glass door and on my whiteboard. She writes on the line size that she is most comfortable with, and then we each draw funny faces over our favorite letter she’s written.

And honestly, there are days when I wouldn’t be able to tell her letters apart from mine; she’s learning it so well! As a matter of fact, I’ve retaught Oldest a few of the letters using the LOE program because he’s had so much trouble writing the letters with our original program. The LOE cursive makes so much sense and actually helps the children to be less confused about letter-formation. It’s a-mazing!

Logic of English Foundations comes in 6 different levels (A-F) with about 40 lessons each, equivalent of K4-2nd grade. These levels can be used one or more a year, depending on the level and maturity of the child. We opted for two levels this year. Though I probably could have jumped to Level B (a kindergarten equivalent), I really felt that Middlest would benefit from a quick review with the Logic of English approach. We are whizzing through Level A at about a lesson a day, and the lessons are taking roughly 20-30 minutes for both phonics and cursive instruction. We’ll slow down when we get to Level B and take a couple of days per lesson.

I couldn’t be more pleased with Foundations, and highly recommend it over any phonics program I’ve seen or used.

I received the Basic Phonograms cards as a part of an earlier review of the Essentials program. Otherwise, the only other materials I’ve purchased for Middlest are the teacher and student copies of Levels A and B and the Doodling Dragons app on iTunes for $4.99. Teacher copies are $38 each, and student workbooks are $18.

If you are looking for thorough phonics instruction that will totally engage your child, Logic of English Foundations is all that and more.

Core Tour: Keeping K4 Busy

February 20, 2013Tracy

This is post 2 of my short tour through our core subjects, what I’m using for phonics, reading, and math for my first grader and my preschooler.

Most of this year has been, in a way, free for Middlest. She has been using a great deal of Oldest’s left over pages from both K4 and the beginning review in K5. But she has absolutely flown through the material, which left me in a bit of a straight. Should I purchase new material and move her into kindergarten or push through this year with free pages I could find and print off the internet? We chose the free option.

So, my two primary sources of free work pages has been here and here. I’ve also made a few of my own when we’ve needed them and scoured both pinterest and the internet for other resources. Phew! It’s a lot of work and a lot of time, but it can be done. K4 has been virtually free of charge!

For phonics she worked through left-over pages in A Beka’s ABC-123 book and Letters and Sounds K5 (review pages). Now, she is working whatever I can find from the internet. Right now, we are working on long vowels in two-vowel words, silent e and silent second letters. I’ve googled both long vowels and silent e for activities and found quite a few resources. We’ve also used the little A Beka K4 readers.

For math, she used the left-over ABC-123 pages for this, too. Then whatever I could scour off the internet. I either look up kindergarten math (much of which she is ready for) or will search for particular concepts (time, pennies, beginning addition). For our time together, we count to 100, sing skip-counting songs that I’ve downloaded on iTunes, go through some flashcards, and maybe review a concept or two with clocks or money, etc.

Her day is not long at all. I probably keep her busy with handwriting (again, left-overs from K5 and even 1st grade manuscript books) and other worksheets for about 30 min. Then, we spend another 30 minutes together (15 min. for phonics and reading, 15 min. for math). She is my flighty little butterfly, and it’s really all she needs and all she is ready for right now. The rest of the time, she plays while I work with Oldest. She uses the ZooWhiz subscription that we got for free as a review product, or she plays at one of the activities I have pre-approved for her. She listens in on Oldest’s stories and lessons; she cuddles up for our Tapestry reading; and she memorizes our Scripture as well as quite a few of the history and science facts right along with Oldest.

Now, I’m really desperate to know—how do you keep your kindergarten-ready preschooler busy? Where do you go for free resources?

Super Duper Following Directions Review

July 23, 2012Tracy

It was really awesome to get this review because, honestly, this is not a product I would typically buy for the kids. And they’ve had so much fun with it!

Hear Builders Following Directions is produced by Super Duper Publications, which specializes in making products for kids with special needs. However, the products work well for any learner. This particular computer game is aimed at improving a young child’s skills at following directions. What child doesn’t need that, right?

Children are challenged in a total of 40 different concepts in 5 areas: basic directions, sequential directions, quantitative and spatial directions, temporal directions, and conditional directions. Which means this is a product your child can grow into. I was really impressed with what my kids were asked to do and how well they responded to the challenges.

The skills are presented in the context of training the child to be a master toymaker and eventually build their own toy-making factory. My kids have a ways to go before they get their own factory, but they love the game and so do I.

I was able to set up an account for each child, and the game automatically remembered where each of the kids left off. Each session they were able to log in and build on the skills they had already mastered. Though I had originally thought that Oldest would benefit most from this game, I’ve really liked using it with Middlest. For one, she’s my child that likes to do things her own way; following directions cramps her style. Too, it keeps her occupied and gives me a chance to work with Oldest.

The product is intended for children PreK through 3rd grade and meets several state standards. (There is a link on the product page where you can check the standards for your state.) The home edition is available on CD-rom for $69.95. But you can save 30% by using the code BLGFD30 at check-out before August 31, 2012.

Visit the site to play the demo with your child, or check out reviews of other great Super Duper products at the Schoolhouse Review Crew.

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