Homeschooling preschool: week 1

Eventually, I'll actually have printable card you can print and organize, but for now I'll just put the content of each card on here!

Overview card 1

Theme: Snow
Shape: circle
Color: white
Letter: S
Number: 0 (zero)
Concept: same/different
Verse: psalms 139:14
Science: Every snowflake is different just like me!

Theme card: snow
Monday:read snow poem (from Internet search), discuss that snow comes in winter
Tuesday: play with shaving cream on table (pretend its snow)
Wednesday: make snow scene with white paint on black or navy paper. Thumbprints are snow flakes
Thursday: make snow playdoh (mix white glitter into white playdoh)
Friday: make waterless snow globes (hot glue bristle trees to jar lids, put a little fake snow in jar, close lid, display jar upside down)

Number card: 0

Monday: discuss number
Tuesday: write 0 in the shavingcream snow
Wednesday: 0 coloring page*
thursday: 0 writing worksheet*
Friday: 0 writing on lined paper

Shape card: Circle

Monday: introduce shape, sing song about shape (find song online)
Tuesday: draw shape in shaving cream
Wednesday: collage, glue circles in shape of a snowflake
Thursday: circle scavenger hunt, look for circles in environment, and/or place circles to be found around house
Friday: circle worksheet

Verse card: ps 139:14

Monday: recite verse
Tuesday: Verse coloring page (can be found online)
Wednesday: snowflakes verse scramble (write each word or a couple words on snowflake and put in proper order)
Thursday: snowflake verse scramble
Friday: large snow scene or banner with the snowflakes from the verse scramble permanently attached together.

Concept: same/ different

Monday: talk about the meaning
Tuesday: worksheet
Wednesday: have objects or pics to be compared, place same objects in one container or pile, different in another.
Thursday: worksheet
Friday: same activity as Wednesday

Letter: s
Monday: introduce letter, sing song about letter, trace with finger
Tuesday: write letter in shaving cream on table
Wednesday: iPad app (pocket phonics)
Thursday: writing page
Friday: coloring/writing page

Color: white
- remind how snow is white with all activities
- verbally spell white daily
- point out white things in the environment
- white scavenger hunt

Science card: every snowflake is different
- read books about snowflakes
- look at snowflake pics online (of actual snowflakes)
- we both make a snowflake by folding paper and making cuts then compare how they are different
- talk about how snowflakes are different and people are different too, read a book about someone who is different

I try to stagger the activities we do. For example do a sitting activity then a crafty/fun activity then sitting activity. I also don't have to do everything I one sitting. On days we read books, we might wait til bed time, for example.

Homeschooling preschool: How I plan

Thanks for starting with me on our homeschooling journey! As i mentioned in my last post, I'm really only committed to homeschooling until kindergarten. Before I share with you the week's plans, I thought I'd share a general overview of how I make my plans.

First up, how I organize my plans.

I have chosen to keep my plans on note cards in one of those note card boxes. For each week there are 9 cards. The first is my starting place. On it is the week number (1-52), the theme for the week, and {at this point} shape, color, letter, number, concept, Bible memory verse, and science concept. That gives me a general overview for the week. Each other card has a category on it. As we go along the categories on the cards will change, but this is the basis for a while. I was having trouble pinpointing what exactly to call the concepts. They are basically things like over/under, longest/shortest, etc. They will get more complex as we go along, but for now, she needs to learn these things. Science is not necessarily the science we think of in a strict sence. It can be anything from an actual science thing to the fact that there are generations in a family. Science is one simple concept that correlates with the theme. The first week for example is that every snowflake is different, and our theme is snow.

Secondly, my method of planning.

After I have my first card hammered down, I create a card for each of the categories. There is a card for the theme, shape, color, verse, letter, etc. On each of these cards I write the days Monday-Friday. Beside each day I write the planned activity for the day. Emphasis on PLANNED! I don't want her to get bored with learning. I feel like the most important thing I can do to get her ready for school (weather at home or not) is to make her excited to learn. If she gets restless, and doesn't want to do anything else, we will stop or even just change focus. If it doesn't all get done, then it's totally ok! Some cards don't have an activity for each day, and some activities will be repeated.

You'll be able to understand this as you look through my plans for the week, I just wanted to explain a little of the meathod to the madness!