Playtime

I've been trying to include Maddie in some of her sister's lessons, but she really just wants to play.  LOL  We have had a few dance parties to our Handwriting Without Tears music.  She even surprised me after we sang a song about how to write an A she walked over to the write board and wrote it!  :)  She's also been listening in on story time.  She says the days of the week, months of the year, and Pledge of Allegiance.  She loves to paint, so we do that a lot.  :)  She's working on learning her address and phone number.  She's also working on writing her own name.  Last week she started gymnastics and absolutely loves it.  Next week she's off to preschool!  Time is flying!

Hello, out there!

Wow, I really stink at updating this blog.  :(  That whole J-O-B thing put a ringer in my plans.  BUT... I'm happy to report that I no longer have a J-O-B.  We gave it a good go - 10 months in fact.  It just didn't work for our family.  Mommy is needed at home and God provided the way.  I'm incredibly grateful!  We have also decided to homeschool my first grader.  We will be doing some informal Tot School with Maddie, but have decided to enroll her in a Christian Preschool 3 mornings a week.  She LOVES "school" and really is my little social butterfly.  I think she'll really enjoy this.  It will also allow me special one-on-one time with my oldest as we embark on this new journey.  I do plan to supplement Maddie's learning at home.  Whatever letters they are working on, we will reinforce at home.  I know she'll also pick up on things as my oldest learns at home.  We'll be participating in several field trips.  And, I have a special curriculum (The Etiquette Factory) that I'll be sharing with both girls.  I'll try to check in from time to time as we continue our learning in the new school year.  Thanks for hanging around.   :)

Silly face while she paints her bird house yesterday. 

The Hungry Caterpillar

Since I've had to go back to work part time, we've had to be creative with our schedule and work when we can.  This week we used our Saturday, along with big sister, to work on the letter C thanks to The Very Hungry Caterpillar and Confessions of a Homeschooler.  We did a few activities today, but hope to expand this week.  Enjoy!

Big sis with her graphing project.

Little sis was kinda "done" with it all.  LOL

Letter matching

Our own caterpillar =)

Storyline activity

Little Bit with her letter matching

Random Acts of Learning

One of our new motor skills/color matching games. 

Thought I'd post a few of our recent activities.  We haven't been super consistent with our Hooked on Phonics - she's just not overly interested right now.  I'm really trying to work with her on colors.  She can match colors great!  But, she's struggling with naming them.  Oddly enough, the colors she gets right most of the time are white, yellow, & brown.  Any teachers out there think that's weird?! 

She LOVES music!  And, this is a nifty portable keyboard that daddy bought a couple of years ago.

She really enjoys pouring and playing with beads in her Tot Box activities.

And, writing on her dry erase desk is always a hit!

 

Long Time No Post

One of her absolute favorite projects is finger painting.  And, notice the bathing suit.  This is the first week we have had cool weather and she wants to wear a bathing suit every day.  LOL

I know it has been way too long since I posted! We've lost some of our consistency in Tot School... and by "we" I mean ME. This is one of my greatest weaknesses, sadly. I do so much planning, researching, and thinking, but lack follow through. My apologies. In my defense, we had a road trip a couple of weeks ago and then came back to a two week bout of the stomach virus. We each, one at a time, contracted it... which drug out recovery to nearly two weeks. Yesterday was the first day in a week that I have felt hunger. I think I'm finally better completely. Anyway, the other hindrance to our school has been the decision for me to go back to work. I'm heart broken, but realize it is something that needs to happen. I've spent the last few weeks searching, applying, and interviewing for a full time position. Still no job! In the meantime, I'm trying to get back to some normalcy and schedule. So, here are just a couple of pictures of what we've been up to. Finally uploaded some pics of our first lapbook. We're working on a second one with my kindergartener. Enjoy!

Tot Box

I took a picture this morning of our Tot Boxes.  It's basically the same concept as the Tot Trays, but we didn't have any trays or quite the space for them.  So, I got some small storage containers that I found on sale (school clearance) 6 for $5 at Wal-Mart.  I labeled them on either side with the different skills/activities that we do. (ex.  one box is labeled SORTING on one side and POURING on the other.  Whatever skill we're working on that day, I just turn it around to show that activity and fill the box accordingly.)  We have 14 different skills, but I only put together 6 at a time.  I've made a chart with the skills and ideas of activities to go along with it.  As soon as I figure out how to add the file to a blog, I will.  =)

Hooked on Phonics

We officially started Hooked on Phonics today!  I'm super excited about it.  Maddie did really well with it today.  We actually did both A & B today since we spent all last week on the letter B.  Today was her very first day ever using a computer and she did so well!  She played a HoP letter game on my laptop and she handled it really well.  I was really impressed with how well she did on the games themselves, too.  I think she's going to be recognizing her letters soon.  =)

Since we don't have Tot Trays, I did my own version, thanks to some ideas from 1+1+1=1 Tot Trays.  I found some school clearance items at Wal-Mart this weekend and got 6 storage boxes for $5.  This is where I am storing the activities.  When they are finished, I'll add some pics.  Today Maddie used her first activity "Small Spaces" - the spaghetti and Parmesan cheese shaker.  She did great!  Can't wait to put some more together for her.