Community Helpers Preschool fun

I am so happy it’s March! I was not on top of things like I would have liked in February but we did do some fun activities to learn about our community helpers!  Mostly aimed at the mailman because of Valentines day!

This was our February board:

The front had our focus for the month which included the community helpers construction worker, police officer, doctor, and mailman. 

We also talked about the heart shape, the color red, giving compliments, eating healthy foods, counting to 15 and the letter M. 

The back of the board has the days of creation which I will leave up for a while since we haven’t yet discussed them all. 

I did my best to talk about each community helper.  As we passed by construction I would point out the workers.  If we saw a police car I would try to point it out but it was usually while driving.  We did visit the doctor a couple days ago since Caden was a little sick! Not a “fun” trip, but he liked talking about the doctor so he learned something anyway.

We have a community helper puzzle that Caden loves to play with! You match the helper with the tools of thier trade.

If we focus on just a few at a time he does really well!

But we did get to learn a lot about the mail man and the post office! We had to make a few trips to the post office in February mailing Daddy some packages, and some valentines to his cousins in Texas!

We even gave our mailman a valentine when he drove by on Valentines day! I didn’t get to snap a picture of it but trust me when I say it was the cutest thing ever and it totally made the mailman’s day!

Now on to March! Spring is for sure here already and we are loving it!

Jessi

linking up!

Some Homeschooling preschool fun!

So part of my resolution list was too keep up with Caden's homeschooling lessons.  Yes he's only two but these aren't actual "lessons" They're just fun activities that help teach him new skills, the alphabet, counting, songs. All through play!  For some reason I have made this very difficult on myself and can't get it incorporated into our day. Which is dumb because it's just playing with him.  I feel so LAME. 

Anyway I'm trying not to beat myself up about it because he is only 2. It's just another thing I set out to do and am not following through.   But this week I was able to do some activities with Caden that were simple and very fun!

We did some sorting with many different colored beads.

Caden had fun with this for a few minutes and then just wanted to pour all the beads out and roll around in them!

We painted a pink pig! Painting is one of Caden's favorite activities.

We read the story of Zacchaeus Luke 19:1-10  The memory verse for January is "Tell the truth" so we are reading stories about telling the truth!  Behind him is the drawer cart I got to help me stay organized with his activities and for caden to be able to see what activities we have planned.  I got the idea for these "workboxes" from one of my favorite blogs Confessions of a Homeschooler

One of Caden's other favorite things is music! So we made a "guitar" with different sized rubber bands and a shoe box! He loved putting the rubber bands on with me but only wants mommy to play it so far :) He's so funny.

I'm hoping to keep up with this especially after seeing how much fun caden had and how simple the activities were.  It's just a matter of making sure I have the materials on hand before that day!

*I use a two year old curriculum from Hands on Homeschooling

Caden’s Activity Book!

Pinterest is my favorite.  It’s amazing how many ideas are out there.  This one I had to create right away!

It’s called the quiet book.  I made it for Caden to use when we go to restaurants, however we haven’t been going out to eat so he plays with it at home. 

 

I created a cute little cover with some scrapbook stickers and just slid it in the front of a binder. 

The genius part about this book is that you put your activity sheets in page protectors and let your little artists use dry erase crayons (or markers) to color! Again, and again and again!  Saving you lots of paper and ink   I prefer Caden to use the crayons because I can let him do his own thing and not have to supervise him like I would with the markers!  Of course he prefers markers because they draw a lot smoother than crayons but he gets marker not only on the book but everywhere else too  

Since it’s fall I filled his pages with fall/halloween activities!  I’m a big fan of these pre-school packs!  Lots of great printables! 

Caden is not a fan of these prewriting practice pages because he cant quite trace the lines yet but that’s the point, to practice!

He can point out the differences on most lines! it’s so cute when I ask him a question and he says “ummm this one?”

I found this Halloween printable pack here at Over the big moon. 

I also added this magnet page with a farm scene so Caden could play with his farm animal magnets.

I just bought magnet sheets from walmart and stuck it on construction paper and printed a farm scene I found online to slide over top!

I also put some baseball card pages in the back to keep his magnets! He likes to slide them in and out of their pockets.

So there you have it! Caden’s activity book.  I highly recommend you make one! There’s so many possibilities with this.  I look forward to switching out the printables for each season  

  Jessi

Homeschooling Preschool September End of month Recap

Hello dear friends! We have been so busy around here I've gotten a little behind on sharing our preschool adventures!
You know how when you're focused on certain things in life other parts just fall on the wayside?  Yeah for me that's blogging!  Staying on top of doing *Caden's lessons and keeping up with the house doesn't leave much room energy for this. 
But I do have a running list of things I wish to share with you! So my goal this weekend is to try and do just that. :)

For now I wanted to update yall on how our first month of Caden's preschooling went!  So far so good.  Ok that was easy, ttyl!

Just kidding! It's going really well.  The only thing I want to do differently is making sure I do the activities each day.  Some days get a little hectic and so we dont do what was planned for that day.  Instead I do them the following day along with that day's lessons, or on the weekend while Daddy is doing homework. 
I've noticed that Caden is more willing to do an activity first thing in the morning. He wakes up so energized and eager to learn!  I can see his little brain working as he starts talking about whatever comes to mind.  He likes to say the new words he learned the day before, try saying full sentences, ask if daddy is at work, say good morning to the doggies :) So he is ready to go but I however am trying to get myself in gear. 

I already know the solution to this would be to just wake up a little earlier and get myself ready before the energizer bunny opens his precious brown eyes! Easier said than done as I am not a morning person.  But I WANT to be.  Why is that so hard?  If I have the desire than I should be able to do it.  The problem is that desire seems to disapear when my alarm goes off ;) It's a work in progress.

Anywho, back to the recap.  Caden is doing wonderfully despite the inconsistent schedule.  He can repeat back to me the bible verse from September: Obey God.  He eagerly brings me objects or points to them and tells me what color they are.  He gets them right about 90% of the time.  And I catch him counting his toys :) He can count to 10 but for some reason will only count with me up to 5, but will count on his own from 6-10.  hehe. I guess he likes to say those numbers better?! So silly. 
The shape of the month was square and he cant quite name that shape on his own yet. Circle is the shape for October and since circle is fun to say he already has that one down :) We can continue to work on square.

It has been so fun to see and pay attention to his strengths and weaknesses.  What he's interested in, and what he isnt.  And not to mention his vocabulary has exploded!

We have October's board set up and are cruising along with this week's activities :)

Can you believe it's October already?!



*We are using Hands on Homeschooling Preschool curriculum for 2 year olds

Digging for sea shells activity

Hey friends!  I wanted to share a fun activity I did with Caden today since the weather was so beautiful outside!  After dinner we went outside to play and actually could play for longer than five minutes without getting bit by misquitos!

This isnt an activity from the curriculum, but one I came up with! It can be played with any item, and in a variety of ways! Use rocks to find "fossils" And during the colder times of the year put some sand in a big bowl or tub and set them up in an easy to clean area :) Or just keep this as an activity for the summer!

Caden likes to play in his sand box but doesnt really know what to do other than throw it onto the porch with his shovel :) So I took seashells we had and we buried them in the sand.  Then I showed him how to dig with his shovel and feel with his hands to find them all and put them in the bucket!  He thought this was the coolest game! 

Learning points:
Fine motor skills by using the shovel to carefully move the sand around.
Differences: seeing how different each shell is shaped
Memory: Remembering where we buried the shells
Math: counting how many shells we find

Here are some pictures of him digging for sea shells. 

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Homeschooling Preschool

This week we started Caden's 2 year old preschool curriculum!  Last year he attended a preschool at a local church which we loved! He enjoyed all the fun things they did each day and the teachers loved him so much! But this semester Caden would have been gone so much it didnt make sense to enroll him. So because he isn't going, I didn't want him to miss out on the fun learning activities!
 I originally started trying to create my own lesson plans and spent forever trying to come up with ideas for each day.  I'm a planner.  I like to have a goal and accomplish it.  It was taking me way to long to come up with a plan.  Probably because I would find these websites and blogs and then just start reading all the posts :)

I found a website called Hands on Homeschooling where she has school curriculum for preschool age children.  It covers the whole school year and provides activities and lessons that provide purpose to daily play!  I'm loving it!  She lays out different activities for each day and gives an overview to help you plan what supplies you'll need for the week. 

Topics she covers include: Phonics/Reading/Writing, Bible & Spiritual Growth, Music, physical movement, Readiness skills, Arithmetic, science & Health, Social studies, Crafts, cooking, & field trips!   These sound a little advanced for a two year old but the activities and lessons in these topics are perfect for his age.  I'll be sharing how we do throughout the year so stay tuned!

This week so far has been great!  I set up his 'school room' (our dining room) Sunday night and when he came down Monday morning he was very excited to see everything!

 He loves to say "Oh WOW!" when he sees something new. It's so cute.

Pointing at the map. I showed him wear his Nana, Pop Pop, and Awmaw & Awpaw live. :)

 My lesson board for September.  Caden cant read it yet obviously but it's colorful and helps me show him each morning what we are learning. 

Noooo not school!!! No pictures! I'm tired!

silly boy. We got the desk at a local flea market called Front Porch of the South.  A bunch of booths selling antiques and what not. 

Ok now I'm excited!

We practiced readiness skills of gluing squares.  And painted a picture of the whale as we are reading the story of Jonah this week.

And these are the characters I made to help tell the story :) They have felt on the back so I can put them on the landscape scene in Caden's play nook.  

I am so glad we have this curriculum.  I can easily do the activities with Caden throughout our normal day.  So instead of turning cartoons on the tv, or trying to keep him busy while I do chores I can show him a new activity that helps him learn! I'm looking forward to sharing more of the fun, I hope you are too!