Category: homeschooling

Homeschooling Life

This past week’s been a quiet week of cleaning, homeschooling, and living. Nothing really to report, except that my house looks more straightened than it has in a long time. The laundry is also caught up to the point that I’m waiting on the clothes we are wearing today before I can make a full load. Don’t you love that feeling? Everything cleaned, folded and hung.

Abi got a little bug at the end of the week, resulting in some extra TLC and some unusual behavior for a day. But her character has returned with restful sleep.

We did the letter Gg in homeschooling this week. It was a fairly uneventful week of finger painting, puzzle work, reasoning worksheets, pattern work, and tracing/free handing letters. Rachael continues to write all her work with a fist-grab crayon hold that I don’t plan on correcting until we finish our Alphabet series in August (I have vacation breaks planned in). In August, the plan is to switch to our Answers in Genesis pre-kindergarten curriculum when Rachael is 3.5 years old. With the more structured curriculum, it will build on Rachael’s previous exposure to the alphabet and work on honing in more fine motor and cognitive skills. As with any pre-kindergarten material, Rachael will then be ready to either repeat the pre-K material or begin Kindergarten material at 4.5 (or whenever she completes the 180 lessons). I do not think age, but ability defines a child’s readiness for school, though maturity is certainly something to be considered. So we’ll see how she’s trucking along and tweak accordingly. I have no personal goals of Rachael being a genius nor do I feel that her age should restrain her willingness to learn. I’m just trying to cease the opportunities to play upon her enthusiasm and expanding attention span in exposing and absorbing as much as we can. Thus far it has worked out well.

Our alphabet series (approximately one letter per week), is solely for the purpose of exposing Rachael to the alphabet this time around. Since this is all new territory for her, I didn’t want her to be discouraged by the fine motor work and the pre-kindergarten level work of the Answers and Genesis curriculum. Since the Pre-K curriculum makes the assumption that the child is already somewhat familiar with the alphabet, therefore building on further skills of writing the letters correctly (emphasis on capitals), I didn’t want Rachael to be so distracted by the challenge of the foreign shapes of letters that she miss out on the joy and challenge of learning the other material. Answers in Genesis also uses the one letter per week method for the first 26 weeks and then continues on for there so the transition should not be abrupt. We’ll merely add on more to Rachael’s workload as her attention span continues to increase, striving to naturally challenge her newly advanced skills. During our current alphabet series, we are using good old dollar store preschool books to provide additional worksheet reasoning exercises. Rachael has enjoyed cutting, pasting, coloring by dots/numbers, reasoning, etc. worksheets that we do together in introduction to pre-K skills. She has gone from very scary cutting (eeek!) to more controlled paper manipulation and intentional cutting. It’s also really neat to watch her brain learn to reason from clues and prompts. So much is happening in that little head of hers in drawing connections, recalling information, and absorbing new information.

We also enjoy learning basic math skills, like counting beads/counters into an egg carton or into containers. We have used some marvelous $1 target bin colored shape counters to stack numbers 1-10 in an abacus style to teach her brain the concept of 10 being “larger” than 1, etc. We’ve enjoyed comparing measured amounts of water for “more than” and “less than” qualities. And we’re just touching into the concept of viewing a number as a whole collection of things. It really has been a joy to watch the lights turn on and see that “I’ve got it” smile creep onto her face, followed by her accomplished giggle.

It’s so neat to watch her put together things as her brain creatively computes making a big picture with many pieces. (Found the above sculpture as a bath-time creation and in delighting in her creative work, I took this picture).

Abi has been enjoying our homeschooling too, frequently taking the opportunity to rearrange materials on the table as she sees fit. 😉 She also enjoys the extra snuggle time that “sitting still” requires of Mommy. Abi finds herself enjoying looking at books and participating in group games (like shape and number races), running and imitating Rachael’s actions. On more squirmy or needy days, Abi draws a picture (scribbles like mad with any crayon she can reach) on the back of Rachael’s work or on a nearby scrap of paper. Since we are doing homeschooling primarily on Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings for only about an hour to an hour and a half, Abi has found a greater sense of independent play in her “I don’t have to share this” freedoms. Honestly, Abi is able to entertain herself for the majority of the homeschooling session without requiring redirection. Her favorite, by far, is sitting on the floor reading and talking to her books. Seriously the kid will do it for an hour!

Post homeschool, Rachael gives Abi a hug and thanks Abi for letting Rachael do homeschool (I want her to see that we’re all giving to her education) and then the two friends play together for the remaining hour (or less depending on when we get started) until lunch. I love the jubilant play that ensues after homeschool sessions. It’s like a reuniting of two long-lost friends. =)

So for now that’s a little look into what homeschooling looks like in these parts.

Some days we have field trips to spice things up. But most days we just do a handful of preschool-appropriate tasks, even cooking on a brave day (Abi always must help), mixing up worksheets (you can only sit still for so long) and hands-on activities with races reviewing information and dancing or playing instruments to music. Right now it’s just all about exposing Rachael to the things she’ll be later required to produce fruit from with increased practice and watching as time and exposure produces that fruit, many times, faster than anticipated.

I am so blessed by her little heart and her little mind as she delights in the joys of learning. It really is so precious to get to share this time with her and do something together just me and my Rachael.

I look forward to the one-on-one that Abi’s schooling will create as well in the distant future. And am grateful for her patient snuggles and contentment to watch and repeat Rachael’s lessons (my little teacher) and even participate some too, in sharing Mommy with big sister.

It is so rewarding that some simple intentionality in education can lead to such delightful fruit in both my girls.

– thankful and blessed. 

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Useable Space

After taking a few pictures of Rachael’s homeschooling I noticed my ugly, explosive school shelving unit in the background. Ever done that? Found some nasty, “Oh I really need to fix that” section of your house in the background of your favorite memories?

So with the inspiration of a dear friend, Kassie’s, recent Spring cleaning kick, I tackled the “should have been done months ago” task of the school shelves.

First came the ever-so-obnoxious task of figuring out what to do with the puzzles. I had been looking around for seriously months at various puzzle-stacking racks. Man those things aren’t cheap! And I was nervous that after spending our life inheritance on one of those said racks, we would have the dreaded, unthinkable happen to us: we’d get a new puzzle – one too many for the rack. And since our children are not past the puzzle using years, I figured the dreaded would repeat itself many, many times. =)

So I recently looked into other methods and found this one to be realistic, cheaper than half a puzzle rack’s cost, and affective for other non-puzzle yet bulky items. Thus I bring to you (cue the music and pull out the megaphone): The Ultimate Puzzle Organizing Experience!!!

I used an old dowel rod, three screw in hooks (that fit said dowel rod on the ends and in the middle – cause puzzles are heavy), hefty zipable gallon and 2.5 gallon sized bags, shower curtain hooks, and binder clips (large metal pinchers to use a practical description). I screwed the hooks into the top shelf’s ceiling of our bookshelf, alternating directions to avoid the inevitable “everything falls off the rack when it’s bumped” possibility when you have small children shopping through the puzzles. Then I hung the dowel rod (Thanks Jenney and Brian for using your sweet saw to cut it down to size – my steak knife and box opener blade would never have gotten me there.) Then I hung the shower curtain hooks (I chose c-hooks because I wanted us all to be able to get the binder clips off without Rachael and eventually Abi being dependent on Mommy only to wrestle them off – though I am aware that this makes Abi able to take them off right now during the “don’t touch this- EVER” training phase.) Then I bagged up our puzzles in the gallon or 2.5 gallon sized bags (I found the larger wooden puzzles – those bigger than a sheet of paper- in need of the 2.5 gallon size to fit well). Then put our lovely clip on them and hang them on the curtain hooks.

As seen in the picture, some heavier puzzles either needed to be clipped to the clip itself (binder clips providing said aid) or the bag needed to rest far enough down that the puzzle could use the shelf to relieve the weight – thus not actually hanging, but attached nonetheless.

I also found the bagged method QUITE helpful in bagging up other “what the heck do you do to store this” homeschool items such as the loved and hated Cootie catcher bug pieces (Does Abi ALWAYS have to end up with one in her mouth even though she’s not playing?). [Does anyone actually play the legit game or are you like me and just attach the legs and crazy mouths/eyes for freeplay?] Or the ever loved, but crazy hard to store knobbed and chunky puzzles. I also found it a nice way to store the awkward shaped things and the “we would actually use this if we saw that we had it” items.

Some things will always need a box – like our beautiful and rolling wooden train (Melissa and Doug). I love that train, but that space-hog is far better in a stackable box than occupying 6 puzzle spaces on my shelf. And with the addition of the dowel-rod method my shelves went from this:

(Large open space on top shelf had “Please let these survive Abi’s toddlerhood” books that I decided to move to safer quarters.)

to this:

(No worries, Jes, the indoor snowball fight just moved to the game shelf since apparently it’s frowned upon to snow-bomb your preschooler during quiet homeschool work – who knew?!)

Yay for actually seeing what you have, spending a total of $13 on the project and getting to see that cute picture of baby Rachael from her first Easter that I haven’t seen on the mantle in over 6 months.

 Oh and for those of you wondering what’s the deal with the “Stop” and “Go” signs on the shelves. We have non-readers here, but I have placed these signs on the shelves to remind my non-readers of the things their “need for independent” selves can do without Mommy and those they need to come ask Mommy to do. Due to Abi’s oral explorations, small pieces are in the “Stop and come ask Mommy” section and require tabletop play. Added bonus? These signs are helpful for babysitters when we have to run out quickly and I forget to explain the school shelves.

Maybe these ideas could be helpful to you.
If not? Eh, thanks anyway for reading my organizational delights. =)

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Rebounding School

We were sick with a stomach virus – all of us except Rachael, so homeschool was put on hold while I was *ahem* rotting into the couch. But today we picked back up from where we left off on Monday and, while we decided to have school in our Monkey jammies (slow start post sickness), we found ourselves back in the regular swing of homeschool excitement.

We are learning the concepts of “more”, “less”, “most”, “least”, “more than”, and “less than” in preparation for expanded math skills. To familiarize ourselves with the language and build on the math concepts, we used food dye in bowls this morning, pouring and comparing various amounts. At first we began comparing different colors and when the concepts were obviously sticking, then we started comparing alike colors to reinforce the concepts themselves and not just identifying difference based on color. Then we lined up four different amounts and compared them in a large group, ranking them from “most” down to “least” with comparing each size until we found the right places in line. It was quite fun work with two large measuring cups (the initial starting point of the water), a funnel (for my increased accuracy in pouring) and four bowls.

This joy about “the one with the most”
And “the one with the least” ensued. 

Then an obstacle course helped us practice two preschool skills of walking on a straight line

and walking backward with a “crawl through the tunnel” and “hurry down the slide” to keep things exciting.

Rachael enjoyed her “watch this Mommy” accomplishments with flailing arms for balance. =)

Today was a good step back into the ordinary.

Now back to my laundry while the girls enjoy some together play post school. And then, I guess, we’ll actually change out of pajamas…. maybe. 😉

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Normal Hum-drums.

A few fun pictures to share about our little world around here lately.

I’ve gotten a little creative in review techniques for homeschool.

Here Rachael, (who is not usually in her pajamas for homeschool, but we were having a lazy morning) is sorting capital and lower case letters into corresponding plates. I just used refrigerator magnets, Scrabble Jr. pieces, a few handwritten lower case letters, Word Whammer magnetic pieces, and Upwords (a stacking version of Scrabble) pieces. It did take her a handful of minutes to complete the task, but this allowed me time to spend some attention/love on Abi (after taking a picture or two, of course, so you all could witness this).

 Here Rachael’s using her Wax Paper Helper to distinguish b’s and d’s.

And we made Valentines day review cookies. If you look close you can see that I decorated with A, a, B, b, C, c, and D, d. Rachael and Abi are still enjoying eating their way through Rachael’s review. =)

 In other news, I attempted a pork stew (you can use any meat) to the success of the adult opinions in this household (since the sprouts have more picky moments when it comes to stews). My mom sent me the recipe and I had to get all of NOTHING from the store to make this. LOVE those kinds of practical recipes.

My mother’s recipe: [ “All you need is an oven pan with a lid (or oven okay bowl with foil on top). Cook meat (Chicken, cubed beef, turkey) in a fry pan to brown the outside, cut up potatoes, carrots, celery, onions. Put in oven pan. Add a couple of bay leaves, salt and pepper to your liking, a little steak sauce (A-1, Worcestershire, etc). Then add water about half way up the pot. Cover, bake at 350 degrees a few hours until the meat is done and the potatoes are fork tender. Longer for beef, shorter for chicken, turkey.”] 

I was running out of time before dinner so i cooked it on 375 for 1.5 hours. That worked quite as well, though I’m sure there would have been a thicker broth with the extra slow simmering time. 


Bravo Mom for the “pop it in the oven and forget about it” meal. 
Preparing at nap time is the way to go! 



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Homeschool Loves

Love how:

  • Scrabble Jr letters, Upwords letters, Boggle Jr. dice, and refrigerator magnets make their way into letter quizzes, letter identifications and sorting piles. 
  • Any day can be a school day.
  • Any day can be a break day.
  • Her ecstatic giggle of accomplishment fuels her, “let’s do one more.”
  • “Last one!!!” always comes with such joy and pride of her previous work. 
  • “I’m gonna show this one to Daddy,” is a priority.
  • Science experiments involve smashing old pumpkins into a zillion pieces in the driveway.
  • Little sister is included in the “run and find” identification games.
  • “Will it float” education is added to bath time. (Two-for-one score!!!)
  • Rachael gives her little sister a hug and thanks her for allowing special time with mommy for learning. 
  • Preschool is just a part of our lives, identifying letters, shapes, colors, numbers and animals on the walls as we walk by during the day. 
  • Abi randomly repeats Rachael’s lessons while playing nearby.
  • Grabbing a nearby cat is included in animal anatomy and body-part identification. (They like the appreciation cat treat counting post-lesson).
  • She can’t wait to tell Daddy and show Daddy what she learned over lunch.
  • Nature walks are scheduled regularly. 
  • School is just normal, structured and yet flexible and gentle – catered to her pace, my pace, and Abi’s patience pace for the day.
  • She is soaking up so much and loving almost every moment of it (let’s be real, some things are a challenge until accomplished). 
  • Abi can count to ten as a byproduct of listening in. (Though I’m quite sure she’s just repeating it in progression at this point). 

Lovin’ me some family learning.
Lovin’ me some special bonding time and sharing in discovery.
Lovin’ me some homeschool.

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Wax Paper Helper

I got this great idea in the shower (any one else do that?). In an effort to go through the alphabet with Rachael and introduce her to capital and lowercase letters, I have come to the dreaded b vs. d roadblock. So in anticipation of this potential confusion, this idea popped into my head amid the steam and bubbles:

I grabbed a vellum sheet from our old wedding invitation stash (pathetic, right), but wax paper would do the trick as well. On it I wrote Dd and Bb on opposite sides. Then I used two symbols, a heart under the Bb side and a smiley face under the Dd side.

This see-through item can then be put onto any paper and is used as an aid to distinguish d and b. If the “bump” points to the smiley, it’s a Dd. If the “bump” points to the heart, it’s a Bb. Any symbol could be used, and as the child gets used to the concept of left/right (which I have used in representation of the symbols since Rachael has no concept of left/right yet) you slowly remove the wax paper helper from use.

I’m not sure if this would help anyone else or not, but I thought I’d share just in case it could.

Best wishes introducing/teaching the ever-confusing b and d. =)

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