Lesson Plans August 3-7

Week #1:

Memory Verse
" All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." Romans 3:23

Monday:
AM: Make an August calendar and put dates on it with Katie.
PM: (Recipe) Make Applesauce: need apples, sugar, cinnamon, and water.

Tuesday:
AM: Count on calendar
PM: (Art) Make Apple prints: need apples, paint, and paper

Wednesday:
AM: Color calendar making an AB pattern (hint: red,blue,red,blue...)
PM: (Bible) Lesson on Adam

Thursday:
AM: Calendar
Language: Guess-Me Poems & Puzzles A book
Initial Consonants Letter A book
"A" words

Friday:
AM: Calendar
Science: Field Trip-Aquarium
Look for Animals that start with the letter A



The books that are mentioned above are on my blog. You don't have to have the same books to follow along. There are so many resources out there. Use whatever you have to expose your little one to the letter A this week. I will incorporate the letter A as much as I can. There is so much you can do with this. My plans are basic and I want to start off easy. I will post pictures and updates throughout the week. This is basically my homeschool journal/scrapbook. Next year I can look back at this and be amazed! I hope you can see an element of fun in my plans. Learning should be fun....so have fun with it!!!!

Get ready, set, GO!

Ever since I found out I was pregant I have thought about what it would be like to start homeschooling my daughter. I feel like it has been a long time coming, but yet it is also sneaking up on me. I am thrilled, nervous, and cautious.

This past year my daughter Katie learned a lot. She was exposed to so much because she is two and curious. My goal for her learning when she was two was met in February of this year. I wanted her to learn the alphabet letters (the names of them, the sounds they make, and be able to identify them), numbers 1 to 30 (basically counting and identification), colors, and shapes. She has learned those concepts as a two year old.

2009-2010 Goals

By the end of the year I want Katie to learn:

• Pre-Reading: beginning sounds, vowel sounds, put letters together to make words, and basic sight words


• Basic math concepts: counting, patterns, shapes (3 dimensional), calendar, money, measurement, and simple addition


• Science: compare/contrast, animals and their habitats, how things grow, and seasons


• Bible: memory verse each week, key bible stories each week, and key bible characters

And yes, I am an over achiever! Even in my classroom I encouraged my students to shoot for the stars. If Katie learns all of that this year I will be a very proud momma. In the end the point of this is to have a goal for your child. I do have even more goals, but these are behavioral, developmental, and physical. For example: I want Katie to learn how to cut a straight line with scissors.

As a mom, I want my child to grow and learn everything she can and I don't want to overwhelm her. I remember a few months back I gave her some shapes that had dotted lines. I showed her how to trace them and she could not do it. After a few tries we stopped. Then 2 months later I showed it to her again. Now she likes to trace letters and is fairly good at it. You know your child the best. Make goals that suit you and your child best. AND...celebrate all the successes along the way!!!

I'm in Heaven!

My Happy Girl!

I know that God made me to be a teacher! Whenever I open up a teaching resource I get so excited. I am not sure if other teachers or homeschool moms feel that way, but I sure get pumped. Today, in an attempt to get an organized look at all of my teaching resources, I started to feel that excitement in the pit of my stomach. The problem remains that I have too many options. This has always been hard for me. Hopefully by posting my lessons and plans here will help me to be disciplined and focused. Although, I can't promise that I won't let those teachable moments carry me away!

The preschool routine that I establish will be for 3-4 year olds. I may however, occasionally post how to use the lessons with older children. Chances are you have older kids or may want to know how the activities could be taken to the next level.

I will most likely be posting my lessons a week ahead, but I will post the first week's lessons sooner because I will be on vacation the week before.

I found a website that has ABC list of memory verses. I am going to try and do the "A" verse with Katie everyday the first week. I will continue with the "B" verse the following week. If your child can learn the words to a song they can learn a memory verse. It may be a few weeks until they really get the hang of it depending on their age, but it is never too early to plant the word of God in your child's heart! If you want to print the list out for yourself the website is http://www.smilegodlovesyou.org/

Many of the resources I will be using are posted on the sides of this blog. Be sure to look through them. I will reference them a lot. I even found some of them on Amazon. You go directly to them using the Amazon widget on my page.

Check back Friday and I should have the lesson plans posted for Aug. 3-7.

The Mystery of the White Crayon....

Life should be crazy fun!

This really shouldn't be a mystery to me, but why does my 2 year old insist on coloring with a white crayon on white paper? I have shown her and explained to her so many times that white won't show up on white paper. I wonder if she is writing a secret message. Katie has a mind of her own and I am glad. She often pushes past the normal use of things and finds a whole new way to play with whatever I give her. Like the other day I dropped my hairbrush and it broke in half (strange I know). My husband threw the bristle part away and the handle was left somewhere in the house. Last night Katie found it and made it a microphone. She stood in the living room this morning singing with her microphone....a broken brush handle. Oh well, I think she has a creative gene in there. Maybe from her momma!


Your child's imagination is the center of learning in my opinion. Think about a good fiction book. The book is good because the author puts his or her imagination to work and uses words that build a picture in your mind. My students that had playful imaginations were amazing writers.


Now is the time to start building your child's imagination. If they want to make a microphone out of a broken hairbrush enjoy the music! The early years are not so much about the academics of pencils and paper or drill and kill exercises as much as the freedom to explore and discover new things.

Have fun learning!