A is for Apple

Last year I purchased a home school program, Hands on Homeschooling, because I didn’t know where to start.  I used the program, but I honestly was not a huge fan.  I felt like the curriculum was pretty “jumpy” and my brain works better with consistency and having a common theme.  There was also a lot of focus on religion and bible stories and, to be honest, I struggled with this part in particular.  I couldn’t figure out how to relate many of the stories to the children in a manner they would understand.  They also never seemed focused when it came to that part of the lesson, so I eventually just eliminated that as part of the program and I substituted in my own activities.  This year, I decided to develop my own program and it has been great so far.  I don’t know if it is the advancement in their age and learning abilities, but they are loving it and I am enjoying watching all of their new skills.  

I have done some research to find out what they should be learning around this age and what skills they will need to have before they enter school.  I used this information to make some learning objectives for us (Disclaimer: I am not in education and this list is not all inclusive, this is just what I feel is important for them to learn based on the information I found.)  We are going to be working on tracing and writing letters with the overall goal of writing our name.  We will be learning about sequences and making patters.  We will learn about the difference in uppercase and lowercase letters and the sounds the letters make.  I also plan to help them learn the meanings of words such as beside, behind, in front, etc.  They are pretty good with their colors and shapes, but we will be reviewing those along the way as well.  

Each month I have an overall theme and then I do weekly breakdowns based on a letter (until I run out of letters!)  Last year we did a lot of focus on colors and shapes, so while those are incorporated this year I don’t necessarily focus on them.  Once I have decided on the theme I start exploring the internet (Pinterest anyone?) for pictures/ideas/crafts.  I try and find activities that focus on a few subjects in particular (math, science, phonics, music) and then just some general crafts or fun activities.  I start making lists – I am a huge fan of making lists and crossing things off so this is what works for me – and grouping the activities I find by their subject (ie math, science).  Generally, I try and do one Science activity a week, one math, lots of letter worksheets, music, and as many crafts and reading as they want.  Reading with them is very important and they love to read so we fit a lot of that into the schedule.  I typically go to the library early in the month and find as many books as I can that fit the theme.  I do try and plan it out specifically day by day, but our days don’t always work out as planned so I am flexible.  

Here is a general outline for the week:

Monday: Letter worksheet, craft based on the letter, reading

Tuesday: Reading, Music activity, craft  

Wednesday: Letter worksheet, reading, science activity

Thursday: Reading, math activity

Friday: Letter workbook, reading, sorting activity/outing

Keep in mind that I am working with two very active three year olds so I don’t plan for very long activities.  (As a general rule, the attention span of a three year old is 3 minutes!) We try and do our school specific activities in the morning, but I work education into their entire day – shhhh, don’t tell them. :)

So for September, I chose a farming theme –

Week 1: Letter A as in apple, hay

Letter Based Craft: We made a torn paper apple craft.  I pulled the outline of an apple from the internet and had them tear red paper and glue the shreds to the apple with a glue stick – they love anything involving glue. 

Reading/Phonics: We did several different letter A worksheets.  I found the workbooks at Target and at Dollar Tree and just removed the Letter A pages.  This year I am focusing more on the sound the letter makes and them being able to write the letter, so we trace the letters together and then they practice.  They also really enjoy watching Leapfrog Phonics Farm (Netflix) as a way to help them learn the different sounds of each letter. 

Math: We read the book 10 Apples up on Top by Dr. Seuss and they took turns stacking red and green Duplos on each others heads to make towers of 10, counting along with the book.  

Outing: We visited an apple orchard and picked our apples and talked about the apples and the various animals they had on the farm as well. 

Science: They really enjoyed the apple volcano – an idea I found on Pinterest.  You just hollow out a small piece of the top of the apple and fill it with some baking soda.  The kids took turns pouring the vinegar over the baking soda and watching it bubble out of the apple.  You can pour the vinegar over the apple several times before it “fizzles” out.  

Music: We sang “Old McDonald had a Farm” many times throughout the week and played with our Little People farm.  I also caught them to be singing on their own and pretending to be various animals throughout the week. 

So that is my basic process.  I get a lot of my supplies in the dollar section at Target or at Dollar Tree.  I have some plastic drawer containers in the closet where I keep everything organized and labeled because that is just the way I am- ha ha!  I would have to write a whole other post about the supplies I keep on hand – maybe next time!