Fall 2011 Curriculum Clean Out

Be sure to check out Homeschool Creations Curriculum Clean out!!!

Changes

We took some time off because Ducky and Monkey Man were extremely sick for a while and things got pretty hectic. During our time off I had lots of time to reflect on my schooling approach and I've decided to change things up a bit. We are going to start using lapbooks and unit studies ( at a really low level to fit Ducky's needs) I will also be teaching Ducky with the assistance of the Before Five in a Row curriculum. I think Ducky is really going to enjoy the changes and I sure am enjoying the planning stage. I have to pace myself though and remind myself that Ducky is 2.5 years old!

Life Skills - Cooking

Ducky has been showing interest in helping Mommy and Daddy with everyday tasks like cooking and cleaning. I figured that making pizzas with her would be a perfect way to work on following directions. Ducky did a great job and really enjoyed cooking with Mommy. I am going to try once a week to make something with her.

Scooping the sauce and spreading it around

Spreading the cheese around

"Make a happy face, Daddy"

Ducky's version of the happy face

(Notice the bite that she took out of the crust! )

The best part, eating!

Letter of the week - F

We had a good week learning about the letter F. It was a very easy and laid back week for us. Ducky still amazes me at how much she is soaking in each week.

Some of the books we read this week:

Some pictures I took to showcase our week:

Ducky enjoying her letter F dot painting.

Looking for F's in the dry beans

I garage saled this neat magnetic farm book for $0.25!! This book was perfect for letter F week and entertained Ducky for a long time (which rarely happens )

Giveaway winner!

Congratulations to Ashley.

You are the lucky winner of the Melissa and Doug products!

You will really enjoy the products. I received mine and my daughter has had a blast playing with them. The quality of the sand toys by far exceeds my expectations. They are very colorful as well. I know your children will love the products as much as mine did. Enjoy!

Letter of the week - E

I am really enjoying incorporating the letter of the week into our daily lives. On Monday we learned that E was for Egg. So what else would I make for breakfast other than scrambled eggs? Dad enjoyed showing ducky all the different parts of an egg and letting her whisk them around.

We also talked about ears starting with the letter E. We talked about how God wants us to listen to ( and obey) Mommy and Daddy.

And one of my favorite days was when we took a trip to the zoo. There was a new baby elephant born recently. Since we were learning that E is for elephant (and I really wanted to see the baby) we made an impromptu visit to the zoo.

Some of the books we read this week:

Some pictures I took to showcase our week:

Baby Lucas ( The Elephant )

I picked up a box of a bunch of magnetic letters at a garage sale for a $1 to add to the 2 sets we already had. I hid all the letter E's in a bin of mixed dried beans that I had lying around, and Ducky used her hands to go searching for the letters. At first she was scared and didn't want to put her hands in but after attempting the activity she ended up loving it and asked me to hide them again.

I really liked this and I think we will use this idea again for future letters.

Ducky requested that we paint this week. So this week we painted.

Some of the books we read this week were:

The newest ASL words that Ducky learned:

Elephant

Ear

Egg

Letter of the Week - D

I apologize for the lack of pictures but my camera got left in the car all week and my husband had the car. We had a fun week. Ducky learned that D was for, what else but, Ducks! She also learned that D was for Dog as well as Dinosaurs.

Below are some of the books that we read:

Ducky's sign language skills are improving. I am truly amazed.

Here is a list of all the words she's learned since starting the letter of week theme:

Apple

Alligator

Airplane

Ball

Bumblebee

Bear

Cat

Cow

Car

Dog

Duck

Dinosaur

She previously learned:

Please

Milk

Drink

More

Eat

Listen

Melissa and Doug - Giveaway!!!

The Melissa and Doug Company is offering a giveaway for YOU, the readers!

Up for grabs are some of their awesome Sand Play toys (pictured below ) I personally love their

Seaside Sidekicks Sand Cupcake Set

To enter:

1. Like Melissa and Doug on Facebook, and comment their facebook wall telling them "Train up a child" sent you.

2. Be a follower of my blog and post a comment here to tell me you've done so.

That's it!!! How easy is that?!? Good luck everyone!

* Contest ends June 30th

Letter of the week - C

I can't get over how far she's come in just 3 weeks. Ducky amazes me on a daily basis. She's super smart but extremely hyper. We're working on her behavior and listening skills daily in addition to her school work. This week's letter C theme was lots of fun. Here are some highlights from our week:

She loved reading this book with her daddy. She loves cars.

Ducky attempted to lace a letter C.

I had her matching cows with the car of the same color. We talked about colors and counting.

Handwriting time. I was impressed with her, with it being a new activity and all.

As always, Dot painting was a hit! She was yelling "there it is!" everytime she found a letter C.

She learned 3 new ASL words this week:

Cat

Car

Cow

Letter of the week - B

The letter of the week was B. Here are some of the highlights from our week:

Monday we did general letter B things. Then Tuesday - Thursday we did theme days ( Bear, Ball, Bumblebee) with a wrap up on Friday.

We read Buzzy the bumblebee.

(Super cute book!!)

We also read Bee & Me

One of our crafts was to make a bumble bee.... here is it almost finished. Just needs the antenna!

I cut B's and things that start with B out of magazines and had her glue them onto a B template. I put the glue around the B and she stuck the item on. She had fun talking about what was in the picture and saying the words like "B .. B... Banana."

Ducky learned 3 new ASL words this week.

Bumblebee

Bear

Ball

Her favorite part of the whole week was dot painting. She LOVES her dot painting. I guess next week we will have to do a lot more of it.

Letter of the week - A

Our first week of Tot School was a complete success. We started with the letter A! Ducky learned all week about the different words that start with the letter A.

Here are some highlights from our week:

On day one she learned A is for Apple.

She colored pictures of apples

She learned the ASL sign for Apple

Her snack was apple slices with peanut-butter

We read the book 10 Apples Up On Top

Day two she learned that A is for airplane

Ducky practiced counting her airplanes and working on her colors as well.

She had a blast zooming around the house with her arms out pretending to be an airplane!

She learned the ASL sign for airplane

Her coloring pages were all themed around airplanes.

Ducky also leaned this week that A is for Alligator

She made an alligator out of the letter A

She learned the ASL sign for Alligator

She colored an alligator

We read The Lady with the Alligator Purse

We also read Alligator Baby

I am extremely proud of my little ducky.

What an "A"mazing start of our homeschool journey.

Now onto letter B...

Day 1

Everyone has to start somewhere so today we started our 28 month old daughter "Ducky" in Tot School. This is a new and unfamiliar journey that we are taking but we are letting God direct our paths.

For the next 26 weeks we will be doing a letter of the week theme, starting with A and ending with Z. We'll read books, sing songs, make crafts and color pictures all pertaining to the letter of the week. Wish me luck...