Our Preschool Program- Part 2

In the last post I pointed out how we got to where we are in our preschool curriculum, you can read that post here.  This time I am going to share a little about how I do the planning for Noah's preschool.

First here is the list of what we have done/ will be doing this year:

October 1-5:  The Very Hungry Caterpillar

October 8-12:  Fall

October 15-19:  Pumpkins

October 22-26:  More Fall and Pumpkin activities

October 29- November 2:  Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do You See

November 5-9:  Turkeys

November 12-16:  Thanksgiving

November 19-23:  We were on Thanksgiving Break

November 26-30:  The Lorax

December 3-7:  Gingerbread Boy

December 10-14:  Polar Express

December 17-21:  Christmas/ Advent/ Nativity

Then we will be on break until after the first of the year.  I have yet to plan for the winter/spring.  

Now I will explain a little bit about how I plan.  First I start by looking at my calendar, and writing out the weeks that we will be in school.  Then I decide if I want to include holidays/ seasons.  Once I have figured out the dates and what holidays there are, then I search for some packs that look fun or that I think will interest Noah.  Once I have found the ones that I want I will download and save them to my computer, so when it is time to use them, all I have to do is print them off and we are ready to go!  For some of the activities I will go ahead and laminate them, so I can use them again when Zach get to preschool age.  

When it comes time to use the pack, I will print out a lesson plan sheet and fill it in.  Here is the one that I use from 1+1+1=1.   I use each row as a workbox, that way I know what goes in which box.  Right now we are just using about 6 boxes a day.  I am lucky if I can get him to finish those!  Every night I will just go and refill his workboxes with the next days work and we are all set to go.  

When I first began printing all of the packets I really had no idea where or how I was going to store all of them.  So, once again, I went to 1+1+1=1 and found out how she does it!  Its really a genius solution, and I am surprised I never thought of it!  You can read all about how she organizes her things here.   

Here is how my storage system looks.  I love it!!  When ever I am ready for a unit I just grab the plastic folder and everything is ready to do.  I keep the lesson plan form in there as well.  

Here is a workbox.  There are numbers on them and when he completes the box he places his number on a card and moves on to his next box.

Our Preschool Program- Part 1

At the beginning of the year I had high hopes for our little preschool program.  After all, that is where my college degree lies, in early childhood education.  With lots of research and thought I ordered a preschool program that I thought would be perfect for us.  Well after suffering through trying to plan it and figure out how it all would flow together, I finally figured out how to fit it to our schedule.  I tried it for a week, and guess what, huge fail!!  It just was too involved for our needs.  I needed a quick program that would allow me to spend about 30 to 45 minutes a day working with Noah.  This program was like an all morning affair!  It was all inclusive, meaning it had Bible, science, math, reading, writing, ect.  I just did not have that kind of time to sit with just him and work, not to mention it was not interesting to him.  So I went back to the drawing board and thought I would just use some of the workbooks I had bought for him, well unlike his older brother, he HATES workbooks!!  Using workbooks lasted about 2 weeks before I gave up!

I had been seeing these preschool packs all over the internet, they are themed around a story or some characters.  So the very first one I used was The Very Hungry Caterpillar.  Noah LOVED it!!  They had some work pages that he did without complaining, because they were fun!  So since the middle of September we have been using the preschool packs as our curriculum.   There are so many ideas and so many ways to use them I feel that they have given us the freedom to pick and choose what works for him and what interests him.

Noah has very limited fine motor skills, he struggles to hold a pencil, use scissors, and things like that.  On the other hand he is crazy about Legos and has no trouble maneuvering those little pieces, go figure!  Imagine my surprise at his reaction to one of the activities in the packet, Write the Room!  This is one of his favorite and I have even made my own to go with packets that didn't have them because he loves it so much!  I am so happy to see him enjoying writing, and he is so cute walking around the room with his little clipboard and paper!

Here are my favorite places to find the Preschool Packs:

1+1+1=1
Homeschool Creations
2 Teaching Mommies
Mammas Learning Corner

Blessings

This year has been a very trying year for our family.  Starting this journey of homeschooling, my hubby is in search of a new job, and then being strapped financially to say the least, it has pushed us beyond what we thought we could handle.  And then in the midst of what feels like total despair, God blesses us through a gift!  This gift was given to us without this person knowing what we were asking for or what had been going on in our lives.  This is truly a blessing from the Lord, it was God reminding us that in our time of despair he is still in control.  God will always take care of his children!  

This blessing came in the form of curriculum!  I know to some that may not seem like a big deal, and to others I know they are feeling the same way I do, that curriculum given is a HUGE blessing!  We had been wanting to use My Fathers World, next year but the cost was going to be a stretch for us.  So we had just been praying that God would provide and since I know He has called us to homeschool, I had no doubt that the funds would be there.  THEN out of the blue, I get a phone call from a friend, that I don't talk to often and I know she doesn't know our financial situation.  She had a TON of homeschooling materials to get rid of.  A bigger blessing is that she just wanted it out of her house so she was just giving it!   They just "happen" to be what we would need for next year!  She had first and third grade My Fathers World, Singapore math, and lots of extra workbooks and such.  Elijah will be using the third grade next year, and then Noah will just be Kindergarten but the first grade material will be used the following year!  God is so good, ALL the time!!!  This gift will cut our homeschooling cost by more than half of what we were expecting!  I also need to add that this all came at a time when my hubby's car was broken and he was in the midst of trying to repair it, you also must know that my hubby is NOT a car person.  God blessed us there as well, because through You Tube and a friend on the phone he was able to get his car fixed and running, with out the huge cost paying someone to do it!    

As I am constantly thinking about this blessing in our lives I am in awe of God's timing and how I so much needed some encouragement.  If you have ever walked through a desert in life you know exactly what I am talking about!  These verses have been on my heart:

Ephesians 3:20-21

Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever.  Amen.