Z is for Zebra - Part 1 - 8/9/11

Well, I figured out this morning that I can get all my preschool done easily by 10:00 in the morning. We did a lot of work today and that's when we were done. That will make it possible to get on with school with the other kids once their real school year starts. Now, the problem will be keeping them busy and entertained during the the big kids school time. The workboxes will be one way. I don't like the idea of them going into the back room to play because they end up getting into to trouble when there is no one back there. Flossie is always getting into Scout's makeup when no one is looking! Maybe I can use computer time too.  Hmm . . .

Anyway, today, we got a lot accomplished in the morning. I had out color sorting fruits, clothes pin numbers, a water pouring station, wooden number tiles with foam numbers (number mamas and babies according to Flossie), wood blocks, and dry-erase letter practice.   I am still having a hard time convincing Freddie that these activities really are a part of school. He keeps asking when are we going to do school? And I keep telling him he is doing school! He thinks only worksheets are school. I 'll just have to keep explaining to him what he is learning by doing each activity I  guess. Not sure if that will convince him or not!

For our "school" today we started Letter Z.  Lots of our work was Z is for Zebra stuff from Raising Rock Stars and Confessions of a Homeschooler.

So, that was it for preschool today. Everything went smooth and easy. The kids were excited to be starting a new letter.

Jem is finding himself bored already :).  That's a good thing. He'll be eager to start school again in a couple of weeks!He and Scout had to clean their room today. It was back to wall to wall mess. I have to say they did a pretty good job this time, except for the huge pile of laundry which I KNOW is not all dirty clothes. They'll be going through that tomorrow!

Montessori Day - 8/8/11

I recently purchased an ebook called Montessori at Home by John Bowman to get some fresh ideas for preschool. I love the Montessori method and have a couple of books about it, but wanted a refresher. I am glad I got the ebook, because it had a lot of great links, ideas, pictures, things to copy, and just resources in general. So, inspired by all of that, we had a Montessori day today!
Here are some of the activities we did:

Placed the sticks in the tray in number order from 1 to 9.

Scooped and poured and measured lentils.

Counted pebbles.

 

Punched out triangles with a pin to work on pincher grasp.

Transferred colored water to an ice tray, also to work on strengthening the pincer grasp.

Worked on cutting with scissors.

Built with wood blocks.

Made patterns with frogs and logs.

Practiced pouring back and forth.

Did more finger exercising by hanging up "laundry" with clothespins.

 

 

 

 

Cut up their own fruit for snack.

And finally, did some number work at the table.

We also took and picked up Bella to and from work and picked up our pottery from the pottery store. And that was all before lunch time! The kids spent the afternoon playing Tag, and "Family,"  and occasional video games.  And I got caught up on this blog!

Fun Week Pt 1 - 8/1/11 to 8/5/11

Last week was Dill's last week before school started again so we decided to have a fun week. All of his summer school was done! He finished reading The Boxcar Children, finished his summer packet from school (phew!), worked on his times tables every day, did some writing and editing sentences every day, and learned about 7 or 8 states and capitols.
Jem finished his school too! He finished his math book, all his phonics books and his language arts program, did daily drawing and sentence writing throughout the summer, and learned the shapes and names of 12 states. And both boys listened to me read Mr. Poppers Penguins.

After all that hard work it was time for some fun!
On Monday we went bowling!

On Tuesday, we painted pottery at As You Wish. Dill stayed home. Guess he thought he was too cool to paint pottery. WHATEVER Dill!! :)  We had fun, and ate frozen yogurt afterwards.

 

 

 

 

 

On Wednesday the preschoolers stayed home and I took the boys to the rec center swimming pool where they also have a climbing wall. This was great because to climb the rock wall it was only $3. They had wanted to do indoor rock climbing but it is $15 to $20 at the actual place, so YAY!

On Thursday we went to we Mr. Popper's Penguins! Cute movie. We liked it. But it had almost nothing to do with the book other than the title and then penguins! I don't get why they do that. The story in the book was cute as is. Why re-write the entire thing? Weird. Anyway, the movie was good too and we enjoyed it. We were on a major budget, and smuggling in all our popcorn, candy, and water worked fine as usual.  :)  After the movie we went to take Dylan to her doctor. We ended up being a half hour early, so we went over to the mall to play in their indoor play area while we waited for her to be done.

On Friday we did our last summer movie, Alpha and Omega, and then went to Grammy and Papa's house for lunch and swimming. I have no pics of that day for some reason. I guess we were too busy having fun!

You'll notice Scout was missing from all of these pics. She was in her last week of theater camp. So that's why this post is called Fun Week Part 1.  I promised her a Fun Week  before we start back into our school year too. It will have to wait a week probably until my funds recover! So maybe next week we'll have Fun week part 2. Until then, it will be relaxed preschool week for us.