We are starting preschool this week—officially!  I’m so excited and totally over-prepared!  I’ve planned out our lessons by the week, bought the supplies, cut out the art projects, placed the projects for each week into their own Ziploc bag, checked out our books from the library.  We’re ready!!!!  Here’s our plan:

Each week we’re going to do some reading lessons from Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons.  Jaylyn has been wanting to learn to read and she’s always complaining that she can’t read.  She knows all her letters and the basic phonics sounds for each letter.  Sooo, we’re going to take it really slow and just see how things work. 

Each week, we’ll also read several Bible stories.  For the fall semester, we’re going to be reading through the Old Testament in her new Preschool Bible.  By Christmas we’ll be at the story of Christ’s birth.  Then in the spring we’ll be going through the gospels—at  Easter time we should be at the Easter story!!!  We’ll also be learning a couple Bible verses each week. 

Then for Jaylyn’s favorite part—projects!!!  We’ll try to do a couple projects that will relate to our Bible stories for that week.  We’ll also so some projects that will relate to our monthly theme.  Projects are defined as anything messy painty, gluey, sticky, foldy, colory, crafty, etc.  Bring on the smocks and easel. 

For science and math we’ll review shapes, numbers, play with sensory tubs full of sand, birdseed, rice, and do other messy exploration projects……………..

We’ll also have lots of pretend play---turning the living room into a tent house, a castle, a beach, a boat, and cooking in the play kitchen. 

We’ll also take field trips to the zoo, aquarium, omniplex, children’s museum, parks, pools, art museums………………

So, in reality it’s not too different from what we already do—it’s just a little more planned and organized.  But it’s official!  We’re homeschoolers.  Preschool here we come!

Here is the story of the Good Samaritan as told by Jaylyn during lunchtime. 

"Who were the people that took the clothes away?"

The Robbers

"Ohh, robbers took his clothes away.  What else did they take?"

Food

"The robbers took the man's food and clothes away.  They were NOT being nice...............Why weren't they being nice?"

I'm not sure................

"The other man didn't help him."

The temple priest didn't help him, you're right.

"But the man helped him.  What was he called?"

Samaritan

"The Samaritan helped the man.  The robbers took his clothes and food.  They hit him.  They fight.  They were NOT being nice.  The Samaritan picked him up just like this (cupping her hands).  He put him on his donkey."

You're right.  He took the man to a house so they could doctor him. 

"Why weren't the robbers being nice?  They fight and hit him."

I'm not sure...........they were just not being nice to the man.  They took his clothes and food.

"The Samaritan took him home to see the man's mommy.  She doctored his boo-boos.  She gave him band aids and more food.  The Samaritan was being nice.  The mommy told the robbers to be nice.  They obeyed."

I don't think that's quite how the story ended, but I really enjoyed her version of the story anyway. 

Here's an article advocating less deskwork in preschool and kindergarten. 

I've heard that children cannot learn to read (or should not be forced to learn) until after they can do activities that cross their body's midline (such as skipping).  They need both sides of the brain working together to be able to process words in order to read them. 

Play time is such an important aspect of learning!

Kindermusik is so fun!  Jaylyn and Jaxon have been attending a sibling class with me.  Jaylyn enjoys running around the room and, since our class is held in the train station, watching for trains to come by.  Jaxon just enjoys eating the little bells and shakers.  During the cleanup time, Jaylyn always takes Jaxon's instruments to the teacher yelling, "They're drooly!!!  Clean them!!"  And yes, the teacher does clean them after each class--I've seen her do it.  The theme for our summer class is "Under the Sea."  The teacher is great and each week she gives us a print out with fun activities for us to do at home.  This week, we made a whale with a lunch sack stuffed with newspaper.  He turned out pretty cute if I do say so myself.  Introducing Wally the Whale!!!

We've had so much fun with our jungle theme.  We have made several visits to the library and our favorite books are:

The Seals on the Bus by Hort--A funny take on the song The Wheels on the Bus.  It ends with skunks on the bus and all the people on the bus saying HELP HELP HELP!!  Jaylyn runs around the house screaming, 'There are skunks on the bus!  Help me!!!"  And Jaxon laughs hysterically every time. 

Cha-Cha Chimps by Durango--In this book the little chimps sneak out for a night of dancing and meet lots of animals doing all kinds of dancing.  Then........EEE EEE OOOHH OOOHH AH AH AH the chimps do the Cha Cha Cha.  Jaxon LOVES this book!

Chameleon's Colors by Tashiro--Chameleon is always being overlooked by the other animals because they never see him.  The other animals are envious of his ability to change colors, so chameleon offers to paint the animals. 

To continue our theme, Justin and I planned an animal safari for Jaylyn.  We gathered up all the stuffed animals and hid them throughout the house one night after Jaylyn was in bed.  Then I printed off a picture of each type animal that Jaylyn should look for during her safari.  When she woke up, I told her about her safari adventure.  She dressed in a hat and grabbed her binoculars.  I gave her the safari list and off she went to search the house.  After finding the animals, she rehid them (in all the same places....) and went and found them again.  The second safari was MUCH shorter than the first.  Ever since our little safari, Jaylyn has referred to herself as the "Animal Girl" and she pretends to find animals everywhere.  Then she changed her name to "Cinderella Animal Girl Baby."  Her names keep getting longer and more complicated.  It makes my brain hurt!!!

Our new little unit study has been all about jungle animals.  We've made several zoo visits and had so much fun seeing the animals.  I printed the names of several farm and jungle animals.  Jaylyn then categorized the animals and pasted them into the correct columns.  She even got most of them right on the first try!!!

We also painted with cotton balls.  They make fun sponges!!  I used clothespins to attach cotton balls and she painted away.  Very unmessy sponges!  (I'm not sure what this has to do with jungle animals, but it was fun).

Then we had an idea!  We cut out a giraffe shape and used a cottonball to sponge brown spots all over the giraffe.  Sooooooo, it did apply to our unit study after all!

Then we took a break to do a little "field work" and we fed our resident jungle animal.  He really enjoyed his lunch!!!

Kids say the strangest things................

We've been working on manners around here.  We try to encourage Jaylyn to say thank you by asking her, "What do you say?"  She always responds, "You're welcome." 

The other day Jaylyn handed me something as I was trying to get dressed and brush my teeth.  She very impatiently yelled, "We say THANK YOU Mom!"  Ok, so she has been listening to me. 

When Jaylyn overheard someone exclaim, "Oh my gosh!" she immediately corrected them, "We do NOT say 'oh my gosh', we say 'oh my goodness."  She's so grown-up when she says it too. 

Jaylyn has started refusing to answer us when we speak to her.  We've started telling her to answer us with words, or to speak, or to say yes or no.  Something!  At dinner she asked me a question.  My mouth was full, so I nodded to her.  "Speak Mommy!!!!!"  Sigh...........everything seems to backfire on me. 

The other day, I repeatedly asked Jaylyn to stop putting something in her mouth.  So, she just turned her back to me and put it in her mouth.  I swatted her and repeated myself.  She sassily replied, "I'll just go into my tent and put it in my mouth."  And she did...........swat #2 followed. 

Today she and Daddy took my car through the car wash.  She came home and took me to the garage to see my clean car.  "I went to the car wash Mommy!  Your car is all clean now!  The car wash was scary, but I only cried for a minute.  But it was ok." 

During naptime-"I don't want to take a nap.  I'm not tired."  Me explaining that she had to stay in her bed for a little while even if she read a book.  Over the monitor, "I have an idea!!!  How about we play first, then we take a nap!  That is your option!!!"  No..........naptime is your only option.  She's starting to sound like me already.  Scary.

After our morning devotion-"Where is Jerusalem?"  Before I can answer, "I don't have a song on my nose."  What???  "I don't have a song on my nose.  Do YOU have a song on YOUR nose?"  I don't think so...........  "I have a singing nose."  Hmmm, that's great, I guess. 

During bath time after going swimming-"I am scrubbing all the furniture off my face!!!"  What?  "I'm getting off all the icky furniture!"  Ohhh.........You mean chlorine!  "Yes, I'm washing off all the chlorine!"  She was way off on that one......

What do you do on a rainy day???  Build a huge tent, complete with a secret passageway into the castle.  Perfect for our princess!!!!

I taught Jaylyn a few circus songs this past week: 

Did You Ever See a Clown (Tune:  Did you ever see a Lassie?)

Did you ever see a clown, a clown, a clown?

Did you ever see a clown move this way and that?

Did you ever see a clown move this way and that?

Move this way and that way,

Move this way and that way,

Did you ever see a clown move this way and that?

(forward and backward, side-to-side, up and down)

Clown Song (Tune:  I'm a Little Teapot)

I'm a little clown short and fat

Here is my tummy, here is my hat

I can do a trick as you will see,

Just turn around and look at me.

Circus Song (Tune:  I've Been Working on the Railroad)

I am walking through the circus,

Happy as can be.

I am walking through the circus,

Just to see what I can see.

I can see the clown laughing.

I can see the elephant, too.

I can see the tiger sleeping.

Look out! 'Cause he sees you.

And here are the pics of the circus.  Jaylyn had the best time!  She loved the animals and still talks about the circus every day.  Her favorite parts were all the dancers in sparkly outfits and the man being shot out of the cannon (I thought it would scare her, but she loved it!).  She called the man Captain VonBoom (from a book) and still talks about him.  She was thrilled to see the elephants and loved the tightrope walkers and trapeze artists.  She sat through the whole thing totally captivated. 

It's tightrope Poppy!!!!

Jaylyn loves to play a game that we call "Who Am I?"  I give her clues about an animal or a food and she tries to guess what I am.  She has some really creative guesses, but they're usually not quite what I'm looking for..........

I am a big gray animal with a long truck and big floppy ears...............

"It's a dromedary!!!!"  Hmmm, no.  But I was awfully impressed she knew the word dromedary!

I am a big fruit.  I am dark green on the outside and bright red on the inside.  I have little black seeds and am very juicy. 

"It's a donkey!!!"  Way off on that one. 

So Jaylyn got tired of our little game, and decided to invent her own.  She was lying on her tummy on the floor right next to Jaxon.  "I'm playing catch the drool!" she announced.  Each time Jaxon would drool (which is often since he's teething) she would put her hand under his mouth to catch it.  Yuck!!!  What a gross game!  Creative but very gross.  At least it keeps the drool off the carpet..........

My husband got us tickets to the circus over a month ago.  We've been so excited about taking Jaylyn to see the circus.  So instead of following our regular unit study curriculum, we took a few weeks to do a circus-themed study.  (It almost killed me to be flexible and do something other than what I already had planned.  But since I'm still here and able to type, I did in fact survive and I think I can venture off and do my own thing in the future rather than just follow a set lesson plan.  Gasp!  I can't believe I just said that!)  

We made a big trip to the library for circus books and these were some of her favorites:

Harold's Circus by Crockett Johnson

Tightrope Poppy: The Highwire Pig by Sudipta Bardhan-Quallan

Song of the Circus by Lois Duncan

You See I Circus, I See......... by Mike Downs

Sidewalk Circus by Paul Fleischman

The Circus is Coming:  A Picture Parade by Hilary Knight

The Goose Who Went Off in a Huff by Paul Brett Johnson

The Circus Train by Jos. A. Smith

Encore for Eleanor by Bill Peet

If I Ran the Circus by Dr. Seuss

Miss Bindergarten Plans Circus with Kindergarten by Joseph Slate

We also made a cute clown with a small paper plate.  This clown has become a favorite around here and is Jaylyn's new little friend.  She talks to him and carries him around with her.  We might have to make another one with different hair.... 

My daughter and I have been attending Kindermusik classes for a while now.  We currently attend a sibling class so little Jaxon can join in the fun.  However, I think Jaylyn might need something a little more challenging.  She gets so bored in the classes and needs some new activities. 

I've heard so many people talking about the "Suzuki" method of violin or piano.  I know many homeschoolers have mentioned it, and I've seen it listed on many homeschool websites.  I've always wondered what it was!  I did some research and learned a little more about the method.  I think it might be the perfect thing for Jaylyn.  She loves music and is always playing pretend "intstruments" around the house. 

I was so excited when I found a Suzuki school for strings in our town.  I think it's exactly what I'm looking for!  I'm going to be interviewing the teachers in a few weeks and letting them meet Jaylyn.  I've narrowed down the teachers to 2 or 3 just after talking with them over the phone.  Three of them have children right around Jaylyn's age or have multiple 3-year-olds in their program.  I want them to be patient with a 3-year-old's microscopic attention span but also be creative and fun.  I'm hoping we can start in the fall or even next spring.  The program sounds pretty intense but also like a wonderful learning experience.  Here is an excerpt from the school's website:

The Suzuki Program

Our Suzuki Program is taught by Certified Instructors and is available for students aged 3 & up.  Private lessons, group classes, and instruction for parents of beginning students are included in the tuition. Suzuki Program students are eligible for 30, 45 or 60 minute lessons depending on their age and level. 

Parents of beginning Suzuki students, ages 6 and under will participate in a parent education program. Parents will need a full size instrument for the first semester of study.  The parent will attend the private lesson without the child for the first 4 weeks of study. During that time, the child will observe group classes.  After the 4 weeks, the child usually begins study. We will periodically offer a 6 week group parent class, as well.  If one is not available at the time of registration, it is expected that the parent attend the class the next time it is offered.

The Suzuki Method

The Suzuki Method is based on the premise that all children are born with great potential to learn. Dr. Suzuki believed that all children, if taught properly, can ultimately develop a high level of musical ability. The Suzuki Method is a style of learning based on imitation and repetition, much the same as in learning one's native language. Children learn through listening, games, and practice with the teacher and parent. Children can begin this method as early as age three. To establish a good foundation from the beginning, parents must learn to play the instrument, attend all lessons and classes, be a part of the home practice, and be responsible for daily listening to recordings of the pieces being learned.

In addition to private lessons, group lessons are an essential aspect of Suzuki instruction. They provide further instruction on repertoire, refinement of skills, and ensemble experience as well as motivation.

Each week my daughter would have a private lesson and then participate in a weekly group lesson with other children around her age and level.  I go to all the lessons to observe so I can help instruct Jaylyn at home.  And at this studio, I have to have my own violin and take lessons with Jaylyn.  I think this was the most exciting part.  I get to learn violin with her!!!  I KNOW I'm more excited than she is!  Although, I did ask Miss Contrary if she wanted to learn to play the violin and she enthusiastically replied, "YES!!"  (We're off to a great start).  She has NO idea what the violin is, or what I have in store for her, but I think she'll really enjoy it.  We're at least going to try.  Soooo, we'll see how everything goes.  I originally was a little skeptical about starting a 3-year-old on an instrument, but I've talked with numerous parents who have started their children at that age with great results. 

I'll love you forever, I'll like you for always, as long as I'm living, my baby you'll be. 

I can remember my parents reading that book to me over and over again. 

Here's a website that will read it to you (as well as many other books).  How fun!

And for classics and fairytales.....another site that will read stories to you. 

What can you do with a kiddie pool when it's still a little chilly outside?  You throw all kinds of things in it!  At least, that's what Jaylyn likes to do.  The only problem I have with that, some things aren't quite water-proof....

We did have a slight problem with our phone.  Suddenly, it started acting strange, ringing by itself, and turning itself on.  When my husband noticed, I simply told him the phone had a little accident involving water.  I didn't exactly tell him how or why (or whose fault it was--mine.  OOOPS!).  But after taking out the battery and letting the phone sit out to dry for a few days, it's back to normal.  Isn't technology great????

Soooooo...time for Plan B.  I gave Jaylyn a bucket and we searched the house for things that would not have "accidents" in water.  We found all kinds of fun things.  Then we headed outside.  In order to make our game educational, we played "Sink or Float"?  I asked Jaylyn if she thought the object would sink or float, right before she threw it into the pool.  She yelled out her answer (she was usually wrong, by the way) and then we watched our experiment.  Sometimes Jaylyn "helped" things sink by holding them to the bottom of the pool.  That's one way to ensure you'll get the right answer, I guess.  But Jaylyn had a great time and we've done our project several times since then.