Back-To-School, Back-To-School

(the title is to be sung like Adam Sandler in one of his movies...but I forget which one)

Next week Monday, is our first day of school. I tried some homeschooling last year, and I only got into the 8th lesson and realized it was a bit over the head of my 2 1/2 year-old and I learned that I wasn't very prepared. So this year, the "typical" year to start preschool, I will be starting my oldest in preschool at home. I'm using a few different resources that fit our home and time well.

Here are our resources for the year:

• Letter of the Week: Preparatory Curriculum (free online)
• Everybody Has a Body - Robert E. Rockwell, Robert A. Williams, Elizabeth A. Sherwood
• My Giant Sticker Coloring Book - Priddy Books (purchased at K-Mart)
• Preschool Everything for Learning - School Specialty Publishing, American Education Publishing (purchased at Wal-Mart)
  
• My ABC Bible Verses - Susan Hunt
• Slow and Steady, Get Me Ready - June R Oberlander
• Free Kid Craft Ideas (free online)

I'm using Letter of the Week as our main outline, but rearranged some of the weeks to fit better into our schedule. And I'm only using the worksheets that correlate with our lessons from My Giant Sticker Coloring Book and Preschool Everything for Learning. I won't do all of the lessons in the books as some of them are more advanced so I'll save them for later. And not all the lessons are in the books, so I'll create some "worksheets" of my own.

I also took a trip to the local bookstore to purchase some children's paperbacks to go with the Letter of the Week themes and letters. Some are really exciting because I read them when I was a girl: Miss Nelson is Missing, The Little Engine that Could, Bread and Jam for Frances. And I'm sure my boys will enjoy them as much as I did.

I'm also excited about my bloggy friend, Monica (at The Homespun Heart), starting a preschool quiet time series on The Fruits of the Spirit. I think that's a great way to start the year and will be our overlying theme for the year. Plus, a lot of the fruits are attributes my sons need to work on...and so do I. ;)

We will do our lessons in the morning after breakfast. Depending on the craft, we will spend a total of 30 minutes per day in "formal" learning. This is how our week will move:

Monday: Theme and Vocab
table time - poster and definition, worksheet, song/poem
activity/craft - gross motor activity correlating to the theme
reading time - theme book
BONUS Afternoon: Slow and Steady Activity

Tuesday: Shape/Color
table time - poster, make flashcard, worksheet
activity/craft - craft or snack, science activity from Everybody Has a Body
reading time - theme book
Afternoon BONUS - possible trip to library

Wednesday: Letter
table time - poster, color letter printout, worksheet
activity/craft - related to the letter, song
reading time - book related to the Letter of the Week

Thursday: Number
table time - poster, sticker book, worksheet
activity/craft - snack, activity related to number
reading time - letter book
Afternoon BONUS - possible outing related to theme

Friday: Memory Work and Review
table time - story and memory work (from My ABC Bible Verses), poster, review book
activity/craft - fine motor craft
reading time - theme and letter book

I also plan on reading chapter books (Chronicles of Narnia series, Little House on the Prairie series, Stewart Little, Mr. Popper's Pinguins and more) aloud in the afternoon while the boys play together. And I want to get more classical music into our home via the library. It will be fun venturing into new areas of the library as I teach at home. The library is such a great (free!!) resource!

Two notes:

1. Here's Monica's Intro to her Fruits of the Spirit Series and here's Month One: Love. Thanks, Monica for the free resources. You're such a blessing!!
2. I'm not planning on working on handwriting this year.
3. Our worksheets are mainly coloring pages with a title (shape, theme, etc). Some are a little more advanced and require circling matches. We'll just play it by ear and see how he does. ;)

What are you home schoolers planning for the fall?