Today was Day #1 of preschool for Gabriel and Dominic. We kept it simple with a few sheets out of their workbooks. They had a fun time. Gabriel worked on colors, while Dominic covered a color, numbers 1-20, and the letter A.

Gabriel working on the color blue (although he already knows most of his colors)


Dominic working on numbers

Day 2

Today was the second day of reading a book to the boys.

Today's selection:

Book Reading for Today

Today was Day 1 in reading a book a day to the boys.

Here was today's selection:

Practicing Numbers

Who knew broken water heaters could be so educational? We had ours replaced this weekend (ouch on pocket book!!) but for the last, oh, month or more we have had to manually light it when it came shower or dishwasher time. Of course I turned this into an educational lesson for my 3 year old, who is working on counting (and becoming quite good at it!).

*Press pilot button down*
*count with child to 20*
*count times the pilot lighter is pressed*
*count how many tries we made before the dang thing actually lights*

Now he wants me to light the new water heater and doesn't understand that this one works the way it's supposed to.

Formulating a Curriculum

Here are the ideas I have come up with so far for Gabriel's preschooling experience:

A workbook called "Everything for Early Learning" (has all kinds of math readiness, reading readiness, etc activities that are fun)....also looking into other workbooks.

Themed coloring sheets for each week (bugs one week, cars another week, etc)

Trips to the zoo (frequent...we are members)

Baking activities (to learn measuring, mixing, pouring, etc)

Crafts (need easy ideas because I am not a "craftsy" kind of person)

Lots and lots of outdoor free play (weather permitting) to develop physical prowess.

I'm particularly looking for things we can do that are fun play for them but I can incorporate learning into easily.

Why parents love homeschooling

Creating a Plan & Homeschool Organizations

I'm still working on my summer curriculum for the boys. I'm hoping to get Michael caught up, if not a little ahead. I want him to start school in the fall with confidence. I have already told them we're going to do the library's summer reading program, and they are excited about that. I'm going to have Michael read his books out loud to me to help with his reading and comprehension.

I found these books at Mardel's...might order them next paycheck:

And I found wipe on/wipe off books that can be used multiple times by multiple children...namely Gabriel and Dominic...




I joined a homeschooling group yesterday and so far everyone seems friendly. They have weekly meetings and I am going to try to make it to tomorrow's...if I have a vehicle. Hubby's car has basically gone kaput. The group has moms and kids of all ages and backgrounds.

Preschool Workbook

I picked up a workbook today at Wal Mart, by American Education Publishing called "Everything for early learning Preschool." It covers reading readiness, math readiness, sizes and shapes, numbers, letters and sounds. It also includes reward stickers. I figure I will give that a try this summer and who knows, maybe Blondie will even be ready for kindergarten in the fall. He has a LOT of catching up to do even now, as he doesn't know numbers, letters, shapes, or very many colors. His mother did not enroll him anywhere and I want him to still get an education.

I am hoping doing something like this through the summer will help me get a better feel for homeschooling and for Blondie's needs. I'm sure it is a whole different ballgame from being homeschooled to doing the homeschooling.

Introduction

I suppose every good blog has an introduction, correct?

I am Schoolmaster. I am a loving wife to Principal. I am a dedicated housewife/homemaker. I have 3 wonderful stepsons: Pacman (9), M&M (7), and Blondie (4). I have 2 wonderful sons: Lil G (3), Little Peanut (1). Little Bean will be making her entrance into the world on or before (most likely before) August 22 of this year.

Needless to say, we have quite the household....add to it our furbaby Pete (dog). We rescued him October 2007.

This blog is to record our journey into the massive world of homeschooling. I was homeschooled for most of my school career and thought I was going to end up with all the boys in public school until one day my husband said those magic words: "We should look into homeschooling the boys."

Now I have turned into this research freak looking at websites upon websites, talking to my sister (who plans on homeschooling) and my mother (the woman who survived homeschooling three children).

This, ladies and gents, is the start of the journey of the Better Academy of Learning.