BFIAR : Angus Lost

Nate and I have been using Before Five in a Row to "row" a book about every two weeks or so. I work only 15 or so minutes with him individually each day so making a book last 2 weeks or so is very easy!  Nate is also really into letters so sometimes he just likes doing activities with letters and not our BFIAR activities!

Right now it's just exposure and enjoying learning. He's also working a little about listening/following directions while we work together:)

We had soo much fun the last few weeks with Angus Lost by Marjorie Flack that I thought I'd share some of what we did! I'll share by topic/week... I'm very simple with pre-school... again making learning fun!

When we first read through Angus LOst we talked about getting lost and what the kids (because all the kids were gathered around Nate and I by the end of the book) should do if they got "lost" at a store or park. It's one of those conversations that parents need to have. The older kids and I have had the conversation many times but I don't remember being intentional with Nate about the getting lost and going with strangers! So a needed conversation!

During our first week of Angus Lost we also talked about D and dogs.  We read through Angus Lost each day and made all the animal sounds:) We played with "D" magnets. We tried to spell dog;)

I also collected some "D" items in a bag for a "game". Nate had to reach in the bag and pick up one to name. I put a wooden letter D, a plastic doughnut, play dishes, a toy dog and other random items. Nate's favorites were his dinosaur, two dimes and a dollar;)

We also talked about dogs. We looked a dog encyclopedia that had a TON of dog breeds. We read through a book about caring for dogs and then Nate made a chart to take care of Jack for the week.

We also had a few "dog" activities:)

Nate liked this pattern block "dog" template from here.

This super cute "Puppy Fun" was a favorite activity! Found here.

An amazing resource for us was a printable packet from Homeschool Creations made for Angus Lost. We used MANY things from the printables including the story sequencing, matching cards, maze, pre-writing activities, and this mini-reader! For the mini-reader, I copied it and glue the individual pieces to construction paper. Then laminated and made it into a flip book. The little Angus (and milk) pieces I laminated separated and had the back waxed so they would stay in place and Nate can do it over and over and over and over;) LOL!!

 

Another fun activity Nate liked... that I didn't get a picture of... was sorting  dogs with long legs and dogs with short legs;) Too funny! And we also used the pieces to match them with the correct breed in the dog encyclopedia.... Lydia helped us with that activity:) We printed the pieces from this Angus Lost packet!

Our second week included some snow days ... which are never too productive... and that's OK!! Perfect for a week to talk about caves and making one in the school room:)

Everyone had to climb through:) They made cave drawings and bats (and brought bears) to complete the cave;)

There are soo many cute kids dog books out there...  we included Harry the Dirty Dog and Flash the Dash during our weeks reading about Angus.

After visiting another town's library and found Angus and the Ducks by Flack as well:) That find got my brain going since Angus Lost's setting was winter and Angus and the Ducks is spring/summer .... we did a third week with Angus talking about SEASONS:) oh, yes! I just love how many things can be "studied" from just one book (or two).

We talked about a season a day using a couple of really cute season books from our library! So why not make a season book;)

Using season cards, we matched letters and "wrote" each season on the page!

We also borrowed a Season Box from our local ChildLinks office. From the box, Nate loved sorting the pieces into what season it matched. And then he surprised me one morning by tracing all the words on the 12 cards... I've got another writer;)

As you can see some weeks we get a lot done... other weeks our actual BFIAR-time is much less! There is no hurry, no rush, just us carving out a few minutes to spend with Nate doing "his" school when the others are starting their individual work:)

Nate is very content during school time playing with Legos, cars, puzzles and whatever else he finds to do. He is also starting to sit with us for Bible time (a work in progress). And when we're needing some quiet, Nate watches educational shows and DVDs. He is NEVER still or bored!

We started Caps for Sale today.... we'll see where it takes us this week (and probably the next week or so)!

BFIAR - Jesse Bear, What Will You Wear?

Nate and I were very excited to "row" another book... Jesse Bear, What Will you Wear? by Nancy Carlstrom.

Again, since it takes me a while to prepare his materials and find time to sit and work with him, we end up "rowing" for a couple of weeks instead of just one;) So this was definitely not planned and put together in one weekend or done in one week:)

We read through Jesse Bear at least 3 times each week;) Talking about all sorts of things as we read, like activities at different parts of the day, or Jesse Bear's daddy coming home from work, "ants in the pants", eating at the table, etc! It really is a sweet and fun book:)

We thought it was funny one day when Nate dressed a little like Jesse Bear:) And I don't know where it was the cooler weather or the influence of the book, but Nate did dress a couple of mornings... yippe, he's becoming more civilized!

There were some other books we read:
*Don't Get Wet, Jesse Bear
*Bears
*Good night, Bear (about hibernation)
*Numbears
*What Colors will Bear Wear? (cute board book with wooden pieces are used to "dress" the bear)

Finally the activities;)


Nate LOVES the little cards that I printed and laminated from Homeschool Creations:) He did soo much with that one set of matching cards;)

We matched and played Memory with them....

we found them in the story... and Nate couldn't resist putting "the rose between his toes".

He also liked the plate and food printable from Homeschool Share.

I printed off the pieces, laminated and then waxed the back so the pieces would stay in place. The plate was glued to a piece of construction paper to make it look pretty and to give it more stability.

Nate liked to make Jesse Bear's lunch plate as I read that part of the book. We talked about the veggies and fruits as well.

One week we bought celery for him to try. He's not a fan:/ Thankfully he has a big brother and a mother who like celery and our choice of nutbutters.

I realized I didn't take a picture of a tracing sheet from Homeschool CReations that Nate worked on a few times. It's teaching kids one-to-one correspondence as well as learning pencil control and pre-letter formation by tracing lines.

At fist he was very frustrated he couldn't get right.on.the.line... we have a perfectionist on our hands:/  It seemed though that he would choose that activity to work "alone" and he did a little better at least with his frustration:)

I also tried to introduce the letter B to our study. B for Bear:)

coloring a B

I love the printable ABC Find It from 1+1+1=1. Again we laminated and waxed so they lasted through the drool (yes, he is still drooling) and would stay in place:) He liked it... I look forward to finding more ways to use this colorful resource!

don't you the love the real bagel that made it into the picture;)

I printed off and laminated this B! He helped make the B out of Play-Doh...

and then it became a fun Play-Doh mat with some shape pieces...

or a place to line up counting bears!!

he got a little side-tracked with the bears and Duplos:)

From Homeschool Share, I found a cute ABC laundry printable. I copied onto colored computer paper and then laminated the set! I gathered up some clothes pins and taped some yarn to a corner of our wall.

Nate was a little young (or not ready) for the actual matching of the letters. So for him I wanted to help him pick out the B's. He also practiced some fine motor and problem solving skills by trying to pin the letters up onto the line;)

clipping all the blue ones to the line;)

the older kids clipped his name up for him

He also got to fit in some real-world play like Jesse Bear:)
In bubbles...

and sand;) Yep, it was definitely on his arms and hands.... not to mention between his toes, in his hair, ears and even underwear:/

Just like Snowy Day and the Truck book, Nate has started finishing the lines of this Jesse Bear book;) He really is loving the attention and the games. We keep it simple and try to use all that we have available over and over;) And its precious to see the older ones reading to him from the book box or playing a game of Memory with him;)

And again... so indebted to the other home schoolers who share their talents!!

Linking up to Tot School at 1+1+1=1.Linking up to the Ultimate Homeschool Link-Up, Homeschool Creations and Weekly Wrap Up @ WUH

Trucks, Trucks and More Trucks

After Nate had soo much fun with The Snowy Day, I thought another THEME would be fun. In my planner I have that we were going to do the new theme for about 2 weeks.... well Nate's been busy potty training and just playing contentedly... so it's stretched a little longer, which is fine!

Our main book was Trucks by Byron Barton. It's a little chunky board book that Nate found at the library and wanted to bring home... and so the theme was born:)

And of course you can't do a theme with just ONE book;) So we also enjoyed reading these... (either library finds or things already at our house)

• Goodnight, Goodnight Construction Site
• Roadwork by Sally Sutton
• Mighty Movers: Diggers and Dumpers  - a Dollar Store find from Chris' toddler years
• What Does it DO? Dump Truck 
•  an old school Fisher Price Little People  book with a construction scene... the book is out-of-print!

And we didn't just read books.. Netflix helped some too:)

• Bob the Builder series
• 36 episodes available of Mighty Machines - trucks, planes, trains...  the boys loved the few we watched

And then the activities.... its funny the things he does like and the things he quickly looses interest it:/ Can't quite figure this kid out:)

This moveable digger was a hit;) He completed it Sunday night before school even started for the week:)

Nate knows a handful of his colors... but I liked this activity to help him practice the ones he's still guessing at... I really didn't think he'd LOVE this activity as much as he did....

 and continues to use as he pulls them in and out of the little packet to practice his colors;)

I saw this activity from somewhere:) It looked cute and Nate loves sorting and glue... but he didn't dig this one very much... in fact it's still not complete :(

Nate loved "building" his T truck. We pasted the pieces onto white paper and he scribble-scrabbled all around it;)

Nothing replaces playing with trucks on the floor;)
He actually found this set of "construction" trucks for a few $ at Walmart:)

He even used the trucks to share his treats with the others at the table:)

We also used a little problem solving set he received from Christmas!! Awesome idea to get fun schooling things at Christmas;) And this is a set he will grow into:)

Not pictured was the matching cards I printed and laminated from Two Little Seeds.

I had hoped to talk a little more about shapes since some of the activities included some shapes but he did practice his colors more so now he is using a few more works like pink and orange. And shapes will be a nice thing to practice as we prepare for the next theme;)

Linking up to Tot School at 1+1+1=1.

What to do With the Little Ones?

I have been one of those mothers that fights for that morning nap until the kiddos are older than 2!! I think my kids just function better when they aren't sleepy and it's been awesome in attempting to get most of our homeschooling done in the morning;)

When Nate threw a curveball into our mornings by NOT napping at 18 months... life got busy! While we still have few mornings I can still get him to nap, the majority of days Nate is with us all morning.

In trying to prepare myself for 4 kids during school time, I have revisited some of my old posts (and found some new ones) and made a new list of how to keep the younger ones busy:) Maybe it can help you, too!! 

Toddler
* Counting Bears, Beans or Rice and plenty of cups... oh, and on a blanket!!
*Coloring
*Aqua Doodle
*Playing with or gluing  construction paper shapes
*Duplo blocks
*Train set
*Tons of Tot Trays and other fabulous ideas HERE!!
* Videos - Little Einstein, Leap Frog: Letter Factory (a MUST have)
*Chunky, simple puzzles
*Wipeboard, markers and close supervision
*On a lap to be read to ( good for the older ones to have someone to read too!)
*LeapFrog Letter Whammer
*Workbox Ideas 
*Play - Doh ... yikes!!
*Pattern blocks (he plays with them)
*Poking pipe cleaners in a strainer... ingenius
*Snack:)

Preschoolers (when they are ready)
some of the above plus....


* I've loved using this "everything" book for my kids when they first started to want to "do school"... it's cheap and they can do as little or as much as they want. It's also broken into subjects- colors, shapes, letters, puzzles, etc - so you could make all your activities themed based, if you wanted;)
*I've never used these Preschool Packs... but it's only b/c I didn't know about them while we were preschooling! We will be using them with Nate;)
* Letter of the Week by Confessions of a Homeschooler! I'm hoping to use this with Nate, when he's ready:)  She also has a K4 Curriculum;)
*Cut & Paste workbooks... I found some at WalMart for Lydia last year
*Cutting up magazines to make a collage (colors, shapes,animals, themes or beginning with letters,etc)
*Practice letters/writing.... we use wipeboards, chalk outside, workbooks... whatever and whenever they want;)
*Starfall
*Videos - more Leap Frog, Learning Spanish ( we use Kids Love Spanish)
*Looking through library books
*Refrigerator letters
*LeapFrog Tag and books;)
*Puzzles
*Memory and Matching games
*Pattern Blocks and Pattern designs

not quite ready to "sort" yet;)

Kindergarten ideas
*Ordinary Parents Guide to Teaching Reading
*Saxon Math (I start with 1st grade in K.... and my kids have done well!)
* You Can Read by 1+1+1=1... cute and easy printables to teach sight words... we use it & love it!! I could have started before K (at least with Lydia!!)
*Five in a Row - I did this with Anna (and two little tag-alongs) and we loved it. I'll definitely consider using some of the ideas/format for Nate when he's ready to school with us. Maybe try to conform each week to a little guy book about our history topic... or something!

Inspirational Blogs/Websites (especially with preschoolers)
1+1+1 = 1
Confessions of a Homeschooler 
PreKinders 
A Gentle Mother : Little's Activities
A Toddler Box

Do you have any more ideas to share??? I'd love to hear them!

Linking up to Works For Me Wednesday:)

More Wordless Wednesday at  NapTime MomTog, 5 Minutes for Mom,  Mama to 4 Blessings, Go Graham Go

and any other linkys I find !!!

**I feel like I need a disclaimer with all these links:) None of these links are paid advertising... just resources I hope inspire and encourage those with little ones (with or without BIG ones at home, too)!!

Homeschooling Mornings Just Got Busier

Nate started escaping from his crib and resisting morning naps this week;)

Looks like there is another kid to school (or at least keep busy).....

Nate spooning beans while Anna works on the couch behind him

Likes His Chocolate, More Potty Training

Since after-Thanksgiving we'd be trying something "new" with Christopher's potty training... we took all of his sweets away.... no dessert after lunch/dinner, no random treats throughout the day, no syrup on pancakes, no chocolate in his soymilk, etc.

In fact, his only sweets has been the candies that some sweet ladies at church bring the kids sometimes on Wednesday and Sunday nights. We decided we'd let him have these...

It actually was pretty funny. He did totally understand and many times when other neighbors offered him a candycane or treat, Christopher would respond, "I can't have candy until I make stinky on the potty." Haa haa haaa

Although he totally understood, he didn't even try to change his pottying .....

So at Christmas we decided to let it go.... taking sweets wasn't working, so why continue it. I'd also started to see a trend of him not drinking his soymilk, so I don't want that to go on too long.

Last night we picked up our first chocolate syrup for milk since before Thanksgiving! And today before lunch I was making his first cup of chocolate soymilk and this is what he says....

"Mommy, don't put too much," he said looking up at me.

"Too much what, Chris?" I responded.

"Too much milk into my chocolate!" He answered back!

haa haa haa.... what a sweet-tooth kid!!! He was soooo glad to get his milk back (and secretly I was glad to give it back to him)!

BTW... this morning he was back in "big boy pants" BBP. He wanted to be in them and he was running to the potty by himself when he needed to go... which is an improvement:) And after lunch Daddy caught him being a little too still by himself, so he attempted a stinky on the potty, too!!!

Kind of funny that when we give him back the sweets, he decides he wants to be trained. We'll see how long this training time lasts.....

ohhhhh, I would LOVE for him to be out of diapers..... in every other area he is soo mature. He knows all of his letters and sounds, he's almost counting to 20, he loves to "read" books, he can build fun things with his Duplos and his writing is amazingly ledgible for a 3-yr old, left-handed, boy!!

Preschool Writing

I've had this laying around.... and I've meaning to blog it because I find it to be soo funny and because it's an EASY idea to do with your little ones; helping them learn to create their own stories, begin to process of writing with them, scissor control if they cut out out their own pictures and help with word recognition and spelling.

One of our year goals is for Anna to dictate to me a story and then copy the story onto her paper herself (or just have me help with words she cant spell).... but we're not quite there yet... ie a "year goal"!

I couple of weeks ago Christopher was supposed to be hunting for pictures in a magazine that were blue. Anna also loves doing this activity so she starting hunting out blue pictures and then started hunting for pictures she "liked".

Since we have a wedding in just a couple of weeks, Anna has been talking of marraiges, weddings, dresses, etc endlessly:) I wasn't surprised when she chose this picture.

And here is the story she made to go with it (I did help with grammer.... next time I don't think I will... have it be a real example of what she's doing):

These people are getting married. Someone is giving them a married box. There is
coffee and candy in the box. They are happy.