Adventures In ...

November Lesson Plan

2008-10-15T16:08:00.001-07:00

Theme: Giving Thanks

Letter: T

Number: 3

Color: Brown

Shape: Triangle

Bible: Being Thankful/Giving Thanks

Focus on prayers
Kids Sunday School (this lesson is accessible by members only BUT I think it's worth it to pay the fee for the year!)

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Looking for something to do?? Try these themes with your kids...

November Observations (frankly I'm shocked there are so MANY!)

Subscribe to this blog for updates on all National Awareness Campaigns! It's a promo blog for an e-promo company but it keeps you informed!!

National Aviation Month

Aviation History Online

Child Safety and Protection Month

Activities

National Family Stories Month (more here)

National Peanut Butter Lovers Month

National Sandwich Day (Nov 3rd)

Make all sorts of crazy combos with PB!

America Recycles Day (Nov 15th)

Mickey Mouse's Birthday (Nov 18th)

National Games and Puzzles Week (16th - 22nd)

Play board games, put puzzles together (check out Patch Puzzles "Great Big Sneaky" line for AWESOME Preschool-age puzzles!)

National Flossing Day (Nov 28th) (did you know we should floss our child's teeth as soon as they come in?)

Thanksgiving

Resources for Thanksgiving activities

Homeschool Helper Online
Everything Preschool
First-School
Preschool Education
Enchanted Learning (some items require membership)

Stay tuned next Friday for what Chrissy and I are doing in November!!

Today's Topic: Fall Harvest

2008-10-02T14:31:00.000-07:00

This morning we decided to go buy our apples for the projects we have planned for the first two weeks of the month!

I had hoped to go PICK apples but I am learning things in this process right along with Evan. Apples have already been picked (for the most part) and the picking farms around here are only open for pumpkin picking now!

We went to Sprouts to take advantage of a good sale on apples.

We picked up enough Jonathan's to make our applesauce and caramel apples. We also picked up about seven other varieties for an apple tasting and a few small fuji's for apple stamping/painting.

Our project for today is to read about Fall Harvest and make our Fall lapbook! I got this idea from A Glimpse of Sonshine

I cut out all the shapes and Evan will glue them in the tri-fold book as we talk about them. We have lots of other stuff planned...stay tuned!

Help us expand our resource listings!

2008-10-01T23:40:00.000-07:00

Please send us an e-mail or leave a comment with your favorite sites or blogs for homeschooling!

What our day looks like

2008-09-28T20:00:00.000-07:00

Here is an idea of what our day looks like. Anyone who has little ones knows that nothing ever goes exactly as planned. This is a sample of what our day looks like when we are home all day. Some days go better than others but I have found that a schedule helps. I have one that just turned 3 and one that is 18 months. I watch my niece part time who is 20 months on Tues. and Thurs.

7:00-9:00

Breakfast-get ready-free play

9:00

Outside

9:45-10:00

Snack

10:00-10:15

Circle time

10:15-10:35

Center time

10:35-10:50

Table time-art project or other table activities

10:50-11:30

Free play

11:30-12:30

Lunch and free play

12:30-3:00

Get ready for nap and quiet time

3:00

Snack

3:30

Outside

4:30

free play or a show while I make dinner

5:00-5:30

dinner

*When we have activities planned for the day we may move things around a bit or skip some of the activities for that day. Both of my girls are in a playgroups and once a week we go to story time at the library. We often have one day a week to run errands or do a fun activity.

Letter 'A' ideas!

2008-09-25T17:11:00.000-07:00

In case you didn't see the link to this blog on our sidebar...

Glimpse of Sonshine has a great post about making letter lapbooks with her preschooler for the letter 'A' this week!

I really like this idea and since my son is wild about "reading" things...this is probably a good way for us to learn the letters.

Share your ideas for learning the letters -- leave a comment or send us an e-mail to becentsable@gmail.com

October Ideas

2008-09-22T10:31:00.000-07:00

See October's Theme and Lesson Plan here

Weeks 1 & 2:

apples and trees, changing of the seasons

ACTIVITY DAY

apple picking at orchard

walk in the leaves

CIRCLE TIME

Songs

(to the tune of London Bridge is Falling Down)
See The Apples Falling Down

Falling down, Falling Down

See The Apples Falling Down

Down To The Ground

Pick The Apples And Throw Them Up

Throw Them Up, Throw Them Up

Pick The Apples And Throw Them Up

Up To The Sky

Books

The Apple Pie that Papa Baked

Apples to Oregon

The Four Seasons

Books about apples, seasons

Jesus or Bible Time

Theme: Jesus made the seasons change and apple trees

Prayer:

Oh. . .the Lords been good to me
And so I thank the Lord
For giving me the things I need
The sun and the rain and the apple seed
The Lords been good to me, Amen.

Numbers or Letters

Practice Counting 1-10 with fingers

Practice showing 1, then 2 fingers

Count with leaves and apples (one then two)

Number songs:

Five fingers in my pocket (we know this from Music with Mar)

The ants go marching 1 by 1, 2 by 2, etc. This is great for a walk and even though I've only seen the lyrics published up to number 4, the link above has all they way to 10! We have fun making up our own lyrics and the kids really get into marching and squatting down to the ground. It's our favorite!

ABC song: F is for Fall, hold up letter F click here

CENTER TIME

sensory center: fill bin or box with leaves, pinecones, and other fall things

coloring

puzzles (Melissa & Doug wooden puzzles are great!)

varied selection of toys

COOKING WITH KIDS

applesauce in the crock pot or oven

apple pizzas with brown sugar and butter (on buns or pita bread)

apple sandwich (2 apples with peanut butter)

ART TIME

pinecone painting: use pinecones to paint with. Cut out big leaves from fall colors and let kid dip pinecones in paint to decorate fall leaves

paint with apples: cut apples at different angles and let children brush on paint and use the apples as stamps. Talk about the different shapes made by each apple and the space where the seeds were.

Print this tree coloring page: have children color the image first. Children can decorate the tree with "apples" by fingertip painting using poster paint or washable ink pad, red round stickers or red paper cut-outs using a coin as a template. Have children add five or ten apples. Have them count them to practice numerals and number order

apples: kids tear red paper up and glue on paper plates-add a stem and leaf to the top

OUTSIDE FUN

"bob for apples": hunt for apple cut outs in bucket of straw

leaf hunt: have children find leaves of different colors or shapes and sizes...collect them all and even glue them onto large paper for display or save them for the sensory boxes

WEEK 3 & 4

ACTIVITY DAYS:

Pumpkin patch

Fall fun night with community or church

CIRCLE TIME

songs

to the tune of "Do your ears hang low?"

Do you love Halloween?

When you dress up to be seen,

You can be a furry cat

Or a silly flying bat.

You can walk down the street,

Knock on doors, say "trick or treat"

Do you love Halloween?

books

We Gather Together

Good night moon

Books about pumpkins, harvest, halloween

Jesus or Bible Time

Theme: God made the sun and moon

Poem/Prayer:

I see the moon,

And the moon sees me;

God bless the moon,

and God bless me.

Anonymous

Shape/Letters/colors
shape-circle like a pumpkin and the moon
ABC song-P is for pumpkin-hold up letter P click here
color-orange like a pumpkin-find orange things in the room

CENTER TIME

sensory center-fill bin with leaves, pine cones, and other fall things coloring

Orange play dough

blocks

selection of toys

ART TIME

pumpkins-kids tear orange paper up and glue on paper plates, add a stem and leave at top

moons with craters: paint a yellow moon and glue cheerios for craters

pumpkin mobile: on a hanger or string on to yarn/fishing line for cute homemade decorations

create projects to decorate outside of house

- ghosts to hang from tree

- paint pumpkins to set outside

COOKING WITH KIDS

pumpkin seeds
pumpkin pie
pumpkin muffins

OUTSIDE FUN

pumpkin hunt: put paper pumpkins in the garden

ORANGE DAY

everyone wears orange

circle time is all about orange!!! Scavenger hunt around the house for orange things and bring circle time

art time: cut out a big carrot for kids to paint on. Cut the end of a large carrot off and let kids dip in orange paint stamp their carrot

cooking with kids: pumpkin pancakes. Make orange colored pancakes and let the kids decorate a face with fruit cocktail

Make orange hand soap: save an empty foaming soap dispenser, add clear liquid soap (dish soap works fine) and 1-2 drops food coloring) shake well! We make new colors of soap every few weeks and the kids LOVE it!

*many of these activities come form the Mailbox magazines, everythingpreschool.com and first-school.com (linked at right)

Our "Schedule"

2008-09-19T22:17:00.000-07:00

So, if you have EVER had children you know "schedule" is in quotes for a reason!!

We attempt to follow the schedule below. Chrissy's family follows a different schedule that works for them.

We have preschool time (focused activity) for 30-45 mins two days a week. My daughter is only 16 months old so I typically do this while she is napping so my son can have my undivided attention.

During this time we do our craft project and talk about our letter and number

Circle Time and Center Time are interspersed as often as we get a chance since they are more entertaining and less "sit still and focus" things.

Circle Time: We read stories (including our bible stories), sing songs and rhymes or pretend play within our theme. Chrissy posted about Circle Time here.
Center Time: I haven't done this yet but the idea is that you select 3-5 toys for your child to play with that relate to the theme for the month and place them in the center of the room. These would be in a room without other distractions (TV, other toys, etc) for about 20-30 mins. Let the child play at will for the length of the activity.

Our only other scheduled time is for our "activity days". These are the planned outings for the month and are only 2 or 3x a month (not necessarily every week).

This schedule is new and subject to revisions as we go along since I have no idea what my kids will actually be able to handle.

Circle Time

2008-09-19T20:40:00.000-07:00

Circle Time is the area that most parents have the hardest time with! Here are a few tips and ideas to help get you started.

Some tips to remember:

Start out slow-it will take a while for your kids to get what you want them to do
Remember your time limit and don't go past it-this will depend on the age of your kids and attention level
Have circle time in a room with little toys and distractions. I use one of my kids rooms and shut the door so the little one stays put
Alternate activities to keep their attention
Give little ones something to hold and play with that goes with your theme

What to include:

Story time
Songs
Numbers/letters/colors
Jesus time
Calendar/season/weather

Check back later because I will post lots of ideas you can use for circle time for fall themes (our Oct. theme) Do you have a great circle time idea for fall? Leave a comment or email us at becentsable@gmail.com!

October

2008-09-18T21:14:00.000-07:00

Theme: Fall or Harvest

This month we will be teaching the kids all about Fall, farming, pumpkins and the way the world around us changes!

Letter(s): F or H

We will be making large paper letters to place up on the wall and emphasizing the sounds the letters make. We will talk about the letter, with intent, each preschool day and as it seems appropriate the rest of the week.

Number: 2

Same as with the letter above and we'll also learn how to show two fingers and talk about it being MORE THAN one.

Color: Orange

Chrissy has a great day each month that's "COLOR" day at her house! Everything is about a single color for one full day! Their clothes, their food, any craft. It's COLOR IMMERSION!

Shape: Circle

Cut out circles and talk about what things around us are made up of or look like circles. My son (who just turned 3) is amazingly good and quick at this! He even sees the shapes in several dimensions which suprised me!

Bible Theme: Seasons and the World Around Us

I have seen several (hundred) sites with preschool level bible stories and lesson plans. My favorite so far is KidsSundaySchool.com they have a selection of FREE information and the majority of the site is pay for access. It's not a bad price but still - it's a price!

We'd love more bible resources for this age group...if you have them please pass them along so we can link them on the blog!

I also plan on reading some of the verses about food and the land

Creation: specifically Gen 1:10-11.
"No Rain, No Food" I Kings 16:29 through 17:16 (I have a children's book with a much condensed version of this story)
"Seeds and Dirt" Matthew 13:3-23 - this is a good dual purpose story (I have a children's book with a much condensed version of this story)

Activities we are planning that should be basically free!

apple picking (click here to find an orchard/pumpkin patch near you)
pumpkin picking (a MUCH more educational and enjoyable way to get your pumpkins)
working crops visit (a local farm would be more than happy to let you tour while they are harvesting! - check this link and this one for a farm near you and give them a call!)

Crafts we are hoping to complete

pumpkin patch made up of CIRCLES!
paper farm crops (seed garden) - this is a good one for spring planting as well. We use dry beans, sunflower seeds and corn for the crop rows
Farm scene with cut outs to glue on!

Chrissy's Tip: Try to steer away from coloring pages. Most kids this age don't get anything out of coloring pages and you are wasting your paper!

As the month progresses we will post any great ideas we come up with or something that just didn't work out!

Please add to the exchange here...send us your ideas or leave a comment so we can start building a resource fpr anyone who wants to teach their children!

What are we doing here?

2008-09-11T15:47:00.000-07:00

As you might have read on one of our other blogs, we have decided (for many reasons) not to enroll our three-year olds in preschool this year.

Instead, we will be instructing them at home. For many of you that may seem totally normal and for others, completely the opposite!

For many families, preschool is an expense that is just too great, class times do not work well with the family's work schedule or there is no preschool in the area that offers the type of education they are looking for.

Chrissy and I also believe that as parents, given the resources and support necessary, we are better equipped to teach our young children than anyone else!

This blog is part resource, part support, part progress report!

If at any time you have constructive criticism, suggestions or ideas to add, feel free to do so.

If you disagree with our education style or wish to unconstructively criticize our methods, please still feel free to do so...quietly and to yourself!