I haven't posted in a while, and need to explain why. I just started full-time work again, and need a little time to adjust before I return to blogging. I'll restart family posts on April 15th (Wed., Fri., and Sat. posts), and restart informational posts on April 30th (Mon., Tues., and Thurs. posts).
I'll be using the time to adjust to my new work schedule, to reconnect with my family and help DH adjust to being primary parent again, to do some research and find cool stuff, and to pre-write some articles so that I don't have to drop the blog as soon as things get busy. That way I'll always have something interesting ready, even if I gt swamped.
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Friday, March 6, 2009
Lesson plans, 3/9 - 3/16, 2009
For indoors activities: We will probably get some more work done on the alphabet project we started this week - coloring letters, cutting scrap paper while FatherBear cuts the actual letters out, and then gluing them onto brightly colored construction paper.
Another great activity that I want to do more next week is folding laundry with the girls. MonkeyGirl and I did this today, and I could see her improving her sorting skills, motor skills, listening skills, AND her ability to follow a multi-step process, like folding washcloths, on her own. Not bad!
For outdoors activities: I will probably do at least a little gardening with the girls. Well, MonkeyGirl, at least. FairyGirl shows no interest in getting her hands dirty.
We are also considering building a sandbox next week, depending on how my interviews go and if / when I start work. The work involved is:
We've been talking about setting up a little swing for them, so maybe we'll do that first to keep them entertained a little more.
Another great activity that I want to do more next week is folding laundry with the girls. MonkeyGirl and I did this today, and I could see her improving her sorting skills, motor skills, listening skills, AND her ability to follow a multi-step process, like folding washcloths, on her own. Not bad!
For outdoors activities: I will probably do at least a little gardening with the girls. Well, MonkeyGirl, at least. FairyGirl shows no interest in getting her hands dirty.
We are also considering building a sandbox next week, depending on how my interviews go and if / when I start work. The work involved is:
- - Remove the fish from the pond and put them in our little fountain-tub until we can find a new home (girls can't help, but should have lots of questions from watching us).
- - Remove the water from the pond. The girls probably can't help safely with this either since the pond is pretty deep. However, when I started the process last week, MonkeyGirl was very interested in watching and had a lot of questions.
- - Clean the pond. The girls can probably help with this, but I'm not sure that they will both be interested.
- - Put the sand in. The girls can help with this.
- - Put up the tarp and weight the ends.
- - Remove the barriers around the pond so that the kinds can easily get in and out.
We've been talking about setting up a little swing for them, so maybe we'll do that first to keep them entertained a little more.
Thursday, March 5, 2009
No post today
Sorry, but I'm a little overwhelmed right now. No one in our household is employed right now, and we desperately need someone to get a job in a really tough market. I had one interview yesterday, and have two more tomorrow and really need to study today so I can walk in to these interviews prepared. This means that today's post won't happen.
In the meantime, here is another cute picture of the girls - this one is at Home Depot. We headed in to price play sand and wood for bunk beds.
The girls loved the flowers, and really enjoyed watching the swallows that live inside the Home Depot. They've never seen birds indoors anywhere else.
In the meantime, here is another cute picture of the girls - this one is at Home Depot. We headed in to price play sand and wood for bunk beds.
The girls loved the flowers, and really enjoyed watching the swallows that live inside the Home Depot. They've never seen birds indoors anywhere else.
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Online lesson planner from Home School, Inc.
Many people homeschooling their preschoolers don't really need a lot of organization, but occasionally it comes in handy. I honestly don't believe most preschool families need much in the way of structure, but for those that do, you might want to check out Home School, Inc.'s online planner. This is a nifty little tool for quickly recording simple lesson plans and courses online. Go to the link, and click "Free Web Based Planner" to check it out. The interface isn't gorgeous, but it's functional and pretty easy to use once you get the hang of it.
Online recording is nice because you can access it from anywhere, making it easier to communicate with a working spouse or friends who are doing a class with you (OK, at this age it's really a playgroup). It's also no-paper, which is nice for clutter-prone people like me.
This tool might be especially useful for parents with many children at different levels, who may want to record activities for their Tots to do while they work with older children on activities that just aren't fun for the younger ones. Another group that might find this useful are families which are splitting homeschooling duties in some way, just to organize the communication.
If this is more structure than you need, but a simple list of things you want to try or paper calendar just isn't quite organized enough, consider using Google Calendar. You can create a calendar just for homeschooling and share it out to friends who use Google Calendar. You can even overlay it over other calendars you create. For example, you could make one calendar for homeschooling, one for daily life, and one for the father's work schedule, and then view one, two, or all of them at once just by selecting their check boxes.
We've used the Home School, Inc. tool for our family, and liked it when we were dividing homeschooling work. Now, however, I'm doing all the homeschooling. I just have a file on my computer desktop called "ToDo_projects.txt" that contains a list of things I think would be cool to do with the kids some day. Each week I pick out a few to try to get around to and then do half of those and a bunch of stuff that never made the list (like, this week we've decided to put in a sandbox - which wasn't on the original agenda).
What do you do to organize your homeschooling (or do you like to be structure-free, and how does that work for you)? I know Carisa tells all here - do you have a link to a blog post where you discuss your style of organizing?
Online recording is nice because you can access it from anywhere, making it easier to communicate with a working spouse or friends who are doing a class with you (OK, at this age it's really a playgroup). It's also no-paper, which is nice for clutter-prone people like me.
This tool might be especially useful for parents with many children at different levels, who may want to record activities for their Tots to do while they work with older children on activities that just aren't fun for the younger ones. Another group that might find this useful are families which are splitting homeschooling duties in some way, just to organize the communication.
If this is more structure than you need, but a simple list of things you want to try or paper calendar just isn't quite organized enough, consider using Google Calendar. You can create a calendar just for homeschooling and share it out to friends who use Google Calendar. You can even overlay it over other calendars you create. For example, you could make one calendar for homeschooling, one for daily life, and one for the father's work schedule, and then view one, two, or all of them at once just by selecting their check boxes.
We've used the Home School, Inc. tool for our family, and liked it when we were dividing homeschooling work. Now, however, I'm doing all the homeschooling. I just have a file on my computer desktop called "ToDo_projects.txt" that contains a list of things I think would be cool to do with the kids some day. Each week I pick out a few to try to get around to and then do half of those and a bunch of stuff that never made the list (like, this week we've decided to put in a sandbox - which wasn't on the original agenda).
What do you do to organize your homeschooling (or do you like to be structure-free, and how does that work for you)? I know Carisa tells all here - do you have a link to a blog post where you discuss your style of organizing?
Monday, March 2, 2009
Structure
When people talk about structure and preschool, one thing that may come to mind is the public schooling structure, where children get very little time to play freely. However, most people planning on homeschooling their preschooler know that this is too controlling for preschoolers, and know that play is learning for toddlers and preschoolers.
At the same time, the decision to "homeschool" our preschoolers implies an intention to add some academic structure that we didn't use with our infants. There are three areas I see parents structure when they decide to homeschool: Time, activities, and spaces. Each of these is a continuum. Families can be at various levels of structure on any of the continuum, and can also be at different levels of structure on the same continuum with different children.
Note that these are my own thoughts, and I am not an expert on child development or education or anything. But still, maybe this will give you some food for thought about what schooling really is and how you can expand or simplify your child's schooling.
Structuring time: Schedules and routines
Structuring time is when a parent sets aside some time to do something with her child. Highly structured time is a schedule, moderately structured time is a routine. Parents can even eschew structuring time for school purposes altogether. For example, a mom can just do activities with her child whenever the mood strikes her or can focus on child-led play by creating a good environment and following her child's lead.
Reasons for structuring time include:
Reasons for not structuring time include:
Structuring activities:
Structuring activities is when a parent decides in advance the activities that she will do with her child in advance, maybe preparing some materials ahead of time. Again, there is a continuum here. On the more structured end are curriculum, which usually also structure time with a daily or weekly schedule, and which may themselves be more or less structured. Also at the high end are activities like crafts, lapbooks, or unit studies - which can be very structured activities or lightly structured, depending on the specific activity. In the middle are activities like games, gardening, and cooking that are flexible but still have a "right" and "wrong" way to do them. Then there are even less structured free-play activities like texture trays, play doh, and trips to the park. Note that structure for activities can come either from a creative parent, or from a third party (like a curriculum), or a parent can even combine their own activities with others that they pick-and-choose from a third party.
A family might choose to structure very few activities. For example, a mom might schedule the hour after breakfast to be "preschooling", but might simply spend that time living normal life attentively with her child by talking about what they are doing. Alternatively, she could set up an environment designed for learning, with books, blocks, posters, and more, and just follow her child's lead whenever her child became interested in something. However, most parents structure at least a few activities when they decide to homeschool, such as outings to museums.
Reasons for structuring most activities include:
Reasons for structuring few activities include:
Structuring space: Learning environments
Structuring space for schooling means setting up an environment where learning happens naturally, even without much explicit teaching from parents. A highly structured environment may include lots of books, access to safe kitchen tools, facts posted all over the house (the ABCs, numbers, and shapes would be appropriate for preschoolers, as well as simple words), dress-up clothes, blocks, sensory play equipment, craft supplies, and indoor garden, cleaning supplies for kids, and more. Such a home may also have places for active play, indoors or out. A highly structured environment may also have fewer negative influences. Perhaps there will be no TV, for example. Even children enrolled in a school will benefit greatly from an environment structured for schooling at home, as a lot of the value is in the always-available, child-led nature of a structured environment.
Reasons for highly structuring spaces for learning include:
All parents, homeschooling or otherwise, should have at least light to moderate structure for learning in their children's environment. For example, there should be some books and some toys that use creative skills (like blocks, dress-up, or safe kitchen tools) where kids can get into them.
Reasons to limit structuring spaces:
So . . .
How do you structure your homeschooling? Do you structure time, activities, or spaces?
Our family is funny because FatherBear and I tend towards very different teaching styles, and MonkeyGirl and FairyGirl have very different learning styles. FatherBear prefers to have lesson plans handed to him, and to use a routine. When he is the primary parent (when I work full-time), we go light on structuring spaces and I create a lesson plan and schedule that he can implement (moderately structured activities, highly structured time). When I am the primary parent (like at the moment) I use moderately structured spaces, only lightly structure our time, and moderately structure activities.
Since FairyGirl likes routine and doesn't need a lot of stimulation to be happy and learn, she thrives when FatherBear is primary parent, but I need to take special care not to overwhelm her. MonkeyGirl, on the other hand, can get bored and will act out frequently with FatherBear if he doesn't break the routine occasionally for her (such as by having her take her nap in a new part of the bedroom every few days), but with my style she is excited, engaged, and very well behaved.
At the same time, the decision to "homeschool" our preschoolers implies an intention to add some academic structure that we didn't use with our infants. There are three areas I see parents structure when they decide to homeschool: Time, activities, and spaces. Each of these is a continuum. Families can be at various levels of structure on any of the continuum, and can also be at different levels of structure on the same continuum with different children.
Note that these are my own thoughts, and I am not an expert on child development or education or anything. But still, maybe this will give you some food for thought about what schooling really is and how you can expand or simplify your child's schooling.
Structuring time: Schedules and routines
Structuring time is when a parent sets aside some time to do something with her child. Highly structured time is a schedule, moderately structured time is a routine. Parents can even eschew structuring time for school purposes altogether. For example, a mom can just do activities with her child whenever the mood strikes her or can focus on child-led play by creating a good environment and following her child's lead.
Reasons for structuring time include:
- The parent prefers schedules or routines
- The child prefers routines, or doesn't adapt well to changes in routine
- If homeschooling duties are split between parents (e.g., one parent plans and the other teaches), then schedules or routines can help keep communication coordinated
- If older children have their time structured for homeschooling, structuring time for preschoolers can simplify the parent's work and thinking during lessons
- The parent has a philosophical preference for schedules, such as the belief that the ability to follow a schedule is important for even young children
Reasons for not structuring time include:
- The parent dislikes schedules or routines
- The child doesn't care about a routine, or "acts out" if things become too "routine"
- A family is going through a lot of transitions or one that does not have a clear daily routine may find that structuring time can be very difficult
- The parent has a philosophical preference for unscheduled time, such as a belief that the best learning happens naturally as a part of daily life
Structuring activities:
Structuring activities is when a parent decides in advance the activities that she will do with her child in advance, maybe preparing some materials ahead of time. Again, there is a continuum here. On the more structured end are curriculum, which usually also structure time with a daily or weekly schedule, and which may themselves be more or less structured. Also at the high end are activities like crafts, lapbooks, or unit studies - which can be very structured activities or lightly structured, depending on the specific activity. In the middle are activities like games, gardening, and cooking that are flexible but still have a "right" and "wrong" way to do them. Then there are even less structured free-play activities like texture trays, play doh, and trips to the park. Note that structure for activities can come either from a creative parent, or from a third party (like a curriculum), or a parent can even combine their own activities with others that they pick-and-choose from a third party.
A family might choose to structure very few activities. For example, a mom might schedule the hour after breakfast to be "preschooling", but might simply spend that time living normal life attentively with her child by talking about what they are doing. Alternatively, she could set up an environment designed for learning, with books, blocks, posters, and more, and just follow her child's lead whenever her child became interested in something. However, most parents structure at least a few activities when they decide to homeschool, such as outings to museums.
Reasons for structuring most activities include:
- The parent loves to plan or come up with activities
- The child loves to do activities and is able to focus well on one thing for a period of time
- The parent isn't confident about teaching, doesn't know what kind of activities might work well, or wants another expert involved in teaching her child (these parents can benefit from curricula)
- The parent doesn't like to stay "on guard" looking for learning opportunities
- The parent wants to direct her child's learning
- The parent wants to target a specific developmental area, maybe because a child is lagging behind a little or showing greater-than-normal interest
- Some fun activities just require structure (such as setup, or following directions)
Reasons for structuring few activities include:
- The parent doesn't enjoy planning or following a structure
- The child doesn't enjoy one activity long enough to justify planning it
- The parent doesn't have time for planning
- The parent is confident that her child will develop and learn without specific educational activities
- The parent prefers child-led learning philosophies
Structuring space: Learning environments
Structuring space for schooling means setting up an environment where learning happens naturally, even without much explicit teaching from parents. A highly structured environment may include lots of books, access to safe kitchen tools, facts posted all over the house (the ABCs, numbers, and shapes would be appropriate for preschoolers, as well as simple words), dress-up clothes, blocks, sensory play equipment, craft supplies, and indoor garden, cleaning supplies for kids, and more. Such a home may also have places for active play, indoors or out. A highly structured environment may also have fewer negative influences. Perhaps there will be no TV, for example. Even children enrolled in a school will benefit greatly from an environment structured for schooling at home, as a lot of the value is in the always-available, child-led nature of a structured environment.
Reasons for highly structuring spaces for learning include:
- The parent enjoys creating an environment for learning
- The child strongly enjoys independent play
- The parents have an irregular schedule and do not always have predictable free time for teaching their children hands-on
- The parent has a desire to round out structured learning with easily accessible unstructured learning
All parents, homeschooling or otherwise, should have at least light to moderate structure for learning in their children's environment. For example, there should be some books and some toys that use creative skills (like blocks, dress-up, or safe kitchen tools) where kids can get into them.
Reasons to limit structuring spaces:
- The family lives in a small space and doesn't have room to go all-out
- The parents don't want their home taken over by homeschooling
- Structuring spaces takes time and/or money
- The child is learning well with the current amounts of structured space, possibly through scheduled teaching time or activities.
How do you structure your homeschooling? Do you structure time, activities, or spaces?
Our family is funny because FatherBear and I tend towards very different teaching styles, and MonkeyGirl and FairyGirl have very different learning styles. FatherBear prefers to have lesson plans handed to him, and to use a routine. When he is the primary parent (when I work full-time), we go light on structuring spaces and I create a lesson plan and schedule that he can implement (moderately structured activities, highly structured time). When I am the primary parent (like at the moment) I use moderately structured spaces, only lightly structure our time, and moderately structure activities.
Since FairyGirl likes routine and doesn't need a lot of stimulation to be happy and learn, she thrives when FatherBear is primary parent, but I need to take special care not to overwhelm her. MonkeyGirl, on the other hand, can get bored and will act out frequently with FatherBear if he doesn't break the routine occasionally for her (such as by having her take her nap in a new part of the bedroom every few days), but with my style she is excited, engaged, and very well behaved.
Saturday, February 28, 2009
Everyone got sick
Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get many pictures this week. First of all, we only just located a decent camera that we could borrow partway through this week. Then, everyone got sick with a lovely little fever. However, we did get outside in the sunlight a little yesterday, and I had a little energy to do some fun things with the girls.
The girls playing with a truck. The greenery in the lower right is the Christmas tree that we are letting dry out for firewood. We'll get it cut up one of these days, now that the weather is warming.
~~~~
This is our garden. The girls helped me plant a pea seed (and then I planted a few more - the sticks mark where they were planted), and I gave them a toddler-sized lecture on how the seed would become a plant. Apparently, they absorbed it because they offered a prayer for the pea plant last night. And, uh, those balls are dumped all over because I don't have anything growing there and I need to clean out the ball pit container. It's been sitting out in the weather all winter.
~~~~
The water in the picture below is being pumped out of a pond. See, we have these three ponds that were hooked up in this beautiful water garden with koi and goldfish when we moved in last March. Then the pump broke. Then we had this big snow that knocked down the nets protecting the ponds - and before we got them back up, a heron ate all of the fish. Since we didn't really want a drowning hazard to begin with, we're pumping all of the water out of the ponds and turning them into sandboxes (maybe a gravel pit for one). Hopefully we'll finish this up today.
This is MonkeyGirl listening to me explain what I just told you. She then spent the next hour telling me that she saw meanie crows eating goldfishes. I finally explained to her that the bird eating the fishes wasn't a crow, it was a heron. We'll have to Google for pictures of herons tomorrow so she gets a better grasp and quits accusing those innocent crows.
~~~~
This was my last attempt at being educational yesterday. I laid the girls' food out in interesting ways to give us something to talk about at dinner. Shapes, colors, and so on.
~~~~
Next week should be more interesting, between finishing the sandbox, gardening, getting the ABCs posted inside, and picking up bunk bed materials. Wow, that's going to be busy!
3/2/09 ETA:
Forgot to add this post to Tot School!
The girls playing with a truck. The greenery in the lower right is the Christmas tree that we are letting dry out for firewood. We'll get it cut up one of these days, now that the weather is warming.
~~~~
This is our garden. The girls helped me plant a pea seed (and then I planted a few more - the sticks mark where they were planted), and I gave them a toddler-sized lecture on how the seed would become a plant. Apparently, they absorbed it because they offered a prayer for the pea plant last night. And, uh, those balls are dumped all over because I don't have anything growing there and I need to clean out the ball pit container. It's been sitting out in the weather all winter.
~~~~
The water in the picture below is being pumped out of a pond. See, we have these three ponds that were hooked up in this beautiful water garden with koi and goldfish when we moved in last March. Then the pump broke. Then we had this big snow that knocked down the nets protecting the ponds - and before we got them back up, a heron ate all of the fish. Since we didn't really want a drowning hazard to begin with, we're pumping all of the water out of the ponds and turning them into sandboxes (maybe a gravel pit for one). Hopefully we'll finish this up today.
This is MonkeyGirl listening to me explain what I just told you. She then spent the next hour telling me that she saw meanie crows eating goldfishes. I finally explained to her that the bird eating the fishes wasn't a crow, it was a heron. We'll have to Google for pictures of herons tomorrow so she gets a better grasp and quits accusing those innocent crows.
~~~~
This was my last attempt at being educational yesterday. I laid the girls' food out in interesting ways to give us something to talk about at dinner. Shapes, colors, and so on.
~~~~
Next week should be more interesting, between finishing the sandbox, gardening, getting the ABCs posted inside, and picking up bunk bed materials. Wow, that's going to be busy!
3/2/09 ETA:
Forgot to add this post to Tot School!
Friday, February 27, 2009
Lesson plans, 3/2 - 3/8/09: Gardening, alphabet decorations, and bunk-bed shopping
For the next couple of weeks I think we're going to keep things rather light and unstructured while we focus on setting up for a more structured environment. For now, I'm just going to work on some projects with the girls to help us build a fun homeschooling environment. Eventually, we'll probably move to something more structured.
First of all, I'm dying to start a garden. I don't want all of it to be part of homeschooling, but I definitely would like to involve the girls at least in planting the small kitchen garden right outside the window. Gardening seems like an appropriate preschool science and home economics exercise that we can do all summer. That will be our plan for any days with good weather.
Secondly, I want to get the ABC's posted somewhere in our house, and have the girls help us make them. Maybe we'll color and cut out letters from coloring sheets from the Internet and paste them on bright construction paper. Ideally, I'd like to have the ABC's lining the wall in our future "homeschool room" and also on magnets on our fridge. And the crafty side of me wants to make our own magnets.
Finally, I want to take the girls shopping with me for what will hopefully be the next week's big project: Building bunk beds in their closet. Toddlers with tools, Oh My! I'd like them to get a feel for how you go about organizing and planning a big project like this, then next week they can see what is involved in actually doing the project. Plus a Home Depot will be full of all kinds of learning opportunities - house parts, how things are made, shapes, tools, and listening when Mom and Dad tell you to stop climbing all over the lumber.
Check back on March 7th, when I will post on how this week's plan actually went. This is a lot to do with preschoolers in one week, and I'm not sure how much we will really get done.
Edit, 3/6/2009: Fixed the date in the title. Wow, it took me a whole week to notice I had the date a month off!
First of all, I'm dying to start a garden. I don't want all of it to be part of homeschooling, but I definitely would like to involve the girls at least in planting the small kitchen garden right outside the window. Gardening seems like an appropriate preschool science and home economics exercise that we can do all summer. That will be our plan for any days with good weather.
Secondly, I want to get the ABC's posted somewhere in our house, and have the girls help us make them. Maybe we'll color and cut out letters from coloring sheets from the Internet and paste them on bright construction paper. Ideally, I'd like to have the ABC's lining the wall in our future "homeschool room" and also on magnets on our fridge. And the crafty side of me wants to make our own magnets.
Finally, I want to take the girls shopping with me for what will hopefully be the next week's big project: Building bunk beds in their closet. Toddlers with tools, Oh My! I'd like them to get a feel for how you go about organizing and planning a big project like this, then next week they can see what is involved in actually doing the project. Plus a Home Depot will be full of all kinds of learning opportunities - house parts, how things are made, shapes, tools, and listening when Mom and Dad tell you to stop climbing all over the lumber.
Check back on March 7th, when I will post on how this week's plan actually went. This is a lot to do with preschoolers in one week, and I'm not sure how much we will really get done.
Edit, 3/6/2009: Fixed the date in the title. Wow, it took me a whole week to notice I had the date a month off!
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Preschool homeschooling links: An overview
Time to overwhelm you with just a few of the neat resources for homeschooling preschoolers available online! I've tried to categorize things neatly for you. The following is, by no means, all that is available in any category. Be aware that I have a bias for free resources, as our family is on a very tight budget.
Blogs:
Most of these blogs come from the list at TotSchool. All of the blogs there are great, BTW. I'm just listing here my personal "top picks".
A Mom Learning More Everyday
Cheeky Monkey Preschool Blog, who also has a related page of resource links! I will be browsing this list thoroughly in the future.
Delightful Learning
Learning at His Feet
My Two Happy Homeschoolers
Our Crafts ~N~ Things
Preschoolers and Peace
teachingtinytots: Mommy School
1+1+1=1 (by Carisa of Tot School)
Zero to Three has developmental information for children up to age three, and some articles even have information for ages three and four.
Starfall - online tools for teaching reading
Homeschool Share - Unit studies and lapbooks, including some for toddlers and preschoolers
Letter of the Week - Fun activities for each letter, and a whole curriculum to go with them.
Education Atlas preschool page. This is just a collection of links, but well worth browsing.
If I've missed your favorite resource, don't forget to mention it in the comments! As mentioned, this is just an overview. I have a lot of other links ready for future weeks, but will be just linking specific topics.
I still haven't decided what to post on next week. I was thinking of talking about structure in preschooling and different homeschool philosophies (unschooling, Montesorri, etc.), but then again - maybe people would be interested in something more practical and less theoretical? Like teaching letters?
Blogs:
Most of these blogs come from the list at TotSchool. All of the blogs there are great, BTW. I'm just listing here my personal "top picks".
A Mom Learning More Everyday
Cheeky Monkey Preschool Blog, who also has a related page of resource links! I will be browsing this list thoroughly in the future.
Delightful Learning
Learning at His Feet
My Two Happy Homeschoolers
Our Crafts ~N~ Things
Preschoolers and Peace
teachingtinytots: Mommy School
1+1+1=1 (by Carisa of Tot School)
Zero to Three has developmental information for children up to age three, and some articles even have information for ages three and four.
Starfall - online tools for teaching reading
Homeschool Share - Unit studies and lapbooks, including some for toddlers and preschoolers
Letter of the Week - Fun activities for each letter, and a whole curriculum to go with them.
Education Atlas preschool page. This is just a collection of links, but well worth browsing.
If I've missed your favorite resource, don't forget to mention it in the comments! As mentioned, this is just an overview. I have a lot of other links ready for future weeks, but will be just linking specific topics.
I still haven't decided what to post on next week. I was thinking of talking about structure in preschooling and different homeschool philosophies (unschooling, Montesorri, etc.), but then again - maybe people would be interested in something more practical and less theoretical? Like teaching letters?
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Family Portrait
From left to right: FatherBear, MotherBear, MonkeyGirl, and FairyGirl :-)
This picture was taken at around 10:00 PM tonight, so we're all a little tired. Normally the girls are in bed by 8:30 PM.
Click the picture for a larger image.
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Some starter resources
For the first "Resource Tuesday", I'm focusing on places online that you can go to get more information. Hopefully this will tide you over until this blog gets rolling and can get into some meatier topics. The Thursday post will be a variety of the best sites I've found so far in a number of areas.
First, for specific questions I recommend seeking out an online social network. Parents in the same situation often give some of the best ideas and advice, and these days there is a group online for everything.
Yahoo! Groups specifically seems to have a number of homeschool groups, including two (that I've found) specifically aimed at preschool homeschooling. If you have a child with special needs or if your family is in unusual circumstances, try searching for an additional group that fits your situation. Yahoo! Groups is big enough that a community may already exist - and if it doesn't, you can search the web or blogosphere for a few people in your situation who also are seeking community and start your own group.
Here are the two Yahoo! groups I've found so far. Be aware, you will need to register with Yahoo! to use them.
preschool homeschool: "Are you homeschooling or unschooling your preschool age child? Are you looking for preschool ideas? Do you want to connect with other preschool homeschool parents? Then this is the group for you!"
My impression: Fairly casual group with a pleasant community. Lets you post items for sale on Saturdays, but otherwise limits these posts. Somewhat active.
Early Home Education: "Homeschooling is a great movement, but what about preschool and Kindergarten? Would you like to homeschool, but aren't sure you can? Maybe teaching your preschooler is just what you need to believe you can homeschool. Even if you are not planning on homeschooling, these early years are crucial. So much foundational learning takes place, it is well worth the investment of your time."
My impression: Unfortunately, this groups is currently very quiet. From the old posts, it once was a good place to go for answers to questions, and some new posts might wake this sleeper of a group up again.
Secondly, if you just want to get ideas or browse to see what is out there or what other parents are doing, then you may want to start at Tot School. It's geared at ages 1 to 3 and has some neat activities, toys, and ideas, but just as interesting is the long list of blogs on the right. Each blog posts regularly on how they are homeschooling their young children.
If you don't feel like going through all these dozens of blogs right now, check back on Thursday. I plan to go through them and pick out my favorites for my RSS feed, and I'll also give you a list of my recommendations. Hopefully I'll be joining this group soon, so watch for my link there!
Do you have a great online homeschooling community or resource that you can recommend? Please share it in the comments! Don't forget to mention your own blog. And of course, if you are looking for something specific, mention it and let us see if we can help.
Remember to come back Thursday, when I will have many more links with greater variety (but with much shorter descriptions!). Tomorrow: A photograph of our family, so you can get some faces to go with our aliases.
First, for specific questions I recommend seeking out an online social network. Parents in the same situation often give some of the best ideas and advice, and these days there is a group online for everything.
Yahoo! Groups specifically seems to have a number of homeschool groups, including two (that I've found) specifically aimed at preschool homeschooling. If you have a child with special needs or if your family is in unusual circumstances, try searching for an additional group that fits your situation. Yahoo! Groups is big enough that a community may already exist - and if it doesn't, you can search the web or blogosphere for a few people in your situation who also are seeking community and start your own group.
Here are the two Yahoo! groups I've found so far. Be aware, you will need to register with Yahoo! to use them.
preschool homeschool: "Are you homeschooling or unschooling your preschool age child? Are you looking for preschool ideas? Do you want to connect with other preschool homeschool parents? Then this is the group for you!"
My impression: Fairly casual group with a pleasant community. Lets you post items for sale on Saturdays, but otherwise limits these posts. Somewhat active.
Early Home Education: "Homeschooling is a great movement, but what about preschool and Kindergarten? Would you like to homeschool, but aren't sure you can? Maybe teaching your preschooler is just what you need to believe you can homeschool. Even if you are not planning on homeschooling, these early years are crucial. So much foundational learning takes place, it is well worth the investment of your time."
My impression: Unfortunately, this groups is currently very quiet. From the old posts, it once was a good place to go for answers to questions, and some new posts might wake this sleeper of a group up again.
Secondly, if you just want to get ideas or browse to see what is out there or what other parents are doing, then you may want to start at Tot School. It's geared at ages 1 to 3 and has some neat activities, toys, and ideas, but just as interesting is the long list of blogs on the right. Each blog posts regularly on how they are homeschooling their young children.
If you don't feel like going through all these dozens of blogs right now, check back on Thursday. I plan to go through them and pick out my favorites for my RSS feed, and I'll also give you a list of my recommendations. Hopefully I'll be joining this group soon, so watch for my link there!
Do you have a great online homeschooling community or resource that you can recommend? Please share it in the comments! Don't forget to mention your own blog. And of course, if you are looking for something specific, mention it and let us see if we can help.
Remember to come back Thursday, when I will have many more links with greater variety (but with much shorter descriptions!). Tomorrow: A photograph of our family, so you can get some faces to go with our aliases.
Monday, February 23, 2009
What this blog is about
The last post was just an introduction to our family. This post is intended to be a kind of mission statement, to let you know what I am trying to do in this blog and why, before diving in. I want to make sure that people are interested before I get too far along. This is a long post; I will normally try to be less wordy.
Firstly, why the name "Homeschool Bright and Early"? It's probably obvious that this doesn't just refer to the time of day when our kids wake us up! It also refers to the goals many of us have: Bright children who can start enjoying the joys of learning as soon as possible. Beyond this basic idea, I'm hoping to see a lot of variation in our approaches to homeschooling and our specific goals for our families.
Secondly, what is my goal for this blog? My goal is to provide resources, information, and community to other preschool homeschooling parents so that they can make informed, well-supported decisions about how to approach the education of their young children. I want to keep this blog organized and very structured - not because I like structure (I'm generally quite messy), but because I want parents to be able to find the type of information they are interested in easily.
Thirdly, where am I coming from? I don't come in to this project with a lot of preset ideas about the best way to homeschool preschoolers. In fact, about the only idea I clearly have is that there are a lot of ways to approach homeschooling for toddlers, and different families will flourish with different pacing, goals, and levels of structure. We'll probably be moving around between different approaches for a while ourselves, until we find something we like.
~~~~~~~
Finally, here is the tentative schedule for the type of information I will be posting:
Big Picture Mondays: 'Big Picture' articles will deal with subjects like homeschooling philosophy, information about child development, current homeschooling news, and other abstract information. Often, this post will set a "theme" for the week.
Resource Tuesdays: Here, I will be picking one useful resource or a small group of related resources for parents and looking at it in-depth, sort of like a review. This could be any kind of resource that I think homeschooling parents might appreciate.
Wordless Wednesdays: A photo from my family's daily life during the last week, usually related to homeschooling, that speaks for itself - although I might include an occasional caption. These might be low-quality at first, as we currently don't have a good camera and will be using our cell phone.
Lotsa Links Thursdays: Collections of links, usually related to a specific theme but occasionally just miscellaneous stuff for homeschooling preschoolers, for your browsing enjoyment. Anywhere from a few to dozens of posts, depending on topic.
Lesson Plan Fridays: I will post my own family's lesson plans for the next week every Friday. Keep in mind that much of our homeschooling is still "unschooling" and our lesson plans are not intended to be comprehensive. Even the small amount of structure we have is just an experiment right now.
Family Life Saturdays: This is where FatherBear and I reflect on how our homeschooling week went, what the girls learned, and life in general. This is likely to include photos, and we're discussing some video ideas as well.
~~~~~~~
My hope is that this structure will let those of you who just want the facts or resources get what you need without too much work by going to the tags for Big Picture Monday, Resource Tuesday, or Lotsa Links Thursday. Those of you who want to get to know my family and join us in our homeschooling journey can subscribe to an RSS feed or visit the site daily and get to know us on Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays.
What do you think of this structure? Also, do you have a specific topic that you would like me to cover in the blog? Maybe something about homeschooling or preschoolers that you've been meaning to research? Please mention it in the comments. I want this blog to be useful for YOU, so tell me what you want to know.
Firstly, why the name "Homeschool Bright and Early"? It's probably obvious that this doesn't just refer to the time of day when our kids wake us up! It also refers to the goals many of us have: Bright children who can start enjoying the joys of learning as soon as possible. Beyond this basic idea, I'm hoping to see a lot of variation in our approaches to homeschooling and our specific goals for our families.
Secondly, what is my goal for this blog? My goal is to provide resources, information, and community to other preschool homeschooling parents so that they can make informed, well-supported decisions about how to approach the education of their young children. I want to keep this blog organized and very structured - not because I like structure (I'm generally quite messy), but because I want parents to be able to find the type of information they are interested in easily.
Thirdly, where am I coming from? I don't come in to this project with a lot of preset ideas about the best way to homeschool preschoolers. In fact, about the only idea I clearly have is that there are a lot of ways to approach homeschooling for toddlers, and different families will flourish with different pacing, goals, and levels of structure. We'll probably be moving around between different approaches for a while ourselves, until we find something we like.
Finally, here is the tentative schedule for the type of information I will be posting:
Big Picture Mondays: 'Big Picture' articles will deal with subjects like homeschooling philosophy, information about child development, current homeschooling news, and other abstract information. Often, this post will set a "theme" for the week.
Resource Tuesdays: Here, I will be picking one useful resource or a small group of related resources for parents and looking at it in-depth, sort of like a review. This could be any kind of resource that I think homeschooling parents might appreciate.
Wordless Wednesdays: A photo from my family's daily life during the last week, usually related to homeschooling, that speaks for itself - although I might include an occasional caption. These might be low-quality at first, as we currently don't have a good camera and will be using our cell phone.
Lotsa Links Thursdays: Collections of links, usually related to a specific theme but occasionally just miscellaneous stuff for homeschooling preschoolers, for your browsing enjoyment. Anywhere from a few to dozens of posts, depending on topic.
Lesson Plan Fridays: I will post my own family's lesson plans for the next week every Friday. Keep in mind that much of our homeschooling is still "unschooling" and our lesson plans are not intended to be comprehensive. Even the small amount of structure we have is just an experiment right now.
Family Life Saturdays: This is where FatherBear and I reflect on how our homeschooling week went, what the girls learned, and life in general. This is likely to include photos, and we're discussing some video ideas as well.
My hope is that this structure will let those of you who just want the facts or resources get what you need without too much work by going to the tags for Big Picture Monday, Resource Tuesday, or Lotsa Links Thursday. Those of you who want to get to know my family and join us in our homeschooling journey can subscribe to an RSS feed or visit the site daily and get to know us on Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays.
What do you think of this structure? Also, do you have a specific topic that you would like me to cover in the blog? Maybe something about homeschooling or preschoolers that you've been meaning to research? Please mention it in the comments. I want this blog to be useful for YOU, so tell me what you want to know.
Saturday, February 21, 2009
About Us
Hello, and welcome to my homeschooling for preschoolers blog! I'd like to start by introducing you to our family, and encouraging you to leave a comment introducing yourself. Feel free to use either a real name or a fun alias for your name.
I'm using the fun nickname of MotherBear, and my husband is going by FatherBear. Our twin daughters, going by MonkeyGirl and FairyGirl, are two years old, and have very different personalities. For example, they helped pick their nicknames - and the names really fit.
We are new to the world of conscious homeschooling, but like all good parents have been teaching our children from birth. Before we starting writing lesson plans, our children could both sing their ABC's and count past 10, knew their colors and many shapes, and much more. We're planning on experimenting with a variety of different ways of homeschooling, from the very structured to the casual, just to get a feel for what works for us. If you would like to see our lesson plans or outlines, stop by on Fridays when I will post the plan for the next week.
Please introduce yourself and your family in the comments! I'd love to get to know you. I'll post more information about the plan for the blog itself on Monday, before diving in to daily posts on-topic.
I'm using the fun nickname of MotherBear, and my husband is going by FatherBear. Our twin daughters, going by MonkeyGirl and FairyGirl, are two years old, and have very different personalities. For example, they helped pick their nicknames - and the names really fit.
We are new to the world of conscious homeschooling, but like all good parents have been teaching our children from birth. Before we starting writing lesson plans, our children could both sing their ABC's and count past 10, knew their colors and many shapes, and much more. We're planning on experimenting with a variety of different ways of homeschooling, from the very structured to the casual, just to get a feel for what works for us. If you would like to see our lesson plans or outlines, stop by on Fridays when I will post the plan for the next week.
Please introduce yourself and your family in the comments! I'd love to get to know you. I'll post more information about the plan for the blog itself on Monday, before diving in to daily posts on-topic.
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