Learning at Home 2013

Today was our first day of preschool at home since finishing up the alphabet and a small summer break. Preschool is going to look a lot different around here this year, because we are preparing for Kindergarten next year!!! Because I like seeing how other homeschooling families plan their days, I thought I would share how we'll be learning this year. There is no set curriculum yet, I am just planning a week at a time from the resources I currently own and using the help of Pinterest.
Each day will consist of these subject areas:

• Indoor/Outdoor Play
• Beginning Reading
• Math
• Writing
• Read Alouds (I would like the total time reading aloud to be more than an hour each day.)
• Bible (during Family Time in the evenings) 

Then these subjects will be taught at least once a week: 

• Art/Art Appreciation
• Music
• Poetry/Nursery Rhymes
• Science
• History/Geography
  
  
  
  
   So here's a look at our day today...
  7:30-7:45 We started our day by reading books. We check out a lot from the library each week and we also have several bookcases full around the house.

    

  7:45-8:00 Writing Practice- This amount of time is just long enough for Seth to practice some, but not get bored with it.

   

  8:00-8:15 Calendar/Math- We just got this calendar to help with this. We counted all the days in the month, said the days of the week/months of the year, and checked the weather. For the rest of our Math time, we just practiced counting with our flashcards.

   

  

  8:15-8:30 Indoor or Outdoor Play (or more Math time if needed)- Seth chose to play inside today and I introduced this week's Discovery Box to him during this time. The items in this box will change each week.

  

  8:30-8:45 Beginning Reading- We are learning about the "-at" word family this week.
  8:45-9:00 Art- We read Mouse Paint by Ellen Stoll Walsh, mixed colors, and did some painting.
  

  

  9:00-9:15 Science-  We were trying to make green water in the middle glass by watching the color absorb up the paper towel and into the middle glass. It finally happened around lunch time. (Instead of Art and Science, other days we might do Music, History, Nursery Rhymes, Poetry, Geography during these time blocks.)
  

   

  

  
  

   9:15-9:30/45 Indoor Play for Seth- This is when I do Tot School with Silas. Today we colored letter S's and I introduced a Letter of the Week Bag that contained a seashell, stuffed snake, shoe, sock, sponge, scrubby pad, sandpaper, and other objects that start with the letter S that I had around the house. (This will be a new to addition to Tot School for those of you that have followed along since the beginning.)
  

  

  
  
  

  For the rest of the day...

  We will read, do household tasks (like laundry, feed the chickens, cook, clean), and play leisurely. On the days we have play dates, we'll do some shifting around, but they usually don't start until at least 9:30 or later and Spanish and Story time at the Library doesn't start until 10:30 on the days we have that. So the schedule seems doable and seemed to make our morning fly by.

  
  I plan to update monthly on some highlights from our learning throughout the month. If you would ever like to know more about what the boys are learning though, please don't hesitate to ask.