First day of school 2016

Today was our first day of school for the 2016-2017 school year! I was going to wait until Labor Day, but after reviewing our schedule for the year I decided to get the ball rolling!

We started off the day with giant cornmeal pancakes, and then we jumped into our school day. We worked on a few things and then took a break to get the boys' hair cut (they love going to Great Clips, so it made the day extra special for them), eat lunch, and spend some time outside on this BEAUTIFUL day! We then put Cece down for her nap and finished up our school day. I think I like splitting up the day, so I may integrate that into our daily schedule.

I think the day went pretty well overall. At the beginning I thought it was going too fast/I didn't have enough material, but it ended up basically filling up the whole day. I'm sure we'll get into more of a groove as time goes on.

I'm not sure how I feel about the fauxhawk on this dude.

But this guy is rocking it.

We're going to attempt something unique this year and do school in three month chunks with a month off in between. So we'll have a month off around Thanksgiving, a month off in early March (perfect for Baby's arrival!), and a month off in June. When I looked at the calendar and saw how perfectly the breaks landed for our vacation plans and Baby, I figured it was worth a shot. Plus, having a month off three times a year sounds amazing!

Wish me luck... and energy ;)

Preschool at home

Orion is turning five soon, and though he isn't old enough to start Kindergarten until next year, we felt that he should do some kind of structured learning this year... mostly because he kept asking for it! Desmond needs to start learning his letters and numbers, so I (via a recommendation from a friend) found a curriculum that they can both use! It's called ABC Jesus Loves Me and is totally free! Weekly lesson plans are available for ages 2-5.

We have been having fun so far! We are five weeks in. The boys ask to do school most days, so I call that success. We usually do school three days a week, but we're flexible. This week we are only doing two days (we used one day to celebrate the first day of fall at Windmill Farm). The length of the day varies, but I think we usually run about half an hour or so.

Because I'm using the same curriculum series but teaching two different ages, I chose to mainly use the three year olds curriculum and supplement with material from the five year olds where it fits in. Combining the two is definitely more time intensive than just planning for one would be, but the actual teaching is easy because they do the same things for the most part.

The ABCJLM curriculum is really good at using/teaching a wide range of skills and learning styles. They encourage the use of tactile numbers and letters (my homemade version above) and provide activity ideas for gross and fine motor skills, music, etc.

Although the website certainly provides a lot of ideas, I have supplemented with ideas from Pinterest and other websites when I feel the need for something different/more. I like the flexibility.

If I can stay organized with planning, I think we will have a successful school year! Orion and Desy are already learning a lot; they can both sing along to the song we listen to listing the books of the Bible! I'm so glad the boys are loving it so far :)