As I've mentioned dozens of times, but some of you (I've met new friends since last year!) probably don't know, I'm a big fan of the ABC Jesus Loves Me preschool curriculum. You can buy workbooks, but I never have; the weekly lesson plans are all available for free online. The author, Heidi, now has curricula available for one-year-olds (though I'm skeptical of the point) through five-year-olds (which can be supplemented to be kindergarden, depending on your state's requirements). She has suggested activities for a 36-week academic year, including Bible stories, Bible songs, character development, finger plays, nursery rhymes, classic children's books, shapes, colors, numbers, letters, pre-writing skills, letter and number formation, gross motor skills, fine motor skills, literacy, social sciences, self-care . . . seriously, everything. I've never done it all! We tend to be a bit ahead of the game in academics in my house, but I would honestly NEVER think to do gross motor skills if I didn't have an assignment every week. (I am not a girl of action.)
As is my nature, I pick and choose what I like and ignore the rest and choose not to feel guilty that it doesn't all get covered. Heidi will tell you -- she monitors a large Facebook group for curriculum users -- that it's all supposed to be play-based, using your minutes intentionally to introduce concepts, not strict "sit down and do school." When we don't have a particular book of the week, I substitute. When we don't have time for the Bible craft, we don't do it. When my kid shows proficiency in shapes or colors or whatnot, we skip ahead. It's the beauty of the freedom of homeschooling!
This is the first year I've attempted to do activities out of three different curricula. I'll be quite honest: the activities I have planned for Owen (5-year curriculum) have been overlooked whole-scale in the month we've been at this. Seems like one kid is always getting lost in the shuffle, and right now he's it. It'll change. About six weeks ago, I planned out eight weeks' worth of preschool/pre-K, like this:
As is my nature, I pick and choose what I like and ignore the rest and choose not to feel guilty that it doesn't all get covered. Heidi will tell you -- she monitors a large Facebook group for curriculum users -- that it's all supposed to be play-based, using your minutes intentionally to introduce concepts, not strict "sit down and do school." When we don't have a particular book of the week, I substitute. When we don't have time for the Bible craft, we don't do it. When my kid shows proficiency in shapes or colors or whatnot, we skip ahead. It's the beauty of the freedom of homeschooling!
This is the first year I've attempted to do activities out of three different curricula. I'll be quite honest: the activities I have planned for Owen (5-year curriculum) have been overlooked whole-scale in the month we've been at this. Seems like one kid is always getting lost in the shuffle, and right now he's it. It'll change. About six weeks ago, I planned out eight weeks' worth of preschool/pre-K, like this:
Toby (2.5) is in green. From the two-year curriculum, I plan to cover Bible story, Bible song, Bible verse, color, shape, letter recognition, one-to-one correspondence, gross and fine motor skills, and some of the books of the week. (We read constantly here, so I never worry too much about that, and I can't handle a Bible craft AND a book craft every week right now!) We do the Bible activities at the breakfast table, so everyone hears and participates, but only Toby does the Bible craft (more on that later).
Silas (4) is in blue. He has been asking to learn how to write his letters, so we're doing letter and number formation from the four-year curriculum, plus gross and fine motor skills and sporadic calendar work (mostly because I don't usually remember). He and Owen are working on memorizing the books of the New Testament. Heidi also includes what she calls "visual perception" worksheets, and we do some of these periodically when I think they're developmentally appropriate. Silas asked to learn how to read back in February and took to it fairly quickly, so he also reads 1-2 BOB books a week and we've started working on sight words. In writing this, I just realized that he's not doing any math, per se . . . I'll have to think about that!
Owen (5.5) is in red. Besides having him participate in the gross and fine motor skills and visual perception worksheets, I *intended* to cover some literacy concepts and social sciences (phone number memorization, basic hygiene, things like that) with him. Like I said, it hasn't happened yet. Can't do it all. ;) He listens in to Levi's history, science, and language arts lessons (and retains a surprising amount!), and does individual math and spelling/handwriting lessons with me (Miquon and Spelling Workout, respectively). Truth be told, Levi should probably be doing some of the self-care (hello, shoe-tying) and social science activities with us, too. I don't mean to make academics such a high priority; it's just what comes naturally to me!
It's an interesting new challenge, to attempt "school" with all four kids. I'm glad to be focusing on the little ones a bit more now, before the baby comes, even if it means my housework and/or meal-planning suffers a bit. I love the myriad activities to choose from at ABC Jesus Loves Me, and the option to be intentional and flexible all at the same time.
Now we'll just have to wait and see how much it all falls apart when the baby comes. ;)
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