Monday, September 20, 2010

2nd week of preschool: Blueberries for Sal by Robert McCloskey

For our second week of school, we read Blueberries for Sal.

"Kuplink, kuplank, kuplunk go the blueberries into the pail of a little girl named Sal who--try as she might--just can't seem to pick as fast as she eats. Robert McCloskey's classic is a magical tale of the irrepressible curiosity--not to mention appetite--of youth. Sal and her mother set off in search of blueberries for the winter at the same time as a mother bear and her cub. A quiet comedy of errors ensues when the young ones wander off and absentmindedly trail the wrong mothers." ~ Amazon review 









 












Friday, September 17, 2010

Aubrey's 1st week of preschool: "The Little Rabbit" by Phoebe Dunn

Instead of sending Aubrey to a private 3-4 year-old preschool, we are going to spend this year researching and trying out homeschool methods, materials, organizations, etc. We want to know if homeschooling will work for our family before the age when Aubrey has to officially start school. We started this week with Before Five in a Row, a christian, literature-based curriculum for preschoolers.

Since this was a very special day, Aubrey picked out a lovely dress to wear and has her new backpack to keep her supplies. She couldn't wait to go upstairs to school.
There she goes! (Yes, I actually cried.)

Our school room is located in our bonus room which is 2/3 playroom space and 1/3 home office/school space.
It was too late when I realized I should have printed this instead of writing it in cursive.

Aubrey is checking out everything on her new table. This is just phase I of our homeschool area. These are just some of the books on the readers' list for Before Five in a Row.
Aubrey is drinking her orange juice and is ready to start the day. We do one hour before Addison wakes up and another hour after the girls have breakfast.


The story that we are working with this week is The Little Rabbit. Aubrey is showing the pictures to her stuffed bunny.

Aubrey is coloring one of the pictures of a rabbit. She also did a page where she practiced writing her R's.
Aubrey is playing a math game of feeding carrots to the rabbit.
Aubrey had her first lesson on the computer. She did an on-line puzzle and printed a coloring page.
We had a visitor on our first day of school. We found him under the table (he was bright green at the time, then turned brown on the table). He made for a great "teachable moment" since our story had a part about a "camouflaged" wild rabbit.

On day three of school, we went on a field trip to a rabbit breeder. This was just one of the gorgeous rabbits we saw on our field trip. He looks just like the rabbit, Buttercup, in our story.

Love the pink eyes and ears.

Aubrey tried to hold one of the rabbits, but he kicked as soon as he got in her lap. She could better appreciate the rabbit when the breeder was holding him.


Here is the first of many, many, many lapbooks will be making for years to come to reinforce our lessons learned each week.

We both had an AWESOME first week of school. I love spending the quiet time with just Aubrey before Addison wakes up. I'm looking forward to the material we are using since I can expand upon it as much as I want (e.g.s. add writing, math, science, art, music, etc.).