I knew before the end of last school year that I would need to start some kind of preschool experience for Michael this year. I have a 6th grader and a 5th grader, so he is exposed to concepts way above his head. He just comes along for the ride and by osmosis is learning. He wants to write, spell, do math all because Tera and Daniel are doing it. What a blessing he wants to imitate them! So preschool should be easy....NOT!
I've seen a couple great articles lately about incorporating little ones into the school routine
I started by actually planning Michael into the schedule. Tera and Daniel each have Michael time on their assignment sheets...they read a book to him each day and alternate between different activities (counting, colors, alphabet, game--I assign specific activities).
I'm doing Letter of the Week activities with him using Lesson Pathways as a springboard--it's easy, planned out, has all the links in one place.
I'm also doing Bible activities with him that go along with what Tera and Daniel are doing in our new curriculum Through the Bible with Your Child. He's been memorizing Genesis 1:1- "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth." We are studying the days of creation this week:
Day 1: God made the heavens and the earth and separated light from darkness.
Day 2: God separates the heavens from the earth
Day 3: Plants...I pointed that out as Michael ate his fruit and veggies. I'm learning it doesn't have to be hard.
Day 4: Sun, Moon and Stars
He loves looking like the big kids, so workbooks, dry erase, coloring and any kind of notebooks last for at least a few minutes.
We also have all kinds of other things in our arsenal:
beads
puzzles
tangrams
counting bears
popsicle sticks
legos
k'nex
play doh
flashcards
flashcards
tons of books
a bunch of random activity sets
The newness wears off quick and attention spans are short, so I saw the need to institute the rule: If you don't do the activity Mommy provides, you go play and get nothing else. It worked!!!! (long enough for me to do this post, so that's pretty successful)
I'm sure we'll change things up as we go along this year. I feel like I'm learning all over again. I've never done the preschooler/older kid thing. Tera was a kid that always wanted to do "school". Daniel played alone most of the day until he started Kindergarten, so I never had to entertain him during Tera's first years. Michael is a whole new ball game. It's going to be fun and exciting! I learned today not to leave our science worksheet laying around...Michael found the scissors. Like I said, fun and exciting!
