Learning and Lesson Plans

Lately, we've taken a bit more of an "unschooled" approach to school, and I've been amazed at how well it's working for both me and the boys.  I looked through tons of curriculum this summer and just couldn't come up with the right fit.  With our old approach, I was struggling to keep the boys attention and they were really getting frustrated with me. That's not to say I won't be using a lot of our old materials and working through some specific themes, but I'm amazed at how much more my boys are learning through their own questioning and play.

With the weather a bit nicer, we've been outside a lot. My boys love bubbles and we had a blast learning all of the different things you could blow bubbles through.

We tried making bubble snakes.  It was a super fun idea, but my little guys didn't have the lung power to pull it off.  They did, however, have a blast making gigantic bubbles!

This spatula made some great bubbles... loads of little ones!

Mommy got a couple of good bubble snakes out, but you really did have to blow...HARD!

Art is huge at our house lately.  The boys think it's all fun and games, but I am able to sneak in loads of learning during this time.  Our Melissa and Doug letter stamps are great for letter recognition, reading, spelling and fine motor skills.

Stone's fine motor skills are really coming along and his attention and focus continue to compound so our time spent doing "bookwork" is much more enjoyable.

He's  also really coming along with his reading and phonics.  We love Starfall (we have purchased their kinder curriculum) for language arts!

Most of our math is done in the kitchen.  Counting, measuring, fractions... we work it all in!

Cooking is also a great exercise in fine motor skills.

A little more math with manipulatives.   We use these sorting bugs a ton for math: sorting by shape and color for the littles and addition and subtraction foundational principles for Stone.

The boys have a daily chore schedule that they are responsible for.  It goes right along my my daily task lists and they usually wind up doing more than I require of them.  They are such good helpers!

Ripping, tearing, cutting and pasting... it's what we do best!

I'll continue to blog a bit about the schooling we're doing, but since we're taking a different approach I don't expect it to be a weekly feature.  Since I really began to delve into the world of homeschooling last year, I learned that being flexible to methods and curriculum is key.  Before, I thought I'd pick one approach and steadfastly stick with it for 12+ years.  This is what works for us now... I expect that our approach will change many times through the years!

Summer Schoolin'

We've tried to take this summer slow.  I've got a list of "school" things that I want to accomplish, but it's not long.  I recently looked at our state's prekinder guidelines, and the boys are already ahead of where they need to be.  I'm still researching curriculum for the fall, but am certain Stone will move into a Kindergarten curriculum, even though he's still pre-school aged (birthday Sept. 2).  

So, you'll see a lot less of our Learning and Lesson Plans this summer and a lot more of us learning through play!

I have to admit that I NEVER would have believed last year that all of my kids would be proficient in the water this year.  We still wear our floaties, but I don't have to be right by them in the pool.  Can you say lifechanging?  We purchased a city pool pass and have already gotten our money's worth this summer!

Of course, there are still workbooks, so skills have to  be learned that way!  Fortunately I have very eager learners, and a collection of really fun workbooks!

Stone started Hooked on Phonics this summer.  We were given this curriculum as a hand-me-down and I have to tell you that it's worked SO well for him!  This is the only structured element of our summer fun... we'll    see where it takes us in the fall!

Father's Day Crafting

The boys spent Father's Day weekend crafting with their daddy.  It's one of their favorite things to do, and they were thrilled to spend this special time with him.

Daddy loves koozies and the boys do too!  They simply must have one around their cups in the morning!

So, we made a few new ones, pirate themed of course!

Aaarrrhhhh!

After the koozies, the little boys and daddy moved on to some claywork and made an awesome set of skateboards and a ramp.

Roll it out!

The boys all three worked together to make a very special card for their Pop!  Stone even spelled Pop's name for us!

Learning and Lesson Plans

This weeks lessons were totally unplanned, they just fell into place and the boys loved them!  I don't have a written lesson plan, we just went where our curiosity took us.  Very, very out of character for me, but the boys had a blast!

Everything started with a very small idea. Writing letters to pen-pals who lived far away.

Stone has really been struggling with his handwriting and storytelling, both skills that I want to hone before we start our kindergarten curriculum in the fall.  I did a little research on cultivating these skills and pen-pals and journaling kept coming up.  I thought it was a great idea and something I wouldn't have ever come up with!  I asked Stone some prompting questions and we worked together to write the letter.  I did all of the actual writing this time (from his dictations), but Stone signed his name and included a picture.

The little boys got in on the act too!  It was fun to see all of them come up with questions for the other kid-os. Holden wanted to know what color his pen-pal's blankie was!

I chose three totally separate pen-pals for the boys, all of them are spread across the US, but are close in age to each of my children.  We looked at a map and the boys really got into where their pen-pal lived and what the weather was like there, compared to what our weather was like.

We talked a lot about maps this week and used the 50 States and Map Reading videos from the Teacher and the Rockbots America DVD to reinforce some of the concepts we were discussing.  The boys LOVED getting their groove on!

I'm constantly amazed at their ability to learn. My goal was not to have them memorize all 50 states, or flawlessly read a map, but we walked away with an amazing beginning understanding that will build a foundation for years to come.  AND they know the Pledge!

I love being able to be the one to open their eyes to the wonders of this world that God created and feel so, so blessed to be the mommy of these three amazing little guys!

For more great ideas on things to do with your kids, I suggest:

- 1+1+1=1

- Raising Memories

- Homeschool Creations

- ABC's and 123's

- Musings of Me

- Confessions of a Homeschooler

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Butterflies

When we studied bugs last week, this little guy wasn't quite ready to make his grand entrance.

To be honest, I had some doubts that he would actually emerge... he was loved a bit too much by my lot of littles, but...

Mr. Butterfly proved to be a bit more resilient than we thought!

And he decided to stick around for a while!

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Raising Readers

Heath and I both love reading. We routinely get lost in books, and that's something we want for our kids. But in today's culture full of televisions, computers and iPad games, reading books doesn't seem to come as naturally as it used to.

So, we've set up a few systems in our house that seem to be fostering independent reading in our kids. Since it's working at our house, I wanted to share!

1. Give them ready access




Since I'm a bit of a compulsive neat freak, I often keep toys behind closed doors, but that rule doesn't apply to books. I keep them out, stored low on an open bookshelf where the kids can always have them available.

2. Let them read their own way





Stone is an emergent reader, so he is often sounding out words and actually reading, but I've always encouraged the boys to "read" independently. Cash and Holden love re-telling stories using the pictures for cues. I love listening to what they come up with and what parts of the story are most memorable to them!

3. Read to them and let them see you reading





I'm always up for reading a book to the kids - and I love when we have company over and the boys declare an impromptu story time. Our Uncle Marc loves to read and is a big reason we have such an extensive little library. There are also times that I ask the boys to read independently and I read a chapter or two of my own book while they do. Kids do what you do, when you model reading, you're setting them up for a very literary future.

4. Take them to the library





I don't know about yours, but our library is so much more than just a place for books! We love storytime at the library and routinely check out their early literacy materials. Cash loves the "Brown Bear, Brown Bear" flannel set and it does a great job teaching him sequencing, which is an imperative pre-reading skill.

5. Limit the electronics





Yes, we have an iPad, and yes, it has some great reading skill builders on it, BUT it is nothing compared to a book and actual reading. I did my masters work in early education and reading recovery close to 10 years ago, so it was way before iPads. There isn't a wealth of research out there either, but there are people working on it. When it comes to television, even educational television, the jury has spoken and the experts agree that it's no replacement for teaching and parenting. Remove these things from your life as much as possible, and take them out of your kids lives too!

6. There's no wrong way to do it





While I'm sure reading in this position for long periods wouldn't be encouraged by a chiropractor, letting your kids do their own thing should be encouraged. They don't have to finish every book they start, let them skip some pages, and even though it's about as boring as watching a pot boil, read them the same book as many times as they want. Yes, over and over and over and over...




And then sit back and watch them share that same book with their brothers. Because that is truly priceless!

I do have a masters degree in early education focusing on reading readiness and recovery, however I have never put my knowledge to work in a classroom of emergent readers, unless you count teaching journalism writing to a bunch of college freshmen. I'm sure lots of research has been done since I obtained my degree, and I'm sure there are many methods you could use to teach a child to read, some are probably even opposite of mine. Please use what worked for our family as a guideline for yours, but know that it is not a guaranteed system.

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