Our 2012 "Curriculum"

Now that Christmas is over, I'm excited to get back to having some more intentional "Tot School" time with Grace and I'm hoping to start doing a little bit of "Preschool" work with Jonathan. I still don't want to do anything terribly structured-- I do believe that children learn best through play. However, Jonathan is very curious and I do want to be presenting him with lots of books and building some of his preschool "skills".

I recently read Clay & Sally Clarkson's Educating the Wholehearted Child. If you are thinking about homeschooling, I heartily recommend the book. In the book, they present the analogy of a house.

• Discipleship Studies-- this is the foundation of a Christian home-education. If we're not teaching our children the Word of God, nothing else matters.
• Disciplined Studies-- the study of the mechanics of reading, writing, math and logic.
• Discussion Studies and Discovery Studies-- include history, science, geography, etc.
• Discretionary Studies-- are the glue that holds everything together, these things are tailored to particular interests and talents of your child.

As we consider homeschooling our children, my plan is to work from the ground up. This past year with Jonathan we've been building a foundation of Biblical studies as well as some basic alphabet studies. Now, I'm hoping to add some more of the disciplined studies to the mix. Next year as we get closer to kindergarten, I hope to include some geography, science, etc. This model helps me to focus on what is the most important and add things in slowly without being overwhelmed at trying to do it all!

So, without further ado, this is what we're hoping to do in 2012:

Jonathan is three years old (as of Jan). Grace will be 1-1/2 through 2-1/2 through 2012.

Discipleship Studies: Bible & Character

We are continuing our study of the New Testament through June of 2012. Our monthly units will be:

• Jesus the Healer
• Jesus the Miracle Worker
• Jesus the Teacher
• Jesus the Storyteller
• Jesus the Savior
• The Early Church

 After June, I will decide whether we will do another one-year cycle of biblical history or do something else.

We use: The Bible in Pictures for Little Eyes for our Bible units along with supplemental books that go with each unit.   In the evenings, we try to go through The Big Picture Story Bible with daddy.

For character training, we are currently using Right Choices by Kenneth Taylor. I'm still researching what we'd like to use after we are finished with this book.

Memory Verses: My ABC Bible Verses by Susan Hunt (this goes along with Raising Rockstars Preschool)

Disciplined Studies: Reading, Writing, Math, Logic

Reading (for both Jonathan & Grace)

• Sonlight P3/4-- I'm interested in using Sonlight as the children get older. I bought the instructor's guide for P3/4 and am going to get most of the books from the library. My goal is to spread this out until Grace is old enough to do Sonlight P4/5 with us. I'm going to supplement some of the books with fun activities as well as use:
• Before Five in a Row-- a literature-based preschool "curriculum".

Phonics (for Jonathan)

• The Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading-- I'm using this as my base guide to knowing which concepts to introduce. Supplementing with beginning readers such as Bob Books or readers from Modern Curriculum Press (courtesy of our library).

Handwriting (Jonathan):

• Raising Rockstars Preschool- a wonderful, free curriculum from Carisa over at 1+1+1=1. This will also be used for Grace's letter recognition. We'll probably alternate this with Literature or theme-based units.

Math (Jonathan):

• Beginning Math Reasoning- this is an award-winning book for 3 and 4 year olds. I hope to start going through this with Jonathan- it covers lots of concepts from counting through beginning fractions. He's already beginning to add and subtract, so I think this will be helpful. I'm supplementing with:
• MathStart books-- living books which help teach math concepts (courtesy of our library)
• Manipulatives- Unifix cubes, counting bears, etc.

Logic:

• Building Thinking Skills Beginning-- an award-winning book which helps develop early logic skills.

So that's our plan for this coming year! It'll probably be re-worked several times as I see how realistic it is. But flexibility is one benefit of learning at home!

Kids in the Word: Jonah

Although we're all recovering from illness here, we did get through our Bible story from last week, which was Jonah. 

As usually, we read the story in our toddler Bible. And then we read these stories to supplement:

Jonah and the Big Fish

This is an easy-reader story that recounts the narrative of Jonah. It focuses on the themes of obedience as well as God's forgiveness. Jonathan has loved this series of books and this one is no exception. It focuses mostly on Jonah 1-3 and includes the fact that the people of Ninevah repented and turned to God. 

Jonah and the Very Big Fish 

This is another Arch book which recounts the biblical narrative in rhyming verse. I like that it actually includes all four chapters of Jonah and therefore also includes Jonah's attitude at the end of the book after Ninevah repents as well as God's response. 

Whoops! (Jonah and the Fish) by Mary Manz Simon

This is another easy reader that tries to tell the story of Jonah and the fish in about twenty-five words. Jonathan really liked the illustrations in this story-- he would pound his fist with Jonah as Jonah declares he will not go to Ninevah. What I don't like is that the book solely focuses on Jonah's obedience and never mentions how Ninevah responds. 

Games 

We talked about obedience a lot with the Jonah story, so we played Simon Says and Red Light Green Light. 

Art 

We made Jonah and the fish. We cut two sides of a fish out of cardstock and colored it and added a googly eye. Then we glued a picture of Jonah to another piece of cardstock and taped yarn to it. We glued the two fish halves together with the yarn in between and Jonathan could use the yarn to pull Jonah into the fish's belly:

He loved it! The only drawback was that it was played with so much it ripped. But he had fun! You can see other Jonah art projects on my Pinterest board. 

Movie 

We didn't get to do this, but I was planning on watching the Veggie Tales movie of Jonah. (You can stream through Netflix). We've seen it before, and it's a fun retelling of the story. 

So that's our week on Jonah. Next up- Daniel.... 

r is for rockets and robots {book reviews}

A couple weeks ago, we read lots of good books about two topics that I thought would be of interest to Jonathan: rockets and robots!

Robots 

The Robot Book by Heather Brown

This was a fun board book that Jonathan really liked. It features moving gears and parts to show how robots work. It's very clever and very appealing to toddlers. We checked our copy out from our local library and the only drawback was the moving parts definitely showed some wear. However, this is a wonderful book for robot-loving toddlers and preschoolers.

Me and My Robot by Tracy West

This was probably Jonathan's favorite book. It's an early reader about a young boy Reese and his robot who try to find a friend's missing kitten. It has just enough humor that made Jonathan laugh. He requested it several times.

Create Your Own Robot Sticker Book

This isn't a storybook, but an activity book that features a robot body and enough parts (stickers) to make four different robots. Jonathan loved this book and kept wanting to pull it out and build new robots. It was a pretty big hit and was very affordable fun!






Rockets

On the Launch Pad: A Counting Book About Rockets by Michael Dahl

This is a cute concept book in which you and your children count down from 12 to 1 in preparation for a rocket launch. The illustrations are bold and each page has a hidden number to find. Jonathan had fun counting the objects, but wasn't as interested in finding the number. Still, it's a good concept book for any rocket-loving little boy and a wonderful addition to a space unit.

Roaring Rockets by Tony Mitton

Ah, Tony Mitton. How we love his books, especially his Amazing Machines series. Ant Parker's bold pictures are a wonderful complement to Mitton's rhyming verse. This book teaches about rockets and astronauts in a way that's fun and educational. Jonathan always asks for repeated reads of these books and Roaring Rockets was no exception.

Curious George and the Rocket by H.A. Ray

This board book is an excerpt from one of the original George books. Jonathan really enjoyed Curious George when we went through our monkeys unit and I thought that Grace might like the shortened board book. The story was still too long for Grace to enjoy, but Jonathan liked reading the shortened story.

Rockets and Spaceships by Karen Wallace

This is an informative easy reader about space. It has photographs on each page showing rockets, spaceships, and astronauts and teaches about space travel. Unfortunately, this one didn't really interest Jonathan. He hasn't really developed a strong interest in outer space at this point. If your little one is very interested in space, astronauts and rockets, this would be a good book to try!






This was in the middle of potty training and days where Jonathan was lukewarm about the activities I presented. Some things went really well, and others were a complete bomb. But, if you're looking for some ideas on these topics, check out my Pinterest boards on rockets and robots!

r is for Rainforest {Books}

Last week we learned about the rainforest as we began reviewing the letter "r". We had fun learning about the different animals in the rainforest.

Over in the Jungle: A Rainforest Rhyme by Marianne Berkes

This is a delightful book that you can sing to your children. You count rainforest animals to the tune of the children's song Over in the Meadow. While you are singing, you will learn more about the different animals that live in the rainforest . The clay illustrations just seem to jump out at you and the back of the book includes different actions you and your children can do for each animal. This is tons of fun to share with your toddler-- it's a book we read often in the past few weeks. Apparently she has books about other animal habitats-- I'm excited to read more of her works!


The Umbrella by Jan Brett

This offering by noted children's author Jan Brett is a fun tale that takes place in the Costa Rican cloud forest. It's similar in style to The Mitten, an earlier work of Brett's, in which animals crowd one by one into a leaf umbrella until there's no more room. It's an entertaining tale that Jonathan wanted to hear several times. Brett's illustrations are, as always, breathtaking and full of detail. This is a fun addition to any rainforest unit!

Rainforest Animals by Paul Hess

This is a perfect first book to introduce children to Rainforest animals. Each two page spread features a different animal in its natural habitat. Bold text displays the animal name and a short 4-line verse is included which describes some of that animal's behavior. It's the perfect book for younger toddlers-- even Grace had the attention span to enjoy this book.

The Living Rain Forest: An Animal Alphabet by Paul Kratter

I usually try to pick out an alphabet book that corresponds with whatever our "theme" for the week is. So this is a beautifully illustrated alphabet book that features different animals and plants of the world's rain forests. Each double-spread layout includes some interesting facts about the animal, including their size and length. It's very interesting and informative, but the information really isn't appealing for toddlers/preschoolers. Jonathan just really liked looking at the pictures! The book includes animals from all over the world, so if you are looking to focus on animals of a particular regions, then this one may not be the best choice for your classroom.

The Rainforest Grew All Around by Susan Mitchell

This is another rainforest book based on a song. This book adapts the song The Green Grass Grew All Around. As you go through the verses of the song, you learn about the different animals and plants of the rainforest. The illustrations feature lush scenes of the Amazon and the sidebars include additional facts. There's also a cookie recipe using ingredients that we import from the Rain Forest-- it would make a wonderful baking project to share with your little ones!

A Walk in the Rainforest by Kristin Joy Pratt

This is another alphabet book that was written and illustrated by a fifteen year old girl. It follows a little ant named XYZ on its walk through a rainforest. The any meets different animals such as "an intriguing iguana" and "an observant ocelot". Some of the letters seem a little forced such as "a natural Native who knows nature well", but all in all it's a cute book.




All of these were fun reads for our week in the rainforest. Thanks for visiting!

I'm linking up to these wonderful blogs:

Read Aloud Thursday @ Hope is the Word

Reading Aloud Challenge @ Footprints in the Butter

Feed Me Books Friday @ Little Sprout Books

What My Child is Reading @ Mouse Grows, Mouse Learns

Book Sharing Monday @ Smiling Like Sunshine

k is for kangaroo and koala- books

We read several books last week as part of our "k is for kangaroo" and "k is for koala" week. I highlighted them in Sunday's Tot School post, but here's some more detailed reviews for other children's bibliophiles:



A Kangaroo's World by Emily Arnold
A Koala's World by Emily Arnold


These are part of a series on Australian animals. Each book traces the life of a baby kangaroo or koala during their its year. They spend a significant part of the year in their mother's pouches and then begin to explore the world on their own. These books are a little lengthy for toddlers- preschoolers and younger elementary students would get the most out of them. We did enjoy them, however. I read these books to Jonathan and Grace over lunchtime and sometimes, but not often, simplified the information on each page. Jonathan had particular fun pulling out the other animals in each story from his Land Down Under Toob.

Koala Lou by Mem Fox

This is a story about a little koala, Koala Lou, who is loved by everyone, especially her mommy. Her momma often tells her "Koala Lou, I DO love you!". But as their family grows, Koala Lou's mommy gets busier and Koala Lou longs to hear those words again. She trains for the Bush Olympics and plans to get her mother's attention and love (which she, of course, never lost in the first place). It's a sweet story that is ideal for children who have younger siblings at home. Jonathan enjoyed this one a lot.

Can You Cuddle Like a Koala? by John Butler

I'd heard of John Butler before on other blogs, but this was our first exposure to him. It's a sweet cuddly story meant for reading before bedtime. It asks children if they can imitate different actions that animals do- cuddle like a koala, leap like a frog, swing like a monkey. The soft illustrations are absolutely charming and it was a favorite that Jonathan requested repeated.

I Love You, Blue Kangaroo! by Emma Chichester Clark

This is the first in a series about a little girl who has a favorite lovie, "blue kangaroo". She brings blue kangaroo to bed with her every night and says "I Love You, Blue Kangaroo!" But as the girl grows up, she gets more stuffed animals and blue kangaroo starts to get worried that he'll be replaced. It explores familiar themes (jealousy, insecurity) for preschoolers. Lily isn't always the best example (such as in sharing) but overall the story is well worth reading and talking about with your little one. Jonathan keeps talking about "blue kangaroo" and we may have to check out more of this series!

K is for Kissing a Cool Kangaroo by Giles Andreae

This is a humorous alphabet book that leaves you and your little one with plenty to search and discover. Each page introduces the capital and lowercase letter and is accompanied by a detailed picture which includes animals and other items which begin with the featured letter. There are lots of things for your little one to discover in each picture and Jonathan had fun pointing out the items mentioned in each little tongue twister.

What do you do with a Kangaroo? by Mercer Mayer

This is a funny book about a spunky little girl who faces off with some bossy animals who want her things. It's fun and clever, but was a little bit lengthy for Jonathan. I'd recommend it for preschool and lower elementary. I think we'll retry when Jonathan is around that age.


We are sharing this post with these book blog carnivals.

Kids in the Word: Joshua

Last week, we moved on from Moses and learned about Joshua. Jonathan wasn't familiar with the story of Joshua before this week, but he really liked learning about this biblical hero.

Bible 


We read the stories about Joshua from Jonathan's toddler Bible, the Bible in Pictures for Little Eyes. The stories of Joshua were covered in about five different stories, so we did one a day at the breakfast table.

We focused on two stories from the Joshua narrative (1) Israel Crossing the Jordan River and (2) the Walls of Jericho

Joshua Crosses the Jordan by Crystal Bowman

This is another book from the Beginner's Bible I Can Read! series. It's a higher reading level than most of the books we've been reading. It focuses primarily on the selection of Joshua as Israel's new leader, and Joshua leading the people across the Jordan River. Jonathan loved this book and carried it with him around the house.

Joshua: the Brave Leader by Carine MacKenzie

This particular series (Bible time) is a new one for us. It's meant for reading aloud to age 3+. the stories are a little longer than the easy readers, so I divided the book into two days. This particular book focuses mostly on the story of Joshua and the walls of Jericho. I like that it's very faithful to the biblical narrative, and it also ties in some application points without being too preachy. For example, after telling about the selection of Joshua as the new leader of Israel and the promises God gave to Joshua, the book says "God is the same today and he promises to be with those who trust him". It looks to be a great series for preschool aged children. Jonathan liked this book as well, but not as much as the first book. He still would pull the book off the shelf and flip through it. He liked the pictures especially.

Games 


We built the walls of Jericho with our cardboard blocks. We marched around the blocks and then knocked them all down! I don't have pictures- sorry! We were too busy marching.  Both Jonathan and Grace enjoyed building with the blocks this week.

Music 


We learned the song "Joshua Fought the Battle of Jericho" and sung this with daddy several times this week.

Art


We made the walls of Jericho. I cut out sandpaper "bricks" from fine-grade sandpaper.. Jonathan and daddy glued them onto paper:

Movies 


We watched the Veggie Tales classic "Josh and the Big Wall", which is available for steaming on Netflix. Jonathan really enjoyed this movie and laughed at the silliness of it.

Habits 


Charlotte Mason emphasized the importance of instilling good habits during early childhood. We recently bought the book A Child's Book of Character Building (both volumes). We're focusing on attentiveness which is defined as "listening with your ears, eyes, and heart". The verse is Proverbs 4:20-21. We've done a few exercises pertaining to this, which I may share in a future post.

Next up... Gideon! Have a great week!

This post is linked up to these linky parties.

M is for Monkey: Books for Toddlers & Preschoolers

As usual, we are reading a lot of books this week as we learn about monkeys. Here are some highlights of what Jonathan and I have been reading:

The Original Curious George by H.A. Rey

We've enjoyed George before, but I pulled some of our books out again for our "monkey" unit. We read the first book  in the series which tells how George meets the Man in the Yellow Hat and comes to live in the city. We also read Curious George takes a Job, Curious George Learns the Alphabet, and Curious George Goes to the Hospital. Jonathan loved them all-- he loves reading about this silly monkey! (The original books, in my opinion, are the best-- even if some of the illustrations, such as in the hospital, are a little "dated").

Caps for Sale: A Tale of a Peddler, Some Monkeys, and Their Monkey Business by Esphyr Slobodkina

This is an another fun and classic story from 1940. It's about a cap peddler who falls asleep and wakes up to find that some monkeys have stolen his caps! He tries different tactics to get his caps back-- until the solution ends up being something unexpected! Jonathan engaged with this story. We had fun acting it out and playing "monkey see, monkey do".

Hand, Hand, Fingers, Thumb by Al Perkins

This is another classic book that I remember from my childhood. If you aren't familiar with it, it is about monkeys beating on drums- dum ditty, dum ditty, dum dum dum. It's  very rhythmic and lends itself well to acting out the story. We beat on our Leap Frog drum, our knees, the floor, etc. in time with the story.  Jonathan had so much fun he even wanted to take the book to bed with him!

Five Little Monkeys by Eileen Christelow

This is a modern-day classic based on the children's song. The five little monkeys are jumping on the bed. One by one, the little monkeys fall off of the bed and bump their heads. This is a very toddler-friendly book. Jonathan loves pretending to be a little monkey. Another book that we read (in honor of Grace's birthday) was Five Little Monkeys Bake a Birthday Cake.

Counting Coconuts/Contando Cocos by Wendi Silvano

This is a fun, bilingual counting book that aims to teach skip counting. The monkey is hungry, but he wants to count his coconuts. The various rainforest animals suggest counting by twos, threes, fours, fives, and tens to help monkey count his coconuts. The Spanish numbers for one, two, three, four, five, and ten are taught as part of the book. It's a fun concept, but was still a little over Jonathan's head. Older preschoolers may enjoy this fun book even more.



I'm linking up to:

Read Aloud Thursday @ Hope is the Word
Feed Me Books Friday @ Little Sprout Books
What My Child is Reading @ Mouse Grows, Mouse Learns
Book Sharing Monday @ Smiling Like Sunshine


Happy Reading!

Tot School- f is for firetrucks & footballs!

Jonathan is 29 Months

We started looking at the letter "f" by reading about firetrucks and footballs. Jonathan is really interested in both things that move and any kind of sport, so he had a lot of fun this week!

Bible 


We haven't worked on a Bible verse this week. We've been taking a little break from it. I have been playing the Seeds of Courage on our iPod and Jonathan likes dancing and moving around to the music.

We continued reading through a little devotional in the morning, Everything a Child Should Know about God by Kenneth Taylor. We do one page each day and talk about the pictures.

We bought a few more books from the Beginner's Bible I Can Read and Jonathan loves these books. Each night he asks for one or more stories.

Books 


We read lots and lots of books the past couple weeks about firemen/firetrucks (see part I and part II) as well as footballs.

• Flashing Fire Engines by Tony Mitton- this is another part of Tony Mitton's Amazing Machines series. This book focuses on firemen. and is a wonderful, fun introduction to what firemen do. 
• Fire Engine Man by Andrea Zimmerman & David Clemesha- a little boy imagines what he will do as a fireman someday and how he'll teach his younger brother to be a fireman. 
• The Little Fire Engine by Lois Lenski- a reprint of a 1946 book that tells about Fireman Small and shows him going through his day fighting fires and rescuing people. The vintage illustrations are charming and Jonathan wanted it read "again" and "again". 
• My Football Book by Gail Gibbons- This nonfiction book teaches the main rules and positions of American football through showing a friendly competition between two teams. 

Those are the highlights- but we've read plenty more this week. See the original posts for our reviews.

Motor Skills 


We practiced stop, dropping, and rolling while we were learning fire safety. We also practiced "climbing" a ladder:

We also played football. :)

Art

We made a firetruck from a box and some construction paper. Both Jonathan and his friend T. had fun dressing up and pretending to be firemen:

Math/Puzzles/Games


We used our beginner pattern blocks to make a firetruck:

And did puzzles which featured firetrucks and footballs:

and Jonathan also had fun playing with his fire extinguisher which just happens to be a water gun. I let him "clean" my windows.

So that's what we've been up to this week!

I'm linking up to:

Link & Learn @ No Time for Flashcards

Tot School @ 1+1+1=1

Color Mixing

This is a very simple activity, but Jonathan really enjoyed it:

We recently read White Rabbit's Color Book in which the white rabbit had fun bathing in different paint colors and seeing which color(s) she ended up. Jonathan loved this book, so I thought it would be fun to mix primary colors.

I pulled out three small glasses and filled them with water. I also pulled out a washcloth to mop up any spills. Then I added food coloring to the three glasses to make them turn red, yellow, and blue.

I gave Jonathan a medicine dropper and he had fun transferring the colored water back and forth. He was amazed when he combined blue and yellow and made green water.

This literally kept him occupied for an hour. I would periodically refresh his water and he just had tons of fun!

Toddler Friendly Nativity Scene

Last year was Jonathan's first Christmas. We were in the midst of moving back to Chicago, so we didn't decorate or do very much to celebrate. The only thing I did was display my Willow Tree nativity set. This year, I'm so excited to be able to decorate- especially since Jonathan's a bit older and will be able to understand a little more of what's going on around him.

Last year, I spotted this Fisher Price Little People Nativity set and I knew I wanted it for Jonathan. I love my Willow Tree set, but I believe it's important for children to have a nativity set they can play with and manipulate. We had the Little People Noah's Ark set, and I knew the nativity would be perfect for a toddler to handle.

This year I was delighted to receive it from a dear friend shortly after Grace's birth. We pulled it out yesterday and Jonathan loved it.  I used the people to reenact the Bible story and then I let him play with the figures as he wished. We repeated the story again today. His favorite part is pressing the button to hear "Away in a Manger"! I'm ordering the three wise men set for him as well.

Playing with his nativity

He likes it!

Teaching Character Concepts to Preschoolers

As I shared in a previous blog post, I've been trying to think through how to teach my children about the Lord. I love working with Jonathan and teaching him about shapes, colors, numbers, and letters. But ultimately, the most important thing I can teach him is about God. Related to that is trying to build up his character so that he reflects the God who made him.

Charlotte Mason wrote that a child's home life impacts his or her character and future more than any other influence. Therefore, it's important that we consider our children's strengths and weaknesses and try to help them develop godly character traits. But how do we do this?

Over at Sarah Mae's blog, she's hosting a giveaway of a spectacular looking resource- Character Concepts for Preschoolers. It looks like something I could even simplify for my toddler. Head on over and enter the giveaway!