Music Resources for Homeschool

Here is a sampling of our instrument collection

Planning for Music with my kids

My children have thoroughly enjoyed any music classes we have been able to be a part of.  However, realistically, we cannot often afford to pay for both children to be in a music class (at a common rate of around $200 for a couple months!).  What is a mother to do?  Create her own music class!  That is exactly what we did. 

Life with a Kindergartener

Life with a Kindergartener

My daughter Joelle is five.  She still loves to spend hours playing with her baby dolls.  Her favorite thing to play is being a doctor.  To her delight, her brother Jaren is usually happy to be her patient.  She loves to be creative, but she is also a perfectionist.  I see myself in her a lot as she gets older.

Review: Teach My Toddler

Teach My Toddler Review

Jaren seems to learn many things easily just from watching his sister, who is doing kindergarten at home this year.  He adores his sister, and he loves to copy her!  Recently, she was showing him the alphabet and he was repeating it after her.  Joelle also loves to play "school" with Jaren, and he happily follows along.

Kindergarten at our House: Fall 2014

We are busy people! 

First Month of Kindergarten

We have had a fun first month of Kindergarten.  Joelle is doing very well with the My Father's World curriculum.  I have been using the science and letter topic throughout the week while her friend is over, and then doing the reading lessons and worksheets with her at other times.  So far it has been pretty easy and she enjoys it.  I have done a few units in one week, but I think from now on we may stretch them into two week units.  The reading lessons require a little more work starting with Unit 6 and I still want to keep going at a slow pace.

Winter Fun!

Playtime is Learning Time

One reason that preschool at home is great for my kids and our personalities is because we love the flexibility of it.  I've learned that my daughter, very much like me, is not a morning person.  There are many mornings that we take our time to get dressed and eat breakfast.  

New Year, New Plans- Our Home Preschool

 The holidays are over and life is getting back to normal.  January has inspired me though.  I've come up with some new plans.  I have made a new schedule for us to follow in the mornings when we get up, to try to keep a good routine.  I notice it helps if we always follow a routine, even before starting our preschool day.  I've started getting up and sitting down for breakfast and Bible story time with the kids in the mornings, before getting myself ready for the day.  This seems to help with all our moods and we start the day off a lot better.

Fall Preschool Fun!

Pre-K at our House: September-November

It's been a fun and busy fall around here!  Most of our days are spent at home continuing Pre-K activities with my daughter and her friend who is over here several days a week.  I've seen lots of maturing with attention spans, cooperation with each other, and comprehension, just in the past several months.  

Adventures in Homeschooling- Letters F and E

The kids have thoroughly enjoyed the swingset lately, even in our winter weather (even though it is April).  Thank goodness for hats and scarves!  We are hoping to see Spring weather soon!

Our Home Preschool Adventure

New Ideas
I am continuing to write my own curriculum for my daughter's preschool experience here at home.  Of the boxed preschool programs that I have bought in order to sample them, I've decided I don't like any as well as what I can come up with on my own.  Any curriculum that is already put together continues to be too much for an almost three year old (in my experience). 

My Home Preschool Curriculum for Two Year Olds!

I have searched the internet looking for a free or very low cost curriculum that is age appropriate for two year olds.  I am not at all concerned about her learning anything academic right now, but since I am home with her I wanted to start doing something constructive.  I have not found anything out there that is truly age appropriate for two year olds.  So, I have started making up and writing my own curriculum that is fairly simple yet gives us the structure that I have been looking for.

The Thursday Fun Box

This morning started out too early at 7:30 AM!  Usually we sleep past 8:00 or 8:30.  And since I am getting Joelle to sleep in her crib all night lately, I have to wake up in the middle of the night to rock her back to sleep and lay her back down.  So, I am feeling more tired than usual.

We came out on the couch and snuggled together and watched the Today show for awhile.  At one point I snoozed a bit while Joelle played with her peel able fruit on the floor right in front of the couch.  She was so good!  I woke up to her saying, "Mommy, wake up!" over and over.  I must have really fallen asleep for a few minutes.  But, Joelle obviously did fine entertaining herself and staying nearby playing on the floor.

Here are the contents of today's fun box:

Once I was awake enough to get off the couch, Joelle went right for the fun box!  She played with a peg/mouse game for awhile.  And did really well.  Then she cleaned the whole thing up, singing the cleanup song and everything!

We had to do some shopping today, so didn't get to the rest of the box until late this afternoon.  She enjoyed the Time for Tots game today of putting tiny animals in a pill box container:

And we also really enjoyed painting today!  I had bought her some Crayola tempera paints in a box of six different colors.  I put a dab of each color in a little tray, gave her as many brushes as she wanted, and let her go at it.  She really preferred to use her fingers.  And she even let me paint her hands to make hand prints.  We had fun with this craft today!