In the span of 10 days we had upper respiratory infections, stomach bugs, an ear infection, a stolen truck, and delayed flights.
My husband was out of town for work when this little man went down.
Then we found out the truck was stolen and towed
Science!!!!!!
We mix Blossom and Root’s nature study with The Good and The Beautiful’s little hearts and hands science Wind and Waves and Fields and Flowers. I try and pair them loosely to the seasons and things we might see or experience.
My oldest is a smidge young for both but if I find a good connecting book or something he really gets into it. My youngest is just a long for the ride at this point hahaha.
For example we just did the water cycle. I found a great library book that my son loved about a drop of water going through the water cycle and that brought it alive for him.
Our first year of homeschooling is coming to an end. I loved almost every minute of it lol. Overall, my toddler did amazing with the curriculum. With a year under my belt now I kind of know how he learns and how he does things. So I will review the curriculum that we used for preschool and in a couple weeks I’ll post what we’re going to do for Pre-K.
Language Arts
These were fantastic much more like playing games and doing fun little projects then worksheets
We started this about 2/3rds of the way through the year and will be continuing it through pre-K. These are much more lesson like so we tend to break them up into smaller sections but I have become a big fan of the Good and the Beautiful.
Math
I didn’t like this at all and neither did my toddler. We found it to be very dry and boring. I wasn’t going to make either of us suffer through it after I decided we didn’t like it. We got about halfway through it then I chucked it in the recycling bin.
My son loved this in the beginning and even asked for it regularly to play it. However once his new little sister was big enough to start taking pieces it started turning into a battle so we set this aside as well. But, it did lay a great foundation for us.
This was fantastic. Timberdoodle actually added this in their 2023-2024 preschool curriculum kit so I only ordered it about 2 months ago but we are almost done with it. If you do it weekly it is not a full year’s worth of curriculum but it has added a little bit of math back into our study.
Thinking skills
My toddler loved this!!!!!
These were fantastic just like the alphabet books by the same company. They were fun and engaging and quick.
Another one that my toddler and I thought was really boring and dry. Just like the math we got about halfway through the book and I chucked it.
History and social studies
Nature and science
Art
Skills
Overall, it was a great year. I loved watching my son grow in leaps and bounds. Which is exactly how it came. He would not get something and suddenly it would click. He was really did go in leaps and bounds and stops and starts.
The great thing about homeschooling his preschool is I was really able to follow his rhythm and our rhythm as a family. There were weeks where we didn’t do anything. We kind of fell out of our rhythm and then we’d pick it back up and have a couple of great weeks, couple great months and then kind of fall off again which worked out great for us. We’re still finishing on time and I just love the entire experience.
We started a little before he returned 2 years old. So it was by no means always easy sunshine but it was rewarding and wonderful. Occasionally I did resort to a little bit of bribery or coercion sort of to get him to come over and start. Once he started. He usually loved everything. But it would occasionally be oh. Can you help Mommy do this? Or do you want to come eat a chip with me while we look at this picture and talk about it? Lol.
I put on some Nat Geo in the morning while we all relaxed and woke up
I read them a book from the construction unit we are doing from playing preschool
We talked about the date, weather, season, the months of the year and the days of the week
We did some stickers in our math sticker book
Then we played outside until daddy got off work
Overall I’d call it a pretty good day.
Wednesday –
AM – 3 worksheets done and 1 book read
Then gymnastics and the library
Thursday – AM
Two worksheets and 1 spread in ‘things to spot’ as he ran around the house hahaha
Then into the stroller the kids went for a 2 mile run. Then some time to run around the backyard.
Back inside we ‘worked’ on a puzzle, which means I put the pieces in place and he stomped them down hahaha. But I do try and get him to point out 1 or 2 things to me each time and I name the continents and oceans.
We also played with the bunny boo game. It works on spacial awareness and directionality
PM – I read to them for 15 min
Friday AM – 3 worksheets
Saturday – OFF
Sunday – OFF some Sundays we will do a little bit but today we went to visit the grandparents
Monday AM
After this he had a lovely toddler meltdown compete with ear splitting screaming.
After he calmed down I loaded the kids in the stroller and went for a 3 mile run then we did some exploring and gardening in the backyard.
Tuesday – AM
And that is a wrap! That is a week of homeschooling with us. Some weeks we get more done and some less. This month we are really busy with swim lessons so each week we have 1 gymnastics class and 2 swim lessons. Since we are so busy I am pushing school a little less.
Because it is preschool level and he is only 2.5 I try and keep it light and not make him do things he isn’t feeling that day or time, I want to foster a love for learning not destroy it.
Thanks for joining us!!!
Homeschooling a 2.5 yr old can be challenging, very trying on my patience, frustrating and so very rewarding. Watching him progress and take leaps and bounds forward is wonderful.
The nice thing about homeschooling is that I can tailor our days to the kids. On days he is having a hard time we can do no schooling or just 1 or 2 things. On days he is doing well we can bust the work out.
This morning was sort of a good morning. The baby woke up early (not the good part hahahaha) and my husband got up with her after I fed her. I stayed in bed but realized I wasn’t going to fall back asleep easily and figured 30 extra min of sleep would probably end up making me more tired so I got up and went for a run.
We then had a slow morning of watching some cartoons and relaxing. After breakfast we busted the work out cause he was focused.
I also read aloud to them for 10min from a magic treehouse book.
Every day is different, what we do and what we get done is different.
The next day was a good morning and we busted it out again. He had some excess energy to burn so he would run a lap around the house and I’d stop him to answer a school question then he’d take another lap. We got through 4 workbook pages and a spread in our things to spot book this way and he laughed the whole time.
My children are not school aged so I am not doing any formal schooling yet. But I am trying to foster a love for learning and put as many learning opportunities in our lives as possible.
I bought a nature study curriculum called exploring nature with children that I am currently dipping in and out of for inspiration. When we are playing in our yard or taking walks I mention the seasons and ask about flower colors and flower bulbs and on and on.
The other curriculum I was introduced to by my friend Stephanie is by a company called Timberdoodle. So far I love, love, love it. They have curriculum for kids from 0 years old to a senior in high school. I don’t know how long I will homschool for but the state of public education in this country is scaring me more and more.
I picked and chose what I liked and wanted to start with. We don’t touch on everything every week but i try and hit 1-2 things a day m-f. The weekends are just bonuses if we manage anything because our schedule is different.
I just love when they understand something, when they learn something new, and when he tells me something I taught him 5 min ago, 5 hours ago or 5 days ago. I love when she actually communicates something to me bub pointing or bringing something to me.
Come on this crazy journey with me!
Ok first off, yes, my baby is only 8.5 months old. I fully understand I am not REALLY starting homeschooling him. However, I am lucky enough to be a stay at home mom right now so I want to make the most of it. I simply want to make sure that I am giving him opportunities to learn as much as possible. Most of it will all be through play and exploration.
I have done a very rough layout of the next 3 years. Basically I picked a theme each week of the year, with a few no theme more relaxed ‘off weeks’ thrown in. I had a weekly calendar page that i spilt each day into 3 parts. The first section is year 1, its a lot of reading (me to him hahahaha) ABCs, sensory bins, fun on topic movie nights, learning to color things like that. Year 2 builds on that by adding in tracing and more emphasis on counting and matching small adjustments like that. And year 3 we add in more counting/math a few fun basic age appropriate science experiments etc. Here is a basic example
I also purchased ‘Exploring Nature with Children‘ which I am very excited about. Again the first year or two will just be me pointing things out and talking a little more and each year we can build on it. There is also a weekly poem and art piece to look at and study.
I love the BrainQuest workbooks and other items so as he advances we will add some of that in.
I am also looking at The Good and Beautiful curriculum and will slowly order some of that and as he advances ncorporate that. I also want to slowly incorporate lots of farm study material. Those kind of things will be very relevant as he is feeding our chickens and gathering eggs one day. And asking how plants make a lot of the food we eat and things like that.
Tomorrow we start our first week of ‘official’ not official homeschooling hahahah. Our theme is the ocean as well as totally different theme of seeds from the exploring nature curriculum. I am going to document this week and I will update you next weekend with how it went!!
I am loving school and life right now. Can’t believe I only have 4 weeks left!!!
Trailing the blonde 